Book Review: Then Sings My Soul

Title: Then Sings My Soul

Author: George Beverly Shea

Date: 1971

Publisher: Fleming H. Revell / Pyramid

ISBN: none

Length: 158 pages

Illustrations: black-and-white photographs

Quote: "[T]he writing of this book was not the struggle I expected, but rather a rewarding, enjoyable venture."

And why shouldn't it be? George Beverly Shea recalls the sort of pleasant, successful life for which envious people might hate him: no major hardships, barely enough setbacks in his early years to provide any suspense at all, and even then we all know there's a happy ending ahead. Adventurous, in the sense that he travelled a lot and met some famous people, but essentially bland. Not being an envious person, I hope his life really was as mellow as he's made it sound in this short memoir. (Probably it was--he did live to the age of a hundred and four.)

The major crossroads in Shea's life was deciding whether to be an opera singer or a gospel singer. As the world now knows, he chose the latter...and thus distinguished himself in a genre that became more, rather than less, popular over his lifetime. His opera-trained voice definitely stood out in a field where many recording artists tried to sound untrained and "folksy."

About himself, Shea says that "no one has ever used 'loquacious' as an adjective in front of my name." He has more to tell us about the songs he sang, why he liked them, who wrote them, and so on, than about any private thoughts or feelings of his own. We do learn that he was always called "Beverly" as a young lad in Canada, that people there thought "Beverly" sounded like a boy's name and he liked it well enough until he shared the stage with a woman called Beverly Taylor. He also shares the story of how he met his wife and where the rest of his family lived. However, his introvert image is enhanced, not altered, by Then Sings My Soul.

A substantial amount of the 158 pages is given to song lyrics. Most of these songs are still being sung, in churches, around campfires, and on live gospel music broadcasts, so even if you don't remember Shea's recorded versions you may find yourself singing as you read. A few of the songs were written by Shea's friends and appear as parts of stories, like the well publicized story of Stuart Hamblen's recovery from alcoholism.

If you remember Shea's performances, have saved or acquired his recordings, or would like to enrich your own performances with a little patter about the history of classic gospel songs like "How Great Thou Art" and "It Took a Miracle," then you will probably want this book.

To buy it here, send $5 per book, $5 per package, plus $1 per online payment to the appropriate address at the bottom of the screen. At least five more books of this size will fit into one $5 package.