Caldwell kids get a kick out of The Fairfield Four

The legendary gospel group, The Fairfield Four, visited a Music City school yesterday to do what it does best – belt out a few of the group’s favorite songs.

The group put on a performance for students at Caldwell Early Childhood Center as part of the school’s Black History Month celebration yesterday.

The Fairfield Four won the 1996 James Cleveland Award, the highest honor in black gospel music.

The group was founded in the early 1920s at Nashville’s Fairfield Baptist Church.

From the looks on their faces, youngsters enjoyed listening to the quartet’s harmony.

Times Herald Record

Middletown, NY Nov. 21, 1997

The Fairfield Four – “I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray” (Warner Bros.)

Glory to the Fairfield Four. The gospel quintet’s “I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray” is a great album.

But what else should we expect from one of the world’s musical treasures? The group that was first formed in the 1920s makes music that may be rooted in gospel, but it’s rich with the roots of most of popular music, from doo-wop to rhythm and blues. Anyone with a soul can’t help but be moved by it.

Just ask Elvis Costello and Pam Tillis. Costello sings with the Fairfield Four on his Paul McCartney collaboration. “That Day is Done,” while Tillis adds her slinky voice to “Get Away Jordan.” But even though those two performances are terrific and illustrate the connection of country and pop to gospel, the real story of this album is the singing of Robert Hamlett, Isaac Freeman, Walter Settles, Joseph Rice, and James Hill.

On tunes such as “Noah,” “Come On In This House” and “Amazing Grace,” which also features a narration by Garrison Keillor, their voices reach down as deep as the rumbles in your gut. They soar as high as a breeze and feel as soft as a caress. And even though a piano is featured on two tunes, the Fairfield Four use their voices to create the chugging, churning, syncopated sound of a band.

If you aren’t moved by this magnificent music, you are unmovable.

“I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray”

Warner Brothers ****

Fresh off a powerhous tour with John Fogerty, the Fairfield Four carry on their near mythic legacy on this new album blending contemporary and very traditional gospel soul.

The a capella harmonies are marvelously intact, from the spirited album-opener “Noah,” (a crowd favorite on the Fogerty tour) to the growling and glorious title track and the absolutely uplifting “There Must Be a City.”

The group is joined for a few very memorable pairings, including guest narrator Garrison Keillor, who lends his inimitable style to the medley of “Amazing Grace/The Prodigal Son,” and Elvis Costello, who blends brilliantly with the Four on the Costello/Paul MacCartney composition “That Day Is Done.”