Oiltown, U.S.A.

Oiltown, U.S.A. was one of the first films made by the organization of the popular evangelist Billy Graham. This 1953 film was set in Houston and was the story of a hard-driving oilman who finds God.

Graham was set on using the popular arts as a publicity tool for his ministry, and he was able to get RCA to issue this 10-inch LP containing several musical numbers and one of his addresses.

On hand for the music was George Beverly Shea, a bass-baritone who has been associated with Graham since 1944 and who is still with us at age 100. Shea made many records for RCA in the 50s. Two of his songs here, accompanied by Paul Mickelson at the mighty Wurlitzer, are a bit somnolent, but the final tune with Ralph Carmichael's chorus and orchestra is well worth hearing.

The music also features Andy Parker and the Plainsmen, a Western group that had recorded for Capitol and appeared in films and on the radio. They back Redd Harper on one song, and, most notably, Cindy Walker on her own composition Christian Cowboy. Walker was one of the greatest country music songwriters, but somehow her performing talent escaped my notice until now. Here she shows herself as a superb singer (although with a lazy-S that I find oddly reminiscent of the young Wayne Newton). Christian Cowboy is a derivative of Riders in the Sky (recorded by everyone from Bing to Buckethead); instead of cowboys who have been damned to chase cattle across the sky, in Walker's version they are born-again riders who are roping souls.

Graham starts his sermon by telling the listeners (apparently a group of businessmen) that he isn't there to tell jokes or clever stories (which makes me wonder how many business groups would engage an evangelist to come in to tell jokes and clever stories). His remarks have an anti-Communist spin that put me in the mind of Bishop Fulton Sheen, heard in an earlier post; much different from the Bible-based comments of fellow evangelist Myron Augsberger, who made an appearance here not long ago.