Special Section: He's Able

The Peoples Temple choir recorded an album in 1973 entitled He’s Able, which offered a sampler of the music that Temple members would listen to, both during church services themselves and on the record players in their homes. As Brian Kevin says in the introduction of the first article, “It’s a twelve-song collection, a mix of old spirituals, gospel-inspired originals, and a couple of late ’60s Top 40 hits, all performed by a full choir and an eight-piece blue-eyed soul outfit with a hot brass section.”

The articles below are by producers and performers on the album, as well as a longer work by Brian Kevin. The music of He’s Able may be found online here, listed by song title in the third paragraph.

1. Songs (Largely) in the Key of Life, by Brian Kevin
2. He’s Able: Reflections from the “Hot Brass Section”, by Mike Cartmell
3. Making The He’s Able Album, by Laura Johnston Kohl
4. Confessions of a Junior Choir Director, by Donald Beck
5. “Sing the song of life … Follow your dreams,” by Jack Arnold
6. He’s Able: An After Word, by Brian Kevin