Southern Joy Quartet with the Joyful Three: In the Valley

Mark Five SJ-4809

A very traditional Southern Gospel album.  Although undated, I think it’s from the early 1970’s.  One thing you immediately pick up on is the change in content of the songs; it’s hard to imagine even a classic like the title track making much of a dent these days with our obsessive ego-pumping.  Vocals are excellent, instrumentation is plain.  Southern Joy will have to wait until Over the Next Hill to really pull the emotional heart-strings that the genre is very going at doing.

The Musicians:

• Southern Joy:
  • Don Forrester, lead singer
  • Frank Hopkins, Bass
  • Don Pilgrim, baritone
  • Dovie Foister Hopkins, alto
• The Joyful Three:
  • Sybil Stafford, Piano
  • Jess Stafford, Jr., Bass
  • Don Hopkins, Drums

The Songs:

1. In the Valley (He Restoreth My Soul)
2. I’m Going Up
3. All Because of God’s Amazing Grace
4. Oh, What a Day
5. The Sweetest Song I Know
6. The Unseen Hand
7. The Best is Yet to Come
8. Jesus Will Outshine Them All
9. Swing Wide the Gates
10. What a Friend We Have in Jesus
11. I’ll Wake Up in Glory
12. After Calvary

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