825 The Proclaimers “He’ll Understand” 1965

A Welsh Christian group singing American southern gospel (www.1960schristianmusic.com).
“‘THE PROCLAIMERS’ are a group with a difference! As they travel from town to town singing at Youth Clubs, Hospitals, Café’s, Churches and chapels, their aim runs much deeper than to just entertain. While their presentation is of a high standard, the message behind each song conveys the sincerity of their faith as they unfold the story of God’s Love towards us and how He gave His Son a sacrifice for our sin. The City of Cardiff is the home of ‘THE PROCLAIMERS’ and although they come from different walks of life, they unite to spread the gospel in song” (Messages with a Lilt album notes, 1965). 

The Proclaimers “He’ll Understand”

824 Wilson Pickett (1941-2006) “In the Midnight Hour” 1965

“if Pickett wasn’t the first, he has a strong claim to being the greatest purveyor of Pentecostal-style vocal pyrotechnics on the pop scene, virtually everyone described the singer as ‘his own worst enemy’...Born in 1941 in a two-room sharecroppers’ shack in rural Alabama, Pickett was scarred by physical abuse and poverty...and he remained a difficult loner, subject to extreme mood swings and paranoid rages. Music provided some release, but playful pugnaciousness turned to brutal violence when he was drunk, which was often – and that was before the cocaine” (Elijah Wald, New Statesman, Apr. 2017). 

Wilson Pickett “In the Midnight Hour”

823 The Peacemakers “Satisfied” 1965

“whilst living in Frinton, Justyn Rees regularly found himself in the coffee bars of surrounding towns looking at the sad and lonely faces of local young people. It stirred in him the desire to communicate his faith in Jesus Christ, and before long he was playing his guitar to them and singing about the answer Jesus had provided to his problems. Having established himself as both guitarist and vocalist, Justyn was invited to form a guitar group to provide the music for a series of meetings being conducted in London by his father Tom Rees. So 'The Peacemakers' emerged as one of Britain's first Christian beat groups, and soon they were playing all over Britain and Europe, making records and broadcasting on TV and Radio” (Internet Archive, https://archive.org/stream/discogsimages). 

The Peacemakers “Satisfied”

822 Odetta (1930-2008) “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You” 1965 and “Water Boy” 1954

“Some people sing; Odetta testified. Martin Luther King Jr. called Odetta…‘the queen of American folk music.’ In a career spanning nearly 60 years, she wrapped her booming, classically trained contralto around traditional hymns, work songs and pop tunes. A solid, inspiring figure at 1960s civil rights events, Odetta brought art-song precision to the gospel and blues repertoire. If a line could be drawn from Mahalia Jackson to Janis Joplin, it would have to go through her. Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Ala., and raised in Los Angeles, she sang in musical theater as a teenager, and in the early ‘50s helped form the vanguard of the folk-music movement. Bob Dylan said that her 1956 LP, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, was ‘the first thing that turned me on to folk singing.’ She returned the favor by recording an album of Dylan songs in 1965” (Richard Corliss, Time, 15 Dec. 2008). 

Odetta “Baby, I’m in the Mood for You”

Odetta “Water Boy”

821 Phil Ochs (1940-1976) “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore” 1965

“Some of you may have been lucky enough to frequent a Phil Ochs performance or caught a glimpse of him at demonstrations and rallies prior to his suicide in 1976. For those like me, who only encountered him through his albums, yes vinyl, or not at all, he was lauded as a musical spokesman of the 1960s. His song, ‘I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore’ was one of the anthems of the anti-Vietnam War Movement. He was a committed activist who never compromised. In 1964, Phil joined the Mississippi Caravan of Music to help break the back of Jim Crow. He went South to support the domestic warriors on the front lines and then used his songs to educate those who were unaware of southern racial injustice or were unable to make the journey” (Susan J. Erenrich and Jon F. Wergin, Grassroots Leadership and the Arts For Social Change, 2017).

Phil Ochs “I Ain’t Marchin’ Anymore”