Barrett sisters enjoy singing gospel truth
The piano slowly pounds out the opening bars, then an organ adds its own melody. Drums kick in, drowning out the chatter from the pews, and the hand claps and fervent hallelujahs build. In a sweet, unassuming simmer, the voices of DeLois Barrett Campbell, Billie Barrett GreenBey, and Rodessa Barrett Porter join the mix. But minutes later, they unleash a musical fury, each wailing in different pitches and hitting thunderous notes that overwhelm the ear. This is old-school gospel, the type tailor-made for tambourines and praising the Lord and dancing that feels maybe just a little too secular for comfort.
The song is "The Storm Is Passing Over," from the soundtrack to the 1982 gospel documentary "Say Amen, Somebody." As incendiary as this moment from George T. Nierenberg's film is, it's probably the only exposure New England audiences have had to the Barrett Sisters. Finally, though, after 40 years singing together professionally, the sisters will make their Boston-area debut tomorrow at A Joyful Noise, a gospel tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge.
George Thorn, artistic director of A Joyful Noise and choir director at the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, knows the power of the Barretts. "Gospel music is good news, that's what gospel means, and the Barrett Sisters understand that," he says. "They really know how to convey the good news to the audience."
This year's concert also trumpets the burgeoning success of the 17-year-old event, organized by the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. "Usually we invite local groups, but having the Barrett Sisters this year marks a change for us in our ability to attract a national act," Thorn says.
When people talk of the trio, they're quick to mention the sisters' harmonies. "I saw them perform in D. C. last year, and I'm telling you that no one would imagine these women are in their 70s. Their harmonies are still just incredible," Thorn says. "Of course, they've been singing together for such a long time that they know every nuance of each other's voices and really play off of them."
The Barrett Sisters started singing together in the 1940s, as children who would gather in relatives' homes and harmonize together. They were three of 10 children and are the only surviving members of the family. They cut their first record as the Barrett Sisters in 1963.
Since, they've played venues from Carnegie Hall to churches and revivals in Switzerland, the Fiji Islands, and Paris, and they still have a regular gig at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The sisters have updated their sound for the times (a synthesizer here, an electric guitar there), but their approach remains traditional.
On the phone from her home in South Side Chicago, DeLois Barrett Campbell, 77, is warm and engaging and curious about Boston. "What's the weather going to be like, you think?" she asks before joking that maybe she'll have to wear her mink coat over her wheelchair. She wonders aloud how many copies of the "Say Amen, Somebody" DVD she should bring to sell at the concert.
Campbell, in particular, is a belter, obviously forged in the fires of the Big Maybelle and Mahalia Jackson school of singing. When she dips into her lower register and wrings a note dry, she makes you wonder: Where is this coming from? "I had one woman want me to open my throat so she could see where that big sound was coming from," she says.
She chats about her friends and influences in gospel music, many of whom were the genre's leading lights and are now departed. She sang at the funerals of Jackson (who lived down the street from her in Chicago), Thomas A. Dorsey, and Willie Mae Ford Smith, whose 60 years in gospel were the focus of "Say Amen, Somebody."
Campbell is especially fond of the Barrett Sisters' nearly 30 performances in Europe. As noted in the film, she always aspired to go abroad and sing gospel, even though it created strife with her husband, the Rev. F. W. Campbell, as seen in the film.
"Boy, could you tell that I was mad when my husband and I were arguing in that scene?" she asks. "I was so mad at George [Nierenberg] for putting the camera on me like that. I made him cut the tape twice, but he finally got it out of me. My husband wanted me to be a part of his church, but I had my own dreams, too. I've just about accomplished everything I wanted to do."
Straight out of high school, DeLois joined the Roberta Martin Singers and traveled with them for 18 years. Billie and Rodessa enjoyed solo careers as well, but it is as a trio that the Barretts have become gospel legends.
DeLois Barrett Campbell knows exactly why.
"I think the power of our music is that we really believe in what we're singing about," she says. "I'm also a big believer that what comes from the heart goes to the heart."
