The Relatives: Gospel Funk In The Greene Space (From the Archives)
Podcast |
Soundcheck
Publisher |
WNYC Studios
Media Type |
audio
Publication Date |
Jun 18, 2020
Episode Duration |
00:33:21

In the early 1970's, veteran Dallas gospel singer Rev. Gean West and his brother Tommie formed The Relatives, a band that pulled together traditional gospel and soul with psychedelia and funk and earned a reputation for their fiery live shows. While the band toured nationally, they recorded only three singles, apparently pressing small batches of 45's that never seemed to get any traction outside of North Texas. And unfortunately after recording their final session with legendary engineer Phil York in 1975, the band disbanded in 1980.

Still, miraculously, The Relatives' music lived on, and those singles, along with that previously unreleased session, were compiled on the 2009 anthology, Don’t Let Me Fall. That release helped bring The Relatives back together and led to their 2013 album, The Electric Word (Yep Roc), which was The Relatives' first recording in over 30 years. They lost two of their original members in 2016, and their 2016 release, Goodbye World, was the last recording to feature Rev. Gean West. Revisit this extraordinary live set, recorded in 2013, in The Greene Space. 

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