John Chmaj, Live at Pleasant Valley, August 11, 2008

In ones’ lifetime one is privileged a few precious times to participate in a happening – an event where the hearts, souls and intentions of those present are so focused and attuned that for a brief time a timeless, transcendental reality takes shape. As a result we are all uplifted together, and can build and view a new potential for ourselves as a people capable of eternal connectedness and joy. Such a happening took place at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Carthage Texas on the evening of August 11, 2008. The event was the return of Pastor Patronelli Wright to the place of her musical upbringing, her father’s church and her original musical center. Pastor Wright has been on a long adventure since she last set foot here in 1961 as a young adult – she has built one of the most successful gospel choirs in the nation, performing in dozens of countries and winning numerous awards. Yet each time she performed since then she was in some sense a visitor – tonight she was coming home to Carthage. For months it was clear to those who would be accompanying her and the choir that this was a precious and blessed event. It would be a chance to bring the gift of her choir community back to the altar of her home as an offering: the children she had raised musically, spiritually and personally into the choir, the precious relationships and voices so carefully nurtured and matured.
Carthage is a small town, in eastern Texas, a quiet corner of the South, yet the faith and passion for God and Jesus is a sustaining force and a thread which binds much of the community together. Performing in the church would be at once familiar and new – gospel is the universal musical language spoken here, but Carthage had not yet heard the honed, focused and downright spiritual force that IS the Total Experience Gospel Choir. This version of the choral group is relatively compact (12 singers total with piano and drum accompaniment), but their tone is focused and sharp, the sound is strong and clear, and the group sings as one voice, rising, falling and swaying under Pat’s expressive hands. Those of us who have enjoyed the choir in concert knew this was to be a treat, and had heard them sing in service in nearby Walnut Grove just the previous day to great effect. But tonight was to be something different – it was a testimonial to the source of the choir’s power, in the very crucible where its founder was reared, and in the context of praise and prayer to God. The choir was presenting itself as an offering to God, and we were all to bear witness to this sacrament.
The Pleasant Valley church community was warm and engaging. They filled the church and brought their own singers and performers to bless the evening, including some very talented vocal soloists and their own choir and organist. The congregation demonstrated from the first note that they were there to truly ‘have church tonight’, and supported every praise and plea from the musicians. It was clear how Pastor Pat’s sound could originate here, as the same boisterous, joyous energy flowed from these singers as from Pat’s voice whenever she sings even a single line. Many of her kin, teachers and family friends were in attendance and the energy and expectation built as we moved towards the main performance.
The offering for the evening was to support the TEGC’s mission, their reason for the trip south – to continue work on homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina in the long-neglected Gulf Coast area of Mississippi. This group of folks from this small town offered up, on this one night, over $1000 from their resources to support this mission, an act of love and generosity that showed incredible support for the choir and its work.
Finally it was time to unveil the main act. Early on the choir had warmed up and teased the crowd with its reverent rendering of the Lord’s Prayer. Now it was time for serious praise – starting with “Excellent” and proceeding through a virtuoso run of ballads, choral hymns and downright funky stuff (all the way through to their Electric Slide at the end) the group sang like a force of nature. It was clear that Pastor Pat was giving prayer to God in the presence of her family and father, and the choir’s focus was intense and absolute. Every voice was strong, every phrase clear and precise, and each soloist inspired and arresting. Tears were shed throughout, both on the stage, between performers and among the audience, for any number of reasons. For it was clear that here, tonight, the echoes of Carthage were passing through Pastor Pat and her instrument – the choir – back through to the very people of Carthage themselves. The cycle of spiritual communication was completing itself through all those present. All had come with open hearts and ears to God; even so the choir provided something more, a sense of an ever-present heavenly host, of infinite, never ending praise that washes over, through and around each soul. Pastor Pat herself was transported, and sang as I have never heard her sing, adding runs, expostulations and exclamations with a force and power that shook the ceiling and the walls. This was something more, much more, than music. It was the soul’s return to itself, the Song of Songs, a living prayer of purpose and potential. At the end she invited the youth she had included in this journey from East Shore Unitarian to come up and join, and as the choir administered hugs and hope through the audience, the music rang far and long in a continuous echo of appreciation to both God and those assembled. Ironically it was the choir who sang of gratitude after administering such a powerful musical memory.
I cannot say how the good folks of Carthage experienced this event - though it was plainly clear that the concert was a great success as a concert, and many in the crowd could not bring themselves to move until long after the event had officially ended. At least two dozen people sat and continued to absorb the energy of this extended musical prayer. All present had been moved by Pats’ deeply personal confession of love and fealty to God and her family. Great music communicates such powerful feelings and prayers that it imprints its messages directly on the soul. There can be no more powerful medium for heart to heart communication, and when many hearts come together filled with such love, gratitude, and respect the outcome is creative joy – the kind that continually adds to itself, ever outward, ever inward – the electricity of our souls forming a mutually reinforcing generator of infinite power. THAT is the message of love, of music and of community, when we reach and realize the true ‘church’ in ourselves and in so doing bind to each other as brothers and sisters.
This was Pastor Pat and the choir’s gift to us: the experience of ALL coming home together, and channeling our connections to create a shared community of love, for a few short hours musically, but in spiritual terms tilting towards eternity. I will always hear Carthage in Pat’s voice now, as I’ve had the good fortune to be there when she returned to her musical roots and shared the fruits of the tree that had grown so tall and so far from there over so many years.
Blessings to you all – John Chmaj