Despite being one of Memphis’s most long-running, prolific and popular gospel groups, The Jubilee Hummingbirds’ story remains largely unwritten. Early members O.V. Wright and James Carr — both of whom crossed over into secular music while singing with The Jubilee Hummingbirds — have guaranteed their mention in soul circles, but for a group with such a presence in their home city, and a generous multi-label discography that began on wax in the mid-‘60s and continues to this day, the Hummingbirds are a living, breathing example of the ever-present yet invisible place that gospel music, by its very design, can occupy. Their 1983 LP, Gospel Express, was just one chapter in the rich history of The Jubilee Hummingbirds, but a significant one that deserves a deep focus. They were a little over halfway through their eighty-four-years-and-counting history when these recordings were made and they’re still singing today, now under the leadership of William "Redd" Watson. In 1983, shortly after Watson joined the group the ‘Birds landed on Bishop Bobby King’s Gospel Express imprint. The vinyl-hustling enigma behind such street-level setups as Hub-City and Home-Boys, King was a ghetto gospel impresario who went by so many different names that much of his activity is still a mystery. King’s calling card was the cut-and-paste album cover, which was almost ahead of its time in its crudely-collaged aesthetic. Gospel Express is being given a second lease on life in this RSD Black Friday edition.
