Anthology of American Folk Music
Volume 2: Social Music, Track 56

I'M IN THE BATTLEFIELD FOR MY LORD
Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation

Recorded Chicago: February 22, 1929
Rev. D.C. Rice and congregation, group vocal with piano, trumpet, trombone, bass, drums, and triangle
Originally released on Vocalion 1262
 

D.C. Rice (1888-1973) was born in Barbour County, Alabama, and raised in the Baptist Church. Around 1916 he migrated to Chicago, where he was "saved" by the Holy Spirit. Rice soon joined Bishop Hill's Church of the Living God, a Pentecostal church located on Chicago's predominately black East Side. Following Hill's death in 1920, Rice took over the leadership of a small Sanctified church and during the next decade built a substantial group of parishioners who worshiped and sang to the accompaniment of an eight or nine piece ensemble. After hearing the recordings of fellow preachers Rev. J.M. Gates and Rev. F.W. McGee, Rice contacted Jack Kapp, a talent scout for Vocalion Records, who initially rejected the idea of recording the group. Kapp eventually rethought his assessment and Rice and his congregation went on to record 28 selections for Vocalion over a two-year period. During this time, Rice made some of the most exciting holiness recordings, (mostly songs without sermons), ever captured on disc.

The Depression all but obliterated the record industry and Rice decided to return to Alabama, ending up in Jackson as the pastor of a small church. In 1932 he took over the Oak Street Holiness Church in Montgomery, Alabama; nine years later he became Bishop of the Apostolic (sic) Overcoming Holy Church of God, which had churches in parts of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Rice maintained his home in Montgomery, however, and remained there until his death in March, 1973.


FOR ADDITIONAL RECORDINGS of Rice see: Rev. D.C. Rice: The Complete Recorded Works, 1928-1930 (DOC 5071c); Rev. D.C. Rice- 1928-1930: Sanctified Singing with Traditional Jazz Accompaniment (HER 212a); and the collection Gospel Singers and Choirs (Topaz Jazz 1011c).

OTHER RECORDED VERSIONS include:
Gospel: The Badgett Sisters (Global Ville 214d); James Cleveland (SVY 14502a); The Dixie Hummingbirds (MCA
 20356a); Thomas A. Dorsey (Sound of Gospel 3D110a); The Five Blind Boys of Alabama (Jewel 3197a, Speciality 7041c); The Dallas- Ft. Worth Mass Choir (SVY 7115a); Clarence Fountain (Jewel 0143a, Jewel 0197c); The Harlan County Four (Audio Lab 1518a); The Harmonizing Four (HOB 3519a).