Paul Williams & The Victory Trio – Old Ways & Old Paths

Paul Williams was once a member of Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys, and just about everyone, including the men who succeeded him as mandolinist/tenor singer in the band, will tell you he was the best to hold the job. Williams retired from bluegrass in the early 1960s to devote himself to congregational music, returning in 1996 to make a fine bluegrass gospel album for Rounder with James King.

This time out, Williams has changed labels and, more importantly, bands. Old Ways & Old Paths features his regular outfit, the Victory Trio, and the difference is substantial. The Trio — actually a quartet, now that Williams’ son, Ritchie Humphrey, has joined on — has no banjo, and together with fuller trio harmonies that occasionally show the influence of southern gospel, it makes for a sound leaning well away from King’s hard-edged, Stanleyesque style.

On the other hand, the frequent high lead harmony arrangements, which give the melody the highest part, shine a brighter spotlight on Williams’ still-powerful, expressive voice, and the greater prominence of guitars and mandolin give the songs a different kind of rhythm, more akin to old black gospel styles.

The sentiment in gospel music is pretty much a given. What distinguishes one song from another is primarily melody; after that come any new turns of phrase or elegant elaborations of scriptural passages and stories. Williams is a great songwriter, and his three originals here more than hold their own beside the rest of the selections, which come from a variety of sources (including Vince Gill, whose “Go Rest High On That Mountain” is given a sturdy yet tender reading).

Williams’ “Stay By The Brook” and his arrangement of “I’m Going To Rise” are especially memorable, as is the version of “Beulah Land”. Only “Be Ready To Go” falls below the high standard set by the opening original, “Home To Stay”, simply because it’s the only song on which Williams doesn’t take the lead. Otherwise, Old Ways & Old Paths is a fine piece of work; if the Lord is a music fan, I’ll bet he’s plenty happy to be so well-served.