Heaven at Last: Old gospel album gets new life and recognition

ANDERSON — Many religious leaders have lovely voices. But the sounds that poured out of Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Easter Sunday were beyond lovely: They were heavenly.

WRTV got the chance to hear Dr. Rev. Edgar M. Woodall preach and sing to his congregation that day. We were there to hear about his adventures in the world of music, and hearing his voice was an incredible introduction.

Dr. Woodall has been the reverend at the church since 1991, but he’s been singing even longer.

(Album photos courtesy Holy Grail Records)

“I (sang) before I preached,” Dr. Woodall said. “Though I would play with it a little bit as a child, you know – I did some… listening to the preachers I listened to.”

Preachers like C. L. Franklin (father of Aretha Franklin) and singers like Sam Cooke.

“That’s where I started trying to learn to control my voice, mimicking others – other singers, lead singers that is – and trying to copy and sound as close to them as I could,” Dr. Woodall said. “And from listening to various ones, I developed my own style of singing.”

Dr. Woodall began working on compositions with a group of friends.

“We were together a lot just working on music, you know. John (Hester) knew that I sang, that I was a singer, a lead singer. And they were looking for someone to be a lead singer in a group,” Dr. Woodall said. “Truth & Devotion was born.”

(Album photos courtesy Holy Grail Records)

In 1981, that gospel group of 8 men from Anderson, known as Truth & Devotion, cut their one and only record: Heaven at Last. The group’s conception and its sound direction are attributed mainly to one man.

According to Holy Grail Records Co-Founder Derek “Kas” Kastal, it was the brainchild of Dewayne Johnson.

“He’s the one that pretty much wrote all the compositions,” Kastal said. “He’s the guy playing the crazy synth lines on ‘Heaven at Last’ and ‘I Must See My Lord,’ but he passed away a few years ago.”

Dr. Woodall remembered the group called Johnson “Maestro.”

“It would make you run back and listen to it again like – ‘what did he just do?!’” Dr. Woodall said.

(Album photos courtesy Holy Grail Records)

Dr. Woodall said every guy had his place in the group. As he pointed out his old friends in an album cover photo, he told us about each one.

“This guy (pointing to Bill Miller in photo) – people would hire him to come and do Al Green. He favored him and his voice was a lot like Al Green,” Dr. Woodall said. “Garland – he was a percussion extraordinaire with all the chimes and bells. And this is the drummer I was telling you about: James Dixon. Short in stature but he was tall on those drums. He played some heavy drums.”

The band was one of the first groups to sign with Tyscot records, founded by Craig Tyson and Dr. Leonard Scott. It’s the longest-running Black-owned Gospel recording label in the nation.

“I remember meeting Dr. Leonard Scott,” Dr. Woodall said. “He was a great influence to us.”

The album was recorded in Indianapolis at the then-newly-built Audio Genesis Recording Studio.

“(It) was a beautiful studio, it was there on Meridian. The professionalism of that studio is kinda hard to put out of my mind. I just appreciate it so much,” Dr. Woodall said. “That was the second album that Tyscot records ever pressed up. So they were just testing the waters. Trying to figure out where they’re going as a label – so they didn’t put a lot of marketing into that release.”

A lack of marketing alongside financial troubles in Tyscot’s early years caused the album to fall into obscurity.

But then, in 2020, the baseline intro was sampled by producer Harry Fraud for Larry June’s Organic Miracles. A new interest in the group gained momentum. Marcus “Motif Alumni” Rucker of Holy Grail Records talked to WRTV about how hip hop can bring awareness to other genres of music.

“Jazz, gospel – all those genres – and through hip hop hearing what they were sampling and then finding what they were sampling and then going down the rabbit hole of who produced the record, who wrote the record, what label it was from,” Rucker said. “Hip hop was able to repurpose a lot of different genres of music and then bring it to people who probably never heard of it.”

With the newfound attention, the price of the original “Heaven at Last” record has skyrocketed. WRTV tracked down a copy at Shangri La Records in Memphis, Tenn., that totes a price tag of about $250.

(Album photos courtesy Holy Grail Records)

Dr. Woodall says the new interest is bittersweet.

“It feels good. I am just – in retrospect thinking – like, where were all these people then? Why couldn’t this have happened when we were 30 years old?” Dr. Woodall said.

Kastal and Rucker saw a need for a label to re-issue these forgotten masterpieces. That’s where Holy Grail Records came in.

“Holy Grail Records is a gospel, soul and jazz label that focuses on those genres from the time period of the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Kastal said. “And why we started that label was to give flowers back to the artist and labels that inspire what we do now. Also to bring a newfound attention back to the music as well, because a lot of this stuff was pressed in smaller quantities. (It) wasn’t really heard by a lot of people.”

The album is now available on vinyl and digital through the Holy Grail Bandcamp shop.

As for the Dr. Reverend, his mission to share his voice continues.

“Since God gave me that gift, I just want to put it out there and enhance what I do as far as for The Word,” Dr. Woodall said. “Enhance it with a song to the people. Singing not only about God, but to him. As long as I’m singing to the lord, people will be reached through my ministry.”