Marshall Family – The Legendary Marshall Family, Volume One
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Posted On January 1, 2003
“Legendary” is right. “It was an ole time sound but a new sound,” Ralph Stanley said after hearing the Marshall Family for the first time in 1974, and so it was. West Virginians by birth, Ohioans by immigration, the group — mainly Judy and three younger brothers, David, Danny and Ben — performed and recorded bluegrass gospel with a previously unheard-of blend, balancing vocal smoothness and sophistication with mountain-flavored accompaniment and expressive edge. Though Stanley acted as a kind of unofficial sponsor, their career was all too brief: They put out their first Rebel recording in 1974, their third and last in 1977, with a fourth unreleased.
Anyone familiar with the work of Rhonda Vincent, Alison Krauss, the Isaacs or the Cox Family will instantly recognize Judy Marshall’s voice and some of the characteristics of latter-day bluegrass gospel in the vocal arrangements. It’s possible that with more dedication to the job, one or more of the family’s members might have been an instrumental hotshot, but as it is, the accompaniment here is starkly simple (though there’s a delicious surprise in David Marshall’s Stanley-to-Osborne banjo minimalism on “I Just Want To Thank You, Lord”). Instead, the attention is deservedly focused on singing that is purely breathtaking in the way its elegance, tonal clarity and dynamic range serve an unrivaled intensity of feeling and conviction.
The material here is taken from all four of the family’s recordings. David Marshall was — and remains — an effective, imaginative gospel songwriter, with four credits on this CD, while Judy contributed the lushly harmonized “I Just Want To Thank You, Lord”. Other selections are mostly traditional, including their compelling a cappella versions of “I Need Jesus” and “Amazing Grace”.
It’s a reasonably constructed portrait of the Marshall Family, who otherwise have been ill-served on disc, but masterpieces such as “Waiting For The Master To Come” are still waiting their turn. One hopes the Volume One of the title won’t be an unredeemed promise; in the meantime, this is an indispensable collection on both historical and musical grounds.
