Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Old Time Religion" (Skylight Records, 1961) (LP)
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Keep Walking" (Skylight Records, 1962) (LP)
(Produced by Brock Speer & Tommy Strong)
Their second album on the Skylight label opens on a surprising note, with a little bit of sizzling electric guitar, roughly in an early Chet Atkins mode... Things quickly get a little rocky with Wendy Bagwell's boisterous spoken introduction to the album's title track, where he explains that they had been soaking up some local culture and observed authentic black singers down South and were going to sing "Keep Walking" just like them folks did. Yes, there are uncomfortable cultural overtones, but you still have to give Bagwell credit for trying and, honestly, the musical end is actually pretty earthy and even funky, despite some moderately cringe-y "blues" vocals on Mr. Bagwell's part. It's certainly less stuffy and more enjoyable than many of their barbershop-styled southern gospel contemporaries. Things settle down on the rest of the record, with the Sunlighter gals chiming in in their Carter Family-ish way; they sound quite nice, and the music has a pleasant grounding in 1950's hillbilly music. In this early incarnation Wendy Bagwell mostly stuck to singing as well, and hadn't yet woven his spoken-word comedy routines into their albums, instead leaning into a boisterous, barking old-man style reminiscent of Grandpa Jones. Recommended!
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "The Family Bible" (Scripture Records, 1964) (LP)
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Gospel Trio" (Scripture Records, 196-?) (LP)
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Down Home" (Sing Records, 1965) (LP)
(Produced by Meurice LeFever & Tommy Strong)
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Reunion In Heaven" (Pickwick/Hilltop Records, 1967) (LP)
No muss, no fuss... A pretty straightforward set of country-gospel with plenty of twang, expert guitar work, and sweet, crystal-clear vocals. No comedic routines or big novelty numbers, just a nice, satisfying musical set. I can't figure out the deal with the Bagwells' long string of records on the Pickwick label, which is normally a budget-line reissue series: did these songs come out elsewhere, on singles or earlier albums? Or were they really originally recorded as Pickwick-Hilltop LPs? Either way, this is really nice music.
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Faith Is The Way" (Pickwick/Hilltop Records, 1968) (LP)
Great stuff... the perfect mix of true believer twang and shameless corn... Since this LP came out on Pickwick's Hilltop imprint, I assume it was a collection of reissue material, though I haven't been able to track down the original releases. Anyway, it's a great record, one of the trio's most satisfying sets that I've come across so far. Definitely worth a spin!
Wendy Bagwell "This, That And The Other" (Canaan Records, 1970) (LP)
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "The Old Cajer Bagwell Place" (Canaan Records, 1971-?) (LP)
Just one story, the title track, along with eleven pure, old-timey gospel tunes sung with a mix of modern country slickness and rapturously rural revival emotiveness. The vocal arrangements include both a full trio and harmony duets with the two gals, and even a little bit of Mr. Bagwell jumping in to add a recitation, most notably on the reactionary novelty number "Too Many Books," a Bailes Brothers oldie wherein they complain about all those modern-day novels and whatnot overshadowing the Bible. On occasion the gals drift into stuffier phrasing -- particularly on the lugubrious, folk-influenced "Young Man Dying" -- but for the most part they are still holding the line, keeping the old-school gospel sound alive. Alas, no info on the studio musicians, who provide solid, professional, no-muss backing, with a reasonable amount of twang.
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "You Won't Believe This But It's A Fact With My Hand Up!" (Canaan Records, 1972-?) (LP)
(Produced by Leroy Duncan & Marvin Norcross)
This live album, recorded at the Langdale Auditorium in Valley, Arkansas, gives a pretty good idea of the mix of humor and sentiment in the Sunliters' live shows, with Wendy Bagwell riffing through his comedic bits, then introducing the next song, which invariably is delivered in a haunting and strikingly old-fashioned style. Here the vibe is sort of a spookier version of the Carter Family, with a resolutely antique, backwoods vibe that's downright surprising, and good. The choice to add a lone electric guitar gives the show a kind of hillbilly Staples Singers feel -- all the more fascinating since they pursued a slicker sound in the studio. I've always instinctively avoided Bagwell's spoken word routines since I'm generally averse to corny cornpone comedy, but it turns out he had a pretty solid routine, including self-referential bits that build on his older work. Here, he goes off on the fallout of the runaway success of "Here Come The Rattlesnakes," a million-selling 1970 hit that made light of snake-handling, faith-healing sects, first addressing folks from the groups who felt slighted by the story, and then teasing the record executives who were supposedly caught flat-footed by Bagwell having a hit on his hands. All in all, it's a pretty engaging performance.
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "I Had A Vision" (Canaan Records, 1972) (LP)
Another nice album with good female vocals... Musicians include Charles Beatenbo Jr. (on guitar and piano) and Sunliters Jan Buckner and Jerri Morrison hitting some nice, sweet harmonies.
Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters "Live" (Word/Canaan Records, 1983) (LP)
(Produced by Joe Huffman)
An adequate live album, not as spooky or as ecstatic as some of their earlier work, but okay. This was recorded in concert at the Grand Opera House in Macon, Georgia, with a backing band that included Jan Buckner on piano and autoharp, Gary Chapman (steel guitar), Steve Fowler (bass), Lari Goss (piano), Joe Huffman (banjo and guitar), Mike Lorenz (banjo and guitar), and Russell Mauldin on drums. The music's a little slick, but still pretty rootsy. One album side is primarily music, the other features several Wendy Bagwell stories.
First formed in 1953, Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters was a long-running country gospel trio led by Wendell Lee Bagwell (1925-1996) a singer-humorist from Chamblee, Georgia who started his musical career after serving in World War Two. Though Bagwell was the bandleader, much of their work centered around the female vocal duo which in later years provided a "straight" musical contrast to Wendy Bagwell's rambling comedic narratives. The Sunliters lineup changed a couple of times before settling on a stable trio that performed together for over three decades: Wendy Bagwell, Jan Buckner and Geraldine Terry aka Jerri Morrison).
