The Gospel Spirit

1	Peace In the Valley
2	When They Ring Those Golden Bells
3	How Great Thou Art
4	In the Sweet Bye and Bye
5	I'd Rather Have Jesus
6	The Old Rugged Cross / The Jordanaires
7	Harp With Golden Strings / The Jordanaires
8	He's Got the Whole World In His Hands
9	Just a Closer Walk with Thee
10	I Feel Like Traveling On
11	Gethsemane
12	Softly and Tenderly
13	If God Is Dead (Who’s This Living In My Soul?)
14	Just a Little Talk with Jesus

Barnes & Noble

Loretta Lynn recorded three gospel albums for Decca, beginning in 1965 with Hymns, followed in 1968 with Who Says God Is Dead!, and 1972's God Bless America Again. This fully remastered collection culls the best from this trio of reverent classics, each produced by the Nashville maestro Owen Bradley. The material runs the gamut from hymns such as "The Old Rugged Cross" to modern country rejoinders such as "If God Is Dead (Who's This Living in My Soul?)." Two tracks feature gospel stars the Jordanaires. Loretta Lynn's ever-growing legion of fans will treasure these recordings. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

Between 1965 and 1972, Loretta Lynn released three LPs of inspirational music, Hymns (1965), Who Says God Is Dead! (1968), and God Bless America Again (1972), and each of them made the country charts. This compilation selects highlights from those albums. Working with her usual producer, Owen Bradley, Lynn takes a typically straightforward approach to the material, which consists mostly of standards early on, with some more contemporary songs added in toward the end. She is usually accompanied by backup vocal groups, although only "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Harp With Golden Wings" credit the Jordanaires. On "In the Sweet Bye and Bye," she seems to be singing a harmony duet with herself through the miracle of overdubbing. The most interesting tracks come in the final six from God Bless America Again, among them the up-tempo "I Feel Like Traveling On"; "Gethsemane," which borrows its melody from "St. James Infirmary"; and "If God Is Dead (Who's This Living in My Soul)," a song to answer that famous Time magazine cover of the '60s, "Is God Dead?" Lynn, of course, would reply with a resounding "no!" William Ruhlmann