Interviewer and Recordist: Stephanie E. Little. Recorded at the Church of the Living God (Toccopola, Miss.) Some unavoidable background noise, one interruption and recording not stoppe

Hollister, Jamison

Little, Stephanie E.

Worthem, Mary H.

eGrove (Univ. of Mississippi)

University of Mississippi American Music Archive Field School  Accession Number: ama2009001SL01004.doc  Document Type: Field Note Field Worker: Jamison Hollister Coworker: Stephanie Little Location: Church of the Living God, 320 Stockard Rd., Thaxton, MS. Begin Date: May 20, 2009 End Date: May 20, 2009 Event: Interview with choir director Mary Wortham Elapsed Time: 2 hrs 45 min, approximately  Me and my colleague, Stephanie Little, drove to Toccopola to Church of the Living God to attend Wednesday service and interview Mary Worthem. Stephanie was the interviewer. When we first arrived at a few minutes after 6 PM, we saw our professor for the field school class, Dr. David Wharton. We entered the building and Dr. Wharton was talking to Pastor Worthem and Quay Worthem. We thanked them for being so kind to us and helping us out through the course of the field school class. He assured us we were welcome back any time and to go in and take a seat.  When we first walked in I was confused because I heard a room full of people but saw nobody. As we approached the front I realized that everyone was there and they were all on their knees with their elbows on the pews (they were turned around backwards). Everyone was praying. What struck me was the individuality of the prayer: there were people simply praying in silence, praying in a whisper, occasionally shouting a little and some actually sang their prayer. It was cacophonous and almost like being in a loud restaurant with every person having his or her own conversation out loud. However, they seemed to cohere in some strange way, music-like in waves. There was a drone that was highlighted by individual utterances. I had never witnessed anything like this before and I was listening as best I could, but the most noticeable aspect was definitely the individuality and self-expression that went into these prayers.  As usual, the room was brightly lit and the ambience was joyous. Pastor Worthem proceeded to the front and his sister-in-law Mary Worthem sat up front with him. Then a woman came to the front and was asked to lead a song. She thought about it and chose “My God is an Awesome God.” I had heard this song several times before, but I had never heard it sung like this before. Rather than the typical major version, this had a modal (not quite “all the way” minor, but definitely not major) bluesy feel to it. This went on for about 10 minutes or so. Then the lesson began. Most of the readings were out of Peter. We did not have a Bible, so Macy Worthem got one for us. Ironically, our Bible was missing some pages, including Peter, so we borrowed another Bible from someone else. The other readings were from Revelations, Galatians and John (3:16). The theme of the lesson was “Christian citizenship.” Throughout the service, Pastor Worthem led, and he used the analogy of being a citizen of the U.S. to being a citizen of Heaven. He argued that much in the way one has to agree to and go through certain steps to become a citizen in the U.S., the same must be done to be a good Christian and enter into Heaven. Some of the major themes he talked about were premarital sex, work ethic, the power of prayer and being good to your neighbor. The sermon was centered around letting the Holy