Touch My Soul - The funk and blues gospel classic from 1975

Touch My Soul, released on Emerald Gem and Decca Records in 1975, is quite simply a funk and soul masterpiece. It's James Brown in the house gospel music that transcends the lyrical message. Backed by such classics as People Get Ready, Day by Day, Oh Happy Day, He's On His Way and Amazing Grace, the 6 original tunes penned by Tommy Dougherty over a period of a couple of weeks are nothing less than classics in their own rights. The Prince of Galilee and Before It's Time for Amen sound as if they've been around forever, while Touch My Soul, Thank You for My Song, Lullaby and He Cares smash the boundaries of gospel music.

The songs from Touch My Soul have graced countless gospel compilations since its original release. Numerous artists have cut songs from the album written by Tommy as well. Currently the original recordings can be found on most all music sites including iTunes, Amazon, Napster and LastFM. These can be found on artist searches Tommy Dougherty as well as Tommy Daugherty, a typical misspelling of his last name. Various compilations host the original recordings where the songs sit side by side the likes of Etta James, Joan Orleans, Lee Greenwood, Ferlin Husky and more.

The story of these recordings and the release on Emerald Gem and Decca Records is unique. It consists not only of the stellar musical chops of Tommy Dougherty as a singer and the creative burst of imaginative song writing, it's also a tale of the various musicians involved as well as the studio and partners who helped create a masterpiece.

The recordings took place on Music Row in Nashville at Audio Media Studios and Odyssey Productions. Nashville, of course, is the home of country music. Back in the 1970s, its moniker Music City, USA was well intact. However, Nashville has never been receptive to music outside the box, and this was never more evident than during the 70s when music had turned into a lucrative business and left behind the ideals of art and the expansion of political consciousness from the 60s.

In 1974, shortly after moving to Nashville, Tommy Dougherty started writing and recording demos for the House of Cash, the publishing company owned by Johnny Cash. At the same time, a group of adventurous young men, Paul Whitehead, Pat Patrick, Jack Jackson and Doug Yoder, created Audio Media Studios and Odyssey Productions. Lou Lofredo, producer of such artists as Ben E. King, was hired as the A&R spokesman.

While in Europe, Lofredo heard some of Tommy's demos and immediately went to work on signing him after returning to Nashville. Tommy signed in 1975 to Odyssey Productions because it offered the luxury of doing his own music rather than the famous Hee Haw music that was going on in Nashville at the time.

During 1975, what started out as a cheap custom album of gospel music suddenly turned into the full blown master recordings. Once recording began, it became immediately apparent that something special and unique was happening. Tommy, who had never been a gospel performer or even much of a believer, ran with the bizarre opportunity and within a couple of weeks had written 6 classics.

But what makes Touch My Soul such a magical recording is not only the material, but every bit as important are the performances created by a band on fire. The Audio Media house band had been together for a relatively short time, and none of the performers belonged in the country music scene at that time.

Pianist virtuoso Dennis Burnside, after initially starting out with Tommy Dorsey and Woody Herman, has gone on to record and produce numerous acts in Nashville. Drummer Eddie Bayers, who played with Tommy in the Mercy Blues, has a resume that's basically a Who's Who list for country artists, recording with everyone from Wynonna Judd to George Strait and winning the Country Drummer of the Year award 13 times. Paul Worley, guitarist, has gone on to head Sony's Nashville recording department and produce various artists such as the Dixie Chicks. Jack Jackson, bassist, has gone on to work with Sony and Tree Publishing after leaving the Odyssey partnership. Trumpet extraordinaire Don Sheffield and the 70s backing group the Cherry Sisters contributed to these recordings as well as other contributors.

Touch My Soul was released in 1975 on Emerald Gem and Decca Records in Europe. It had been pitched earlier to a few U.S. companies and gospel luminaries, but everyone considered it far too black and funky as well as ahead of its time. No one knew what to do with it, and it literally scared the white religious community out of their pants. Emerald Gem, at the time a successful Irish label with a long track record for hosting creative artists, mostly Irish, such as Rory Erickson as well as show bands, had a history of doing things beyond the normal radio schmuck. Emerald Gem, along with its distributor Decca Records, snatched up the release rights and distributed it to the European market.

Touch My Soul originally sold astoundingly well and looked like it could possibly break-over in Europe in the various charts. However, unexplainably, no tour or press campaign was enacted, and eventually the sales died out, as could be counted on in such conditions.

Despite the lack success, the recordings have continued to grace various releases and live in their own right. In fact, the recordings have never sounded as current or relevant as they do today, giving credence to the remarks in 1975 that the music was way ahead of its time. It's usually not comforting to be a visionary, at least financially, but Tommy Dougherty and company proved themselves to be creators of a special occurrence that continues to go on.

Here are various CDs which contain material from the Touch My Soul recordings, which you can find at iTunes, Amazon and so forth: