A spirit/geographic union of Montgomery, AL and Brooklyn, NY: CaseQuarter is a new recording label devoted to sacred and spiritual music of the American South. ..Launched in hot August 2003 with the widely acclaimed Reverend Charlie Jackson archival collection God's Got It; the mission continued with the debut solo recordings of brother Isaiah Owens. CaseQuarter shall further forward in the Spring of 2007. Yes we shall indeed!

Full Mission Statement and News of forthcoming releases.

CASE103 - THE SPIRITUALAIRES of Hurtsboro, AL    Singing Songs of Praise   Read Reviews

The return of the CaseQuarter label to active duty has long been promised; this year 2007 it is true to be!
The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama are one of the very last still active gospel quartets with origins in Gospel's Golden Age of the 1950s. Weaving together influences from the blues and country & western, the Spiritualaires over the years have remained faithful to their ever-distinct yet traditional sound. Drawn from recent studio recordings and live radio broadcasts, Singing Songs of Praise reveals the Spiritualaires as both a super-fine harmony quartet and a unique blues-guitar-driven ensemble. What a treat it is to have - after almost six decades together - the debut recording of the Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama.

· The return of the CaseQuarter label; after nigh 3 years in absentia!
· This is part one of the 2007 one-two punch from CaseQuarter; part two is the Elder Utah Smith book+CD set; two wings!!

ENJOY! -SJ

CASE102 - ISAIAH OWENS  You Without Sin Cast The First Stone    Read Reviews

ISAIAH OWENS New York City Debut in November!

The CaseQuarter label launched last August with the Reverend Charlie Jackson archival collection, God’s Got It. This stunning debut went on to be lauded across the board by the likes of Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR, BBC, The Wire, MOJO, Le Nouvel Observateur and many more. The CaseQuarter mission continues full-force with its second installment of the wondrous and sacred musical beauty that avails itself in the American South. This time it is a collection of contemporary recordings - You Without Sin Cast The First Stone, the solo debut of singer/guitarist Isaiah Owens.

In the early 1990s, Isaiah Owens ended a distinguished 40-year career singing lead with the gospel quartet the Flying Clouds of Montgomery, Alabama in order to focus on solo performance. Early in the 1980s, Owens had begun to teach himself guitar and he soon began sitting in on local AM gospel radio broadcasts, most notably with the Montgomery Gospelaires and later with Ann Talbert’s Cheerful Angels program. Always known for his dynamic vocals and piercing falsetto, Owens augmented the initial chords he taught himself with extremely loud volume. Along with emphasizing the rhythmic over the traditionally musical, Owens was not afraid to incorporate dissonance into his playing. The merging of Owens’ unique guitar style with his accomplished vocals makes for an intriguing and original musical experience truly not heard anywhere else in the gospel world.

You Without Sin Cast The First Stone comprises 14 songs selected from original radio broadcasts and multi-track studio recordings of performances from 1998-2001 and at the age of 69, this is Isaiah Owens’ solo debut.

CASE101 - REVEREND CHARLIE JACKSON   God's Got It: The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles    Read Reviews

CD $13 Add CD To Cart Also available on specially mastered 180 gram audiophile LP. We ship the LP version within U.S./Canada only. LP $15 Add LP To Cart (if you are ordering from U.S./Canada)

1. God's Got It 2:43 ...(Real Audio Excerpt) 2. Fix It Jesus 3:37 3. Wrapped Up and Tangled Up In Jesus 3:29 4. Testimony of Rev. Charlie Jackson 4:23 5. I Gave Up All I Had 2:12 ...(Real Audio Excerpt) 6. What A Time 3:06 7. Trouble In My Way 3:10 8. My Eternal Home 3:07 9. Something To Think About 3:14 10. Lord You're So Good 4:15 * 11. I Shall Not Be Moved 2:37 12. Morning Train 2:42 ...(Real Audio Excerpt) 13. The Goodness of God Part 1 2:41 * 14. The Goodness of God Part 2 2:33 15. I Gave Up All I Had to Serve the Lord 2:39 * 16. This Old Building 4:25 * 17. I Am Thinking of a Friend 2:57 ...(Real Audio Excerpt) 18. All Aboard 4:41 * All recordings made between 1970-1978. Copyright Reverend Charlie Jackson P 2003 CaseQuarter Reverend Charlie Jackson - vocals and guitar Brother Ike Gordon, Laura Davis, Caravan No.2 of Zachary - vocals Mary Bennett, Ike Gordon, Frances Jackson, Johnny Jackson - chorus vocals, clapping * CD only

KNOW ALSO! 50 Miles of Elbow Room #2 This strictly limited issue book features a piece on & interview with Reverend Charlie Jackson >>> it is just about out of print (we have no more copies here), but stay tuned for launch of 50 Miles of Elbow Room website! They might have a few copies there to sell direct when they launch... just stay tuned at any rate!

"2003 Year End Best Of" And then there is the Reverend Charlie Jackson. Once in a great while a record comes along that is so cripplingly amazing that it betrays all common manner of description. - Michael Hurtt in OFFBEAT (New Orleans)

Reverend Charlie Jackson's God’s God It is the first release on the brand new CaseQuarter label. After the better part of twenty-five years, the legendary early 1970s New Orleans Booker label (and mid 1970s Jackson label) recordings of the Baton Rouge gospel guitarist have finally been collected on CD. Ever since Reverend Jackson’s Booker singles were discovered by gospel collectors in the 1970s and began to trickle out to a wider audience, his primal, funky guitar riffs have astounded listeners. Raw and unadorned and at other times spare and lyrical, these recordings are infused with sanctified energy and singing. In addition to his own singles collected here are records by Brother Ike Gordon and Caravan No. 2 of Zachary, which feature Reverend Jackson as accompanist. Further special features are two very rare songs from his own Jackson label which feature the wonderful vocals of Laura “Tiny B” Davis, as well as a recently discovered (in March 2003 !) Booker single that had seemingly been forever lost.

“Rev. Charlie Jackson has immense rhythmic power, and the recordings bristle with intensity. The music is meant to make you move, and it is hard not to. These songs rock without taking even a small vacation.” - The New York Times

(Some of these singles were collected and released on cassette in 1988 by the Curlew label, which was reviewed in the Times at that time.)

Until now, these singles have never been fully collected together and have never been issued on CD.

God’s God It comprises 18 songs and a 16-page booklet with rare photos, discography,
and extensive liner notes covering Reverend Jackson’s life and career.

(((((((((((((o))))))))))))

The purpose of CaseQuarter is to document and make available all manner of obscure, eccentric and original sacred and spiritual music of the Southern U.S.

As ubiquitous and familiar as the blues is in the minds of music listeners, the sacred sister of the blues, gospel, hovers on the edges - ambiguous, overlooked and unknown to many. Over the years, the juke joints have all but disappeared. The churches remain. CaseQuarter Records, based in Montgomery, Alabama, will make accessible contemporary and historical gospel and sacred recordings, both commercial and informal.

Sacred music in the South is not just confined to churches, but informs the outlook of many idiosyncratic and original artists who follow their own particular and unique visions and callings. African-American gospel music performed live by male quartets in a style firmly rooted in the immediate post-war years can still be heard on small community based AM radio stations in the South. Since 1970, many older, traditional gospel groups have produced interesting but difficult to find vanity records. Indeed, these recordings, usually much rawer and unpolished than contemporary releases, represent a presence often overlooked or ignored even within the gospel community itself. It is difficult to find an outsider and folk artist who does not draw inspiration from the Bible. Many of these artists are often also musicians in some way and sing songs to accompany or compliment their paintings and sculptures. Since 1970, dozens of small short-lived locally based predominately gospel record labels have sprung up, and then disappeared leaving obscure but often striking recordings behind. Virtually all of these records have never been collected or presented beyond the immediate communities they were originally intended for. These are the kinds of musics that CaseQuarter Records will locate, document and release. Also, CaseQuarter makes a commitment to a respectful, unsensationalistic and unexploitative presentation of these artists and their musics. The liner notes and documentation of each project will be as complete, informative and authoritative as possible. - Kevin Nutt, CaseQuarter

Know Also: CaseQuarter producer Kevin Nutt is a long-time devotee and collector of this profoundly affecting music. His gospel music radio program Sinner’s Crossroads can be heard on WFMU (91.1 fm in NYC; wfmu.org to the world) on Wednesdays 7pm - 8pm E.S.T.

Forthcoming: Early 2007 will see the release of an album by The Spiritualaires of Hurtsboro, Alabama , a traditional community gospel quartet. Also in 2007, we all have the Elder Utah Smith book/CD project to look forward to...TWO WINGS!!