The Little Church in the Wildwood

By Bryce Martin

I was driving home early Sunday morning through Bakersfield Listening to gospel music on the colored radio station And the preacher said, "You know you always have the Lord by your side" "Far Away Eyes" (Mick Jagger-Keith Richards) 1977 Sort of like Mick Jagger (sort of because the actual event preceded The Rolling Stones song) I was leisurely driving down Union Avenue one quiet Bakersfield Sunday morning when most of the radio stations were broadcasting religious programming. I finally gave in and quit twisting the knob. Music from a piano sounded so familiar. Not the song itself as you might expect but something about how the music was being played. A voice came on, not a familiar voice, but a voice that spoke a familiar language. "Tune in again next week," it said, "when you'll again hear a broadcast from the Little Church in the Wildwood, Sarcoxie, Missouri. Until then..." Sarcoxie, Missouri? I knew it. Here I was miles from home in California, and just a little bit of home I recognized right off from a snippet of radio. There amounted to town churches, but a good number of churches in Missouri remained from pioneer days and were located in what might aptly be described as the wildwood. One could only imagine that was not exclusive with Missouri. There was in fact a song with a title about a church in the wildwood, and I was told years ago it was a song written many years hence about a place far from Missouri. I knew the gospel show from Sarcoxie was not a live broadcast. Radio stations played either a tape or a long-play record submitted to them. it amounted to a paid advertising from the church doing the promotion to the radio station. The church in these instances always asked for money, usually near the end of the broadcast, to stay on the air. No money from your area and they moved on to another area. Church music was a part of growing up. I heard it not only in church and local radio and television programs, but around my house with songs from Grandma as she sewed and did chores and at the houses of relatives who practiced songs of worship and praise on parlor pianos. I got mixed up a little on two songs, "The Bible Tells Me So" and "Jesus Loves Me." The first one was written by cowgirl Dale Evans and the second one Grandma sang around the house. What created most of the mixup was that "Jesus Loves Me," whether intentional or not, references the other song with its line "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." I'd hate to think what lyrics I might get mixed up growing up today. Was that "ho" or "mo?" And what kind of memories I might have from them. A stretch? A cheap shot? As I look around, I think maybe not. -30-