•
- .
join to
more
t r
po er o m ic i
it' l t tra fo
i t
from
F ith.
Born in th nd
de p ir of live lived behind the
maximum ecurity b of t
DC e S te Penitentiary in h-
ville, the m ic of e F ith i
nothin le than joyo
procl m lion 0 pirt 1 liberation.
The ro d to t rete e long
nd indin nd th man who led
the way i the ptly n med M
Dill rd.
Hi tory i i If a f
th t beg n when, n
in 19-ye r-old m ici n, he
given hi first prof ional oppor­
tunity, playing guitar for the Otis
Redding cut "Sweet Soul M Ic, "
WH T OLLOWED w
f t cent up the 1 dder of ucce .
With hi partner Je Boyce, Dil­
Ian! worked witha numberofm jor
music t rs, mo t notably Peabo
Bryson, well recording a
tring of chart-topping dance hi in
the mid and late 1970s. By the
e rly 1980s, Dillard had put
together an impre ive re ume that
included e sion nd stage stints
with, among others, Al Green, The
Crusaders, Joe Cocker and Charlie
Daniels.
Dillard's career status was, in
fact, matched only by a pritual
hunger in his life - a hunger that
led him, in 1982, to begin theologi­
cal tudies at the American Baptist
College, and later at Vanderbilt Un­
verisity, where he earned ter
of Divinity degree .. Yet even as he
was ansering the call, Dillard con­
tinued to ee a way to combine his
faith with hi lifelong love ofmuisc.
The opportunity pre ented itself
w hen Dill rd undertook a prison
mini try as part of his Vanderbilt
studies. The field work took him
behind the wall of the Tennessee
State Penitentiary where group of
men had joined the choir of the
prison chapel to combat what Dil­
lard calls "the slow death" of prison
life.
The nearly twenty-member
choir was comprised of inmates
with lengthy entence for eveyting
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Cherie Ewing
TIl UL TI G tape of four I
son , written nd rranged by Dil­
lard, Boyce and tbe group, led or- �
man to ta e the next step. ". 10:
imp ed by what I heard that. told :
them to go head and finish. whole ,
lbum. I knew there w a gospel •
mar et for thi group, but I also uw I
an R&B connection."
To bolster that connection, or-:
mam m de arrangements for lOme :
very special gues to ppear on tb •
album. Sam Moore of Sam & Dave ,
agreed to ing on the trac "I Am I
Amazed," while Teddy Pendergrau
lent hi distinctive vocals to "You'
Were Alway There." �
Two year, and innumerable :
changes later, thi ploneering ex- •
periment in the transforming po er •
of music can be beard in one of tbe
most unique albums ever record.
Produced by Mo e Dillard nd •
Jes e Boyce, and wi th proceed
going toward victim restitution and •
the e tabU hment of other prison :
music mini trie , New Faith fea- .
tures nine tracks, ung from th"
heart by men who may never have
the chance for the fame and fortune
of musical stardom. It is, rather, the
ound of celebration, of liberation,
from voices lifted high above the •
walls th t confine them.
"We went from no faith to new
faith," is bow Dennis McMillaA ..
puts it, and that miraculo procell.
can be heard on every note of New :
Faith.
NEWFAITH"
form murder to armed robbery and
included Victor Shears, who, a part
of Tennessee's Repeat Offender
law, was serving a life term for
stealing hub cap .
Ewing and Carl Smith.
adding with a Jaugh, "We haven't
alway been choir boys, but once
we were in here we didn't have the
tool to improve our lives ... until
Moses came along."
"We came from all orts of back­
grounds," adds Carl Smith.
really what we wanted to be doing.
We were after omething more up­
beat, more modem."
Moses volunteered his own con­
siderable musical expetise and from
this small beginning anf extraordi­
nary experiment in faith, hope and
healing took hape.
"At first organizing the group
wa unholy hell," contiunues Dil­
lard, with a laugh. "They bickered
and fought. Th y weren't used to
cooperation. And they were check­
ing me out too, eeing if I was
genuine."
The number of inmate com­
mitted to the project, meanwhile,
began to hrink, until Dillard was
left with a core group that indued
Victor Shears. who with no musical
training became the group' lead
inger. He was backed by Dennis
McMillan, Malika Haki, Charles
ANOTH R
DEDI ATED
. member, Ira Williams, wa relea ed
after a 17 -year sentence, but
returned to the pri on on a regular
basis to take part 10 the group.
Even as Dillard and longtime
collaborator Jes e Boyce began
haping the raw energies and talents
of the inmates - writing and ar­
ranging new material and recording
early demo - a new attitude was
. al 0 emerging.
"Before this group there was no
positive influence in our lives,"
remark Haki. "We were faced
with having to deal with the reality
of our ituation, day in and day out.
Meal, visiting hours and work­
that wa it. ".
"We were urrounded by hope­
lessne ," agree Charle Ewing,
"WHENEVER. WENT there,"
recalls Dillard, "I was reminded
that the founder of Christianty was
a condemned criminal who did time
on death row. Pri on was where I
had my re 1 conversion experience.
the humbling experience inex­
tricably linked with the e guy.
With them locked up, a part of me
felt locked up."
The key to tho e lock wa
music. "Mo e "Yas leading a Bible
study in 1987," recounts Dennis
McMillan, another lifer, "and after
a 'while we built a trust. We told
him that the tradtitional mu ic we
were singing in the choir wasn't
"SOME OF US were from
Christian familie, orne of us had
been expo ed to Islam and a lot of
were till working it all out. But
Moses didn't put any kind of
spritual pressure on us. He just
created an atomo phere where we
could feel good about ourselves."
"Moses saw we had talent,"
ums up Ira Williams, "and made us
dig deep down and bring it up."
The excitement surrounding the
fledgling group soon spread to the
entire prison, inmates and ad­
ministration alike. "We needed
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