Before I jump into the next group in my “Discography Series”, I periodically like to write about one of the albums from the stack of records I discovered in my dad’s closet when I was a kid back in the late 1970’s. These records are what lit the spark in me for Southern Gospel Music, and one record that I immensely enjoyed listening to as a kid is the album, “I’m Happy Now” by Steve Sanders. Along with this album, my dad also had Steve’s first long play album, “A Young Boy’s Prayer” in his collection, but for some reason I never really listened to that album much as a kid, as I was so drawn to his “I’m Happy Now” album, and it’s still one that brings me great joy when I listen to it.
Released in 1968, “I’m Happy Now” was Steve’s first album on Canaan Records. Steve had already made a name for himself by appearing on the Broadway show, “The Yearling”. Steve also appeared in the movie “Hurry Sundown” and made a guest appearance on the television show, “Gunsmoke”. Growing up singing gospel music, he had already released a few 45’s in the 60’s and recorded his first long play album, “A Young Boy’s Prayer” for MGM Records. During this time, Steve was appearing in concerts with such groups as the Sego Brothers & Naomi, Oak Ridge Boys and Florida Boys, ultimately catching the ears of Les Beasley, who eventually had Steve as a regular guest on the Gospel Singing Jubilee television program. Les would also convince Canaan Records’ head honcho, Marvin Norcross to sign Steve to the Canaan label, and Steve would go on to record 5 albums for Canaan Records between 1968-1971.
Produced by Norcross, “I’m Happy Now”, as the title implies, is a very happy and joyful album, and was pretty edgy for Canaan at the time. During the 60’s and 70’s, Canaan and Heartwarming were the major record companies in Southern Gospel Music, with Canaan being the more traditional/conservative label, and Heartwarming leaning more progressively, musically. With the Florida Boys providing background vocals for the album, “I’m Happy Now” features a heavy country feel and featured some major players from the Nashville A-Team playing behind Steve, including Floyd Cramer, Lloyd Greene, Harold Bradley, Bobby Moore, Grady Martin, Ray Edenton, and Buddy Harman, along with a nice violin string section as well. Along with Steve’s interpretations of these tunes, the music provided by these guys is definitely one of the reasons this has become one of my absolute favorite albums.
With a fun piano and electric guitar intro, the album kicks off with the invigorating title song, “I’m Happy Now”, which perfectly sets the mood for this album, before Steve turns in an exceptional performance on the Arthur Smith classic, “Not My Will”. Previously recorded by such groups as the Couriers, Blackwood Brothers, Weatherfords and others, I still rank Steve’s version as my absolute favorite rendition of the song, and in fact, this particular performance ranks as one of my all-time favorite recorded performances ever! Even as a kid, I was so drawn to this song and have always loved Steve’s intensely passionate delivery of this wonderful prayer of deep consecration. Tribute Quartet recorded a very laid-back rendition of the song on their 2020 recording, “Quartet Tribute: Volume 2”, which garnered them a #1 song in the Singing News chart for July 2022.
Keeping things in a thoughtful perspective, Steve sings the Jim Hill classic, “What a Day That Will Be”. This was probably my initial introduction to this song as a kid, and it remains one of my all-time favorite songs. I’ve always been extremely partial to Steve’s rendition of this tune, before business picks up, as Steve turns in an invigorating performance on the Hank Williams classic, “I Saw the Light”.
Slowing the pace back down to a nice, easy pace, we come to the country feel of, “Keep Your Mighty Hand on Me”, which was written by Florida Boys’ tenor, Tommy Atwood. This was a nice inclusion for this recording as it was a song totally in Steve’s wheelhouse, and he does a fantastic job on the song. Also, those Floyd Cramer piano licks just add so much flavor to the song as well!
The first side ends with the classic hymn, “Just Over in the Gloryland”, and this is my all-time favorite version of this song. Many people tend to record this song in normal “hymn mode”, but this is such a delightful and exciting performance, and has been the standard I measure every other version by!
