Locations

Historical Expressions

The slaves would make the dense old woods, for miles around, reverberate with their wild songs, revealing at once the highest joy and the deepest sadness.
-Frederick Douglass (1845)

Tracy Love with Victor Bowleg and Shermayne Brown on a cotton farm in Marana, Arizona.

Oh Lord, Oh, my Lord!
Oh my good Lord!
Keep me from sinking down;

Derrell McColister and Barbara Pringle near Montgomery, Alabama.

Kentucky Farm

I’ll meet you at the station
when the train comes along.
I may be blind an’ cannot see...
I may be lame an’ cannot walk,
But I’ll meet you at the station
when the train comes along.

Michael Vine, Denisha LeShai Ballew and Ed Jenkins on the Jenkins Farm near Lexington, Kentucky.

Maysville

I set my foot on de Gospel ship,
an’ de ship begin to sail,
It landed me over on Canann’s shore,
An’ I’ll never come back no mo’.

Sandra Chambers-Reed and Jeremiah K. Muwanga near the shore of the Ohio River near Maysville, Kentucky.

Montgomery

Free at last, free at last,
I thank God I’m free at last.

On-a my knees when the light pass’d by, I thank
God I’m free at last,
Thought my soul would rise and fly,I thank God
I’m free at last.

Barbara Pringle near Montgomery, Alabama.

Foley

I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
All along my pilgrim journey
I want Jesus to walk with me.

Dr. Ricky Little near Foley, Alabama.

Clarksville

It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord.
Standin’ in the need of prayer

Keith Dean performs It’s Me O Lord on the banks of the Cumberland River, Clarksville, Tennessee.

Fairhope

If you don’t believe I’ve been redeemed
God’s a-going to trouble the water
Just follow me down to the Jordan’s stream
God’s a-going to trouble the water

LaToya Lain performs Wade in the Water on the Magnolia River near Fairhope, Alabama.

Gulf Shores

In Satan’s snare I once was fallen
then I heard the voice of my Lord callin’...

John Wesley Wright performs near Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Palma de Menorca

Shepherd, Shepherd, where’d you
lose your sheep?...
O the sheep all gone astray
-The sheep all gone astray.

Dr. Alfonse Anderson and Albert R. Lee in Menorca, Spain.

Santander

This world is a wilderness of woe
So let us to glory go

Religion is a blooming rose
And none but them who feel it know

Albert R. Lee performs Is There Anybody Here in a monastery in Santander, Spain.

Lexington

Look over yonder, what do you see?
God's a-going to trouble the water
The Holy Ghost a-coming on me
God's a-going to trouble the water

The American Spiritual Ensemble performs Wade in the Water at Wesley United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Lexington

De fare is cheap, an’ all can go,
De rich an’ poor are dere,
No second class aboard dis train,
No differunce in de fare.

The American Spiritual Ensemble performs at First Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Palma de Mallorca

Blow it loud as thundh,
Tall angel at the bar,
Seven claps o’ thunduh,
Tall angel at the bar.
Wake de sleepin’ nation,...
All de sleepin’ nation.

A crowd gathers outside the Castell de Bellver to see the American Spiritual Ensemble in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Taragona

Den de lam’ ram sheep begin to blow,
Trumpets begin to soun’
Joshua commanded de children to shout
An’ de walls come tumblin’ down
Dat mornin’

The tenor section of the American Spiritual Ensemble perform Joshua Fit de Battle of Jerico among Roman ruins in Taragona, Spain.

Palma de Menorca

Great big stars- ‘way up yonder,
All aroun’ the heav’n goin’ to shine, shine...
O my little soul’s goin’ to shine, shine.

Accompanist and Composer Tedrin Blair Lindsay during an interview at the Teatro Principal de Maó in Menorca, Spain.

Farm

I’ll meet you at the station
when the train comes along.
I may be blind an’ cannot see...
I may be lame an’ cannot walk,
But I’ll meet you at the station
when the train comes along.