Ella Hanshaw's Black Book [LP]

Ella Hanshaw - Ella Hanshaw's Black Book [LP]

When Ella Hanshaw (1934-2020) first picked up the guitar as a 12-year-old girl in Procious, West Virginia, she dreamed of being a country star. But over the next 74 years, as she wrote hundreds of songs, her artistic goals slowly ascended to a higher realm. Ella Hanshaw's Black Book, lovingly compiled by her granddaughter from home and church recordings, features a selection of Ella's original gospel songs (Side A: Big Black Book), performed solo and with her Hallelujah Hill Quartet, and her broken-hearted country songs (Side B: Little Black Book) recorded in a back bedroom during quiet moments at home. Despite differences in style and intent, common themes remain the same across the sacred and secular sides of the record: love and longing for what we cannot quite touch-not yet, anyway-and the physical pages of possibility that we can hold in the meantime. A1. One More Hill A2. The Devil Gets Me Down and The Lord Picks Me Up'' A3. Is That the Only Time You Call Out His Name'' A4. Open Season on The Devil A5. Behold and Believe A6. My Soul Is Free A7. Beauty Beyond the Rainbow A8. Will My Lord Be Proud B1. Little Black Book B2. Think It Over B3. Nobody's Fool B4. Back In Your Heart B5. How You Gonna Love Me? B6. Mr. B's B7. Reaching for Heaven/Reaching for You B8. I'll Cry Tomorrow