Next to “Not My Will”, probably my favorite song on this album is the spiritual feel of “Keep Walking”. I would listen to this song over and over again as a kid and would try to sing it just like Steve. Wendy Bagwell & the Sunliters recorded a version of this song in 1962 that was similar to Steve’s, but it was done more or less as a novelty tune, whereas Steve delivers a very natural and yet, infectious performance. Other artists have recorded this song through the years including the LeFevres, Mark Lowry, Cathedrals, Wilburns and Oak Ridge Boys, but none delivered it with as much soul and excitement as Steve, and none come close in comparison to his performance of the song on this album. This would be an amazing tune for someone to bring back today, but it has to be someone with the right voice and enthusiasm to sing it like Steve did…somebody like Jonathan Wilburn, Russ Taff or Angela Primm could tear it up!
While Steve does a great job with “Suppertime”, I always felt that due to his youthfulness, the song just didn’t quite fit him, as the song recalls “the days of childhood”, and Steve was still a child at this point. Nonetheless, it’s a good rendition of the song before the tempo picks back up for another classic hymn, “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder”. One thing I loved about this particular arrangement is how Steve flips the lead, having the Florida Boys provide the typical lead melody line on the chorus, with Steve singing the call back lines. It’s another exciting performance and one of my favorites from this recording.
Steve seemed to really have a knack for singing emotionally driven story songs that pull on your heart strings, and “Which Road Leads to Heaven” totally fits that category. Written by Dottie Rambo, this is a beautiful ballad that features Glen Allred (of the Florida Boys) on the first verse, as he sets up the story, before Steve chimes in appropriately on the next verse. It’s a highlight of the album before the Florida Boys are prominently featured on the bouncy, “I’m on the Right Road Now”, which was written by Duane Allen of the Oak Ridge Boys, after which, the album concludes with a beautiful rendition of the Rusty Goodman penned classic, “Who am I?”.
Growing up, “I’m Happy Now” brought me many, many hours of listening enjoyment, as it was a very upbeat and exciting album that was quite different from the music that many in the quartet world were putting out at the time. I have to give a shout out to the Florida Boys, as they did an awesome job providing back-up vocals for this album. Along with the overall infectious, upbeat feel of the album, the musicianship, arrangements, vocals, and overall production value of this recording made “I’m Happy Now” such a wonderful listening experience for me.
Steve would go on to record 4 more records for Canaan…“Little Steve Sings Big”, “This is My Valley”, “In the Springtime of His Years” and “Now”, and would enjoy success with such songs as “A Child’s Request” and “This is My Valley”. Since Steve was a teenager during this time, with each successive album Steve’s voice would change slightly, and the youthfulness that initially made him such a fan favorite was beginning to wane. By 1971 or so, Steve had stopped singing regularly and we wouldn’t see him again as a singer until 1987 when he joined the front-lines with the Oak Ridge Boys, as he took William Lee Golden’s place when he departed the group. Just prior to that, Steve had been playing guitar with the Oaks in their band. The Oaks continued tremendous success with Steve as their baritone singer, but Steve would depart the group when Golden eventually returned to the Oaks 8 years later. Sadly though, Steve passed away prematurely on June 10, 1998.
Personally, I wish Steve had not left gospel music in the early 70’s, as I think with the right producer and song choices, he could have continued a very successful solo career, or even joined a gospel quartet as their baritone singer. Circumstances as they were at the time, he decided to move on, but thankfully he did find his way back to music with the Oak Ridge Boys several years later.
Despite his relatively short career in gospel music, Steve created some outstanding music, with “I’m Happy Now” being my personal favorite recording of his. The album is a happy culmination of a lot of wonderful elements and in my opinion, it was definitely one of the best albums to come out of the 60’s.
As I close, let me mention that we will begin a new series on another group. It’s a mixed group that has a very miniscule connection to the Kingsmen and their 1982 album, “Your Ride’s on the Way”. Who could it be? Find out next week!!!
