Bluegrass Gospel
The Music Ministry of Jerry and Tammy Sullivan
A personal exploration of the lives and music of the father-daughter duo as they spread their mission and music across the South
Description
Heavily influenced by Bill Monroe, the “Father of Bluegrass” in the 1940s and ’50s, gospel music in the South began to shift into bluegrass gospel, a style that combines both genres. In Bluegrass Gospel: The Music Ministry of Jerry and Tammy Sullivan, anthropologist and journalist Jack Edward Bernhardt explores the lives, music, and ministry of acclaimed father-daughter bluegrass gospel performers and recording artists Jerry (1933–2014) and Tammy Sullivan (1964–2017) of southwest Alabama.
Beginning in 1993, Bernhardt lived and traveled with the Sullivans as they took their music and testimony along bumpy back roads to backwoods sanctuaries from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi, Louisiana’s bayous, Texas, Arkansas, and beyond. The author’s compelling narrative combines long-term fieldwork with extensive oral histories, archival research, photography, and tape recordings of the Sullivans’ music and testimonies in secular and sacred contexts. Bernhardt describes in vivid detail the challenges of life on the road through unforeseen circumstances and the financial uncertainty of performing for pass-the-collection-basket “love offerings,” while remaining committed to doing the work they felt called to do. In an afterword by Marty Stuart, Jerry’s friend and cowriter of the 1995 Grammy-nominated “At the Feet of God,” Stuart recounts his experiences playing mandolin with the Sullivan Family on the “Brush Arbor Trail” as a talented, wide-eyed twelve-year-old.
In the penultimate chapter, Bernhardt accompanies Tammy’s widower, Jonathan Causey, and their son, Jon Gideon, to churches along the same gospel trail blazed by Jerry and Tammy. With their own music ministry, the Causeys continue the legacy of song and testimony the Sullivans pursued for thirty-five years.
Ultimately, Bernhardt reflects on how his relationship with the Sullivans led to friendship and mutual respect for cultural differences that endure through time. The result is an intimate portrayal of life, faith, and family-based music ministry in the South today as in the past.
Reviews
"This book takes a deep look into the life of this famous bluegrass gospel family, highlights the songwriting of Jerry Sullivan, the singing of Tammy Sullivan, the family’s relationship with a young Marty Stuart—and Jerry’s songwriting collaborations with Stuart—and the family members who are carrying on the Sullivan gospel tradition today after the passing of Jerry and Tammy. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in bluegrass gospel music."
- Dan Miller, Bluegrass Unlimited
"Showing the coexistence of traditional values and modern musical practices—downhome millennial religion promoted in dynamic bluegrass style—Bernhardt has paid tribute to a way of life and musical culture that are unknown to most of us. What a pleasure to have been invited to welcome the publication of a work that adds a significant element to America’s multidimensional religious musical heritage."
- From the foreword by Bill C. Malone, author of Country Music USA
"Highly recommended for fans of the Sullivan Family (in all configurations through the years); for believers who love pure, unadulterated, Holy Spirit-fueled and -inspired gospel music and the stories that go with it; and for readers with an academic curiosity about a fascinating, very real world that lies off the beaten path of main denominations and interstate highways."
- Nancy Cardwell, executive director of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Foundation
"Jack Bernhardt’s Bluegrass Gospel: The Music Ministry of Jerry and Tammy Sullivan is the first book to focus on the lives and art of full-time bluegrass gospel music performers. A well-written work that draws the reader into the lives of the Sullivans, their work and their beliefs, it reflects years of careful research, from which I learned much and enjoyed reading."
- Neil V. Rosenberg, professor emeritus of folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland and author of Bluegrass: A History
"Jack Bernhardt gives the reader a wonderful, in-depth look into the music ministry on the highways and byways of Jerry and Tammy Sullivan."
- Doyle Lawson, Grammy-nominated bluegrass and gospel musician and member of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame