Jesus Is Just Alright

The Doobie Brothers Lite edition in 1977

In November of 1977, I attended a Doobie Brothers concert at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. It was during a successful run for a revamped version of the band that featured Michael McDonald on keys and lead vocals, and guitarist Jeff Baxter, late of Steely Dan. The fact that the opening band was Pablo Cruise should have been my first indicator that this incarnation was a musically skilled, but much lighter variety of The Doobies. It also remains the only Rock concert I've ever taken a nap in the middle of, which should tell you more about the evening than anything else.

Prior to the personnel change, The Doobie Brothers were already certified hit makers under the leadership of Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston, whose unique singing voices graced early successes like "Listen To The Music" and "Rockin' Down The Highway". The Doobie Brothers' recording of "Jesus Is Just Alright" was first released on their second Warner Brothers album, "Toulouse Street", in 1972. It was then released in November 1972 as the second single from the album (b/w "Rockin' Down The Highway") and became a hit, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the following year.

The 1972 single. Note the writers credit.

Although none of The Doobies' band members were particularly religious, the band first became aware of "Jesus Is Just Alright" after hearing it done by The Byrds, and before long, the song had been added to The Doobie Brothers' concert setlists. The song's arrangement is very similar to the one used by The Byrds, although The Doobie Brothers' version includes a bluesy middle section that they added themselves. Brownie points to them for not getting greedy about a co-writing credit.

"Jesus Is Just Alright" became one of a number of God-themed songs to reach the charts between 1969 and 1973, along with "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, "Put Your Hand In The Hand" by Ocean, "Morning Has Broken" by Cat Stevens, "Jubilation" by Paul Anka, "Speak To The Sky" by Rick Springfield, the soundtrack album "Godspell", and the album most of my Catholic friends can still recall every lyric to, "Jesus Christ Superstar".

To this day, the song continues to be a staple on Classic Rock radio stations. Here's The Doobie Brothers with "Jesus Is Just Alright", in case your radio has been on for less than an hour.

So, as mentioned earlier, The Doobies adapted the song from The Byrds, whose recording was featured on their 1969 album, "The Ballad of Easy Rider". Although the album was a relatively hasty assemblage meant to capitalize on the success of the movie "Easy Rider", this version of The Byrds was up to the task; coming fresh off the unexpectedly difficult reception of their now-classic "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" album with more new-found focus than ever before, having been through yet another purge of the uncommitted from the Byrdhouse by band leader Roger McGuinn.

The song was introduced to The Byrds by their drummer, Gene Parsons, who had somehow been present in the studio when The Art Reynolds Singers recorded it for Capitol in 1966. The Byrds had added the song to their live concert repertoire some months prior to the start of the "Ballad of Easy Rider" recording sessions, and it had quickly become an audience favorite. The Byrds performed "Jesus Is Just Alright" regularly between 1969 and 1971, but the song appears to have been dropped and performed only rarely after that.

In this clip from a PBS documentary, Bill Graham introduces The Byrds at the legendary Fillmore East in September of 1970. I love finding archival stuff like this! I understand that the Telecaster played by Clarence White in this clip is now owned by Country singer and archivist Marty Stuart.

It was back in 1966 that Arthur Reynolds took the 5 best singers from his choir at the St. Vestal C.M.E. church and created the gospel singing group, The Art Reynolds Singers. As the first gospel group to record for Capitol Records, they soon became pioneers in the development of "Gospel Rock", although many traditionalists considered their music too secular for the time. Their first album "Tellin' It Like It Is", which featured "Jesus Is Just Alright", went on to become one of the biggest selling albums for a new gospel group, receiving local and national acclaim. One of the original members of The Art Reynolds Singers was a young lady named Thelma Houston, who went on to become a Grammy winner with her 1977 Disco anthem, "Don't Leave Me This Way".

While researching this article, I also discovered some questionable speculation that the main riff of the song may have been lifted from the 1957 Thurston Harris hit, "Little Bitty Pretty One". As there are but 12 notes in the scale, I can see where the earlier song may have suggested the riff, but it's certainly not a wholesale appropriation. I will say that I find it comforting that a song best known in its Classic Rock incarnation, came from a background of Gospel, R&B, and Country, and was finished off with a spot of Blues in the middle. I also see that there was an update of the song done in 2003 by DC Talk, adding some Hip-Hop to the mix. Now, if that ain't a textbook Rock 'n Roll pedigree, I don't know what is.

Here's the original recording of "Jesus Is Just Alright"! Raise yer hands in the air, y'all!

This video clip is the ONLY place I could find the original Art Reynolds song online. There's not even a listing at iTunes or Amazon, so you may have to scour the used vinyl bins if you're really jonesin' for a copy of this. Good luck.

You'll probably feel a whole lot better about finding music from The Byrds. Their entire Columbia catalog has been very nicely remastered and repackaged, with copious notes and a bargeload of bonus tracks and alternate takes. For those of you who just want a decent anthology, here's a very good one that neatly splits their career into 2 parts. But for those who are leaning toward the individual albums, I will heartily suggest the mammoth, 13 disc boxed set, which contains ALL of the spiffed up Columbia albums, with a book that details each track on every album. Yours for under $48, including shipping. That works out to less than $3.70 per disc. Such a deal.

And of course, music from The Doobie Brothers is easy to find at Amazon, or the budget bin of your local music emporium. If your Doobie needs are best served by a collection, here's your best bet. Personally, I feel their best work was early on, so I will also recommend this budget priced 5 disc box that has all the goods. There is a 2nd box set for you Doobie completists. The one caveat is that these box sets contain bare bones cd's with no liner notes or bonus material, but if you want the original albums as they were, this is a real good way to get 'em.