I took the time Wednesday afternoon to watch a video of The Cotton Patch Gospel, a show derived from a homely re-telling of the Gospel of Matthew by a Georgia preacher, Clarence Jordan, the script by Tom Keyes, who narrates and plays most of the characters, accompanied by a singing bluegrass quartet. It’s quite a show. The production is a stage play shot in front of an audience. Very often, this is bad business, but the directors, Michael Meece and Russell Treyz, have calculated angles and shots very carefully, perhaps editing in some very careful post-production shooting.

What gets me in this show is the music, though; music by Harry Chapin. Most of his work has a latte odor about it, too much carefully plotted irony to be healthy, but this is different. i don’t know the state of Mr. Chapin’s spiritual life, but he invested much of it in the music for this show. Some are for fun–”It Ain’t Easy Growin’ Up to Be Jesus, for instance– and to advance the plot, but some hit ethereal moments that are very moving. “When I Look Up” and “You Are Still My Boy” come to mind.

Joel Humphries put this on maybe eight years ago at the Camille Playhouse here in Brownsville. I was the so-called musical director– I did help assign parts and ran the music rehearsals–but mainly I think Joel was rewarding a loyal trouper. It was a blast and very well received. Several of the board members wanted to make it an annual event. Fortunately, by the time they were lining up the next season, I believe Joel had moved on to Harlingen.

Still, it’s a wonderful show. At one point, one of my retirement pipe dreams was to work it up as a traveling one-man show and make up a circuit of country churches to take it through. Of course, that was before one of those anti-epiphemal moments I have from time to time, and the love of religion skittered out of my shoes.

yet, I wonder……