Listening to music with overt religious overtones – regardless of the religion – probably isn’t to the liking of most folks detached from organized worship. But it seems that the last decade’s worth of compilations from places like Thailand point to an enthusiasm to hear and bear witness to other cultures. So, if you dig R&B and rock sounds, don’t let the Jesusy implications of this album being helmed by a reverenced steal away any of the potential enjoyment. I mean, Rev. Gary Davis is probably one of the best guitarists to ever record a side and he loved Jesus. Rev. Louis Overstreet is just as cool – as Davis, not Jesus. Get it straight.

Either way, An Evening with Rev. Louis Overstreet was originally released through Arhoolie Records back during the early sixties, and recently reworked as a part of the Mississippi Records catalog. The album finds Overstreet, accompanied by his congregation, an electric guitar and a bass drum working through eight tracks in just under forty minutes or so. The pacings vary from track to track, but musically there isn’t a bunch of new ground being broken.

The thing is that, with the scant information kicking around regarding Overstreet, there seems to be a general apathy towards finding truths. He’s supposedly to have been born in 1947. This album, recorded in 1960 (or 1961 depending upon what source one might be examining) would find Overstreet heading a congregation at the tender age of fourteen or so.

Of course, not being a black dude from the South, or even alive during the sixties, the scenario may have been a common one. Just one I’ve not been exposed to. But hearing the good Reverend belt it out during “Working on the Building” can’t make listeners figure the man/boy leading this congregation for anything short of thirty (or forty) something years old.

Enough of that, though. What folks are here for is the music – or to be saved. Whatever one’s interest in this album, it’s sure to deliver a jangly, aggressive combination of secular and religious tones.

“I'm a Soldier in the Army of the Lord” comes might close to a Rev. Gary Davis track. Here, in the hands of Overstreet, the offering possesses a quick-step, jangly shuffle absent from the earlier player’s acoustic, finger picked version. But that difference points to the development of blues music. It’s still religious in nature on An Evening with Rev. Louis Overstreet, but could get passed off as rumblings from Detroit. Boss sounds.