For anyone who has seen the documentary Amazing Grace, it’s hard to imagine a film to rival the one about the making of Aretha Franklin’s gospel album.
But the new film Stay Prayed Up contains equally ecstatic moments of a gospel singer in performance, in this case a not widely known but deeply gifted woman referred to as Mother Perry.For almost 50 years Mother Perry – Lena Mae Perry – has been singing hymns of praise as part of The Branchettes, a gospel group based in rural North Carolina.
She is the last surviving member of the original trio, and directors D.L. Anderson and Matt Durning built the film around the recording of her first live gospel album.The live recording was captured in April 2019, with Perry on lead vocals, “glittering keys from Wilbur Tharpe, soaring harmony and a thundering tambourine from Angela Kent, all backed by The Guitar Heels,” as the filmmakers note.“They performed two sets,” Durning noted during an appearance for the film in Santa Monica over the weekend. “It wasn’t the exact same show, but they ran it twice.
So we were able to make some decisions and to choose the camera positions and audience reaction shots and have two chances at that.”Perry in her rich contralto and The Branchettes recorded a range of religious music including the up tempo “Come By Here” and the emotionally gripping “I Don’t Feel Noways Tired.” Just as with the Amazing Grace film, it’s not necessary to be religious or Christian to enjoy the music and feel its uplifting impact.“My co-director, D.L .Anderson and I, neither one of us are very [religious] people,” Durning comments. “We never really felt a deep connection to organized religion.
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