Blues city: Justin Timberlake sings with Al Green at the Grammys.Credit: AFP
Visiting this city can be an uplifting experience, thanks to a reverend with soul, writes Kristie Kellahan.
I had the blues on the wintry evening I drove into Memphis, Tennessee. Long hours alone behind the wheel of a cheap rental car, counter meals at highway diners and an overdose of country-music radio had me seeing half-empty glasses everywhere I looked.
By the time I pulled into the historic Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis, I was seeking salvation, inspiration or perhaps a very large Jack Daniels. Memphians had other Saturday-night plans - half the city was cheering on the NBA home team, the Grizzlies; the other half was carousing on Beale Street.
The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir performs during the inauguration of US President Barack Obama.Credit: AFP
"I've come to Blues City but I don't want to feel blue any more," I confided to the Peabody's sweet concierge. "Maybe you should go see Reverend Al and get uplifted," he said, with a gentle shrug of his shoulders.
And that is how I found myself, at 10am on Sunday, driving out of downtown Memphis and towards the suburbs, past McDonald's, Big Bill Bar-B-Que, Krispy Kreme, World of Wings, and IHOP.
Swinging by the Graceland shrine with a respectful nod, I turned right from Elvis Presley Boulevard into Hale Street. Several ramshackle residential blocks later I arrived at my destination.
The Peabody Hotel.
Hallelujah, I was delivered to Bishop A.L. Green's Full Gospel Tabernacle Church. Better known worldwide as Al "Let's Stay Together" Green, a soul singer from the 1970s, his early career was a tabloid honeypot of hit singles, worldly temptations and scorned women (one of whom even threw a pan of boiling grits on him).
Green became an ordained pastor in 1976 and founded the Full Gospel Tabernacle on this Memphis suburban block. Today, 37 years later, it is a popular church with hundreds of parishioners from the greater Memphis area. Bishop Green (often referred to as Reverend Al) ministers here most Sundays, resplendent in bleached white robes and a neat 'fro, his showman-like presentation and impeccable grooming no doubt a hangover from his performing days.
Now a star of the gospel music world, he often tours and performs at churches around the globe. Green is there at Full Gospel Tabernacle in spirit even on the Sundays when he is absent; a life-size cardboard cut-out of the handsome cat is propped proudly in the foyer.
His congregants, predominantly African-American, sit crammed into wooden pews, spiffily dressed in their Sunday-best. One woman appeared to be wearing an ivory wedding dress, thriftily repurposed with a fur bolero jacket. Another inexplicably wore a gold paper crown, the kind that might be given to a child dining at Burger King.
There were gaggles of tourists - I overheard Australian, Italian and South African accents - and I silently prayed they would be better behaved than the out-of-towners who flock to the gospel church I attend in New York City. I've seen them arrive there in thongs and boob tubes, stand up and leave after the singing (while the minister is mid-sentence), decline to contribute a dollar to the collection plate and continue to take photos and video after being asked to put their cameras away.
I have even - I swear this is true - seen a group of tourists nibble on chicken drumsticks in the church pews as they waited for the choir to sing. The church does preach forgiveness, but this may be pushing it a little far.
With not a drumstick in sight at Full Gospel Tabernacle, Sister Pat and Sister Edith took the stage to welcome us all to the service and make announcements. The church's food bank thanked Evangelist Earline Reynolds for the donation of 20 pounds of sweet potatoes from her garden. Anybody needing help filling their pantry in winter should see the office. A special prayer list was read out. We were reminded that there would be one offering taken and, "remember, ladies and gentlemen, the Lord loves a cheerful giver!".
Announcements over, the 12-strong choir stood as one. Black women with glossy weaves and sharply suited men belted out soulful harmonies as the congregation clapped along enthusiastically and whoops of "Amen!" rose up. One woman stepped out of her pew and began to convulsively shake, spin her head around and around and moan. I was concerned she needed medical attention, or at least dance lessons, but nobody else seemed worried and after a while she sat back down.
Then at last, the moment we'd all been waiting for ... drum roll please ... Reverend Al! I half-expected trumpets, strobe lights and a troupe of bedazzled back-up singers to emerge. He strode out to thunderous applause,confident as a headliner at Madison Square Garden. Now 67, his dazzling smile has lost none of its wattage.
"Jesus is coming again, just like He said He would," Green proclaimed. On this day, he was preaching to the choir, as enthralled worshippers lapped up his unique sermonising style of gospel songs interspersed with readings from the Bible.
The first bars of People Get Ready were met with the sort of fervour normally reserved for a pop princess.
My Southerner friend Tiffany had warned me these church services can go "alllll day" if the Holy Spirit is strong and present. After three hours of hand-clapping singalongs, my need to visit the ladies' room was strong and present, so I slipped out. A beautifully dressed woman, who I reckoned to be in her 60s, was drying her hands. I complimented her on her great style and vintage feather hat.
"Why thank you, aren't you just darling," she said in a Tennessee drawl. "By the Lord's grace I am truly blessed and highly favoured."
We chit-chatted about my visit to Memphis and what had brought me to the church. Clearly a fan of Reverend Al, she told me he personally paid for the paper towels and hand soap, as well as the black Barbie dolls dressed in wedding gowns, displayed next to the hand dryers.
Out of nowhere, she gripped my arm softly. "Jealous people in this church always been saying that he and I had feelings for each other," she said, "but that would be a seee-en.
"The bishop and I, we just always loved each other as ... " - her voice dropped to a whisper - "as Christians."
I smiled, got into my car and drove away, feeling more amused and uplifted than I had in months.
The writer travelled with the assistance of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
United Airlines flies daily from Sydney and Melbourne to Memphis via San Francisco and Los Angeles, see united.com
STAYING THERE
The Peabody Memphis is a luxury historic hotel in downtown Blues City. Don't miss the Peabody ducks, trekking through the lobby twice daily. One-night bed-and-breakfast package from $US225 ($A250). 149 Union Avenue. See peabodymemphis.com
SEE + DO
Full Gospel Tabernacle is at 787 Hale Road, Memphis, see algreenmusic.com. Sunday morning worship, 11.30am. Check the website. The church is not serviced by public transport. Use a hire car or taxi.
THREE MORE AMERICAN GOSPEL SERVICES NEW YORK CITY
Bypass the well-trodden Harlem trail, where lines form for Sunday services and tourists sometimes outnumber congregants. Instead, go to Brooklyn Tabernacle, a non-denominational church with 16,000 members, whose Grammy-winning choir lifts the congregation to its feet, three times on any given Sunday. brooklyntabernacle.org
SAN FRANCISCO
Glide Memorial Church, one of the most progressively liberal churches in the USA, promotes unconditional love and warmly welcomes all congregants, including members of the LGBT community. The Glide Ensemble and Change Band performs stirring renditions of gospel classics, including Oh Happy Day, every Sunday at 9am and 11am. glide.org
NEW ORLEANS
You'll have more chance of sitting next to a New Orleans musician than another tourist at Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church's 10.30am Sunday service. All of the tourists will be paying for their pancake "gospel brunch" at the House of Blues on Decatur Street, leaving plenty of room in the pews for you at Zion Hill or at the 10.30am jazz mass at St Augustine's Catholic Church. staugustinecatholicchurch-neworleans.org
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