The Best Bluegrass Gospel Album You've Never Heard

... and I have no idea why that is. "The Voice Of God" landed with a thud when it was released in 2010, in a genre where gospel records typically receive generous reviews, consistent airplay, and brisk sales.

It isn't the first time I've said in these pages that The Voice Of God is one of the best, most innovative bluegrass gospel CDs ever recorded. Mentioning it again so soon has made me wonder whether it's that very innovation that scared folks away. Then again, maybe it was all about the message of Jesus vs. the message of church culture.

A lot of gospel, regardless of genre, is short on theology and long on the hereafter. While the hereafter is why gospel is here, so to speak, there are people on earth right now who need Jesus' message of love, healing and forgiveness. Then, there's the welcome condemnation of hypocrites -- something Jesus also preached regularly that might hit a little too close to home for some.

Nevertheless, Don Rigsby has collected a fresh, eclectic group of songs peopled with hypocrites, liars, alcoholics, prostitutes, drifters, orphans, addicts, thieves, and Christian faithful -- exactly the kinds of people to whom Jesus preached. The songs come from writers as diverse as Albert Brumley, Gillian Welch, Skip Ewing, Tom T. and Dixie Hall, Paul Craft, and Phil Wiggins (of Cephas and Wiggins).

The musical styles run the gamut from mountain balladry to country gospel, from blues to bluegrass gospel (from both black and white gospel repertoire). Through it all, Rigsby and his crackerjack band, Midnight Call, keep their fingers firmly on the pulse of traditional, high-lonesome bluegrass. Audiences have come to expect spine-tingling harmonies and sky-high leads from Rigsby and his band. They won't be disappointed.

There wasn't a more innovative bluegrass album released in 2010 -- or a better one. "The Voice of God" should appeal to hardcore fans and newcomers alike. Maybe it will, if I tout it to a completely new audience.

Download this one, folks. If traditional bluegrass can accept blues (Rory Block makes a memorable appearance here) and black gospel from the likes of Bill Monroe and The Nashville Bluegrass Band, surely it can accept them from Don Rigsby, too.