Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams

What’s appealingly apparent in the opening moments of this album’s first track, recorded 91 years ago, is that the instrument Washington Phillips used to accompanying himself was certainly a good match for his music, his messages, and his voice – which seems to have been made in heaven. It’s not clear though, even in Michael Corcoran’s meticulously and lovingly researched booklet-length liner notes (nominated for a 2018 Grammy, as was the album), what this instrument really was. Meagre photographic and textual accounts indicate that Phillips, a preacher and farmer in rural Texas, fabricated an invention of his own, never duplicated, in the form of a pair of zithers in a resonant box, dubbing it a ‘Manzarene’, possibly a reference to the Church of the Nazarene, with which he was associated.

Dust to Digital has assembled all the Phillips sides that were released as double-sided 78rpm discs by Columbia Records, recorded in Dallas, and several unreleased masters recovered later. This is early gospel, rather than blues. Most of the songs are original and all deal with matters of religion and the church, some as touching family tales, others as Biblical stories, testimonials, warnings, and even a couple of comparisons of sectarian sacraments, all delivered in sweet, chiming, charming fashion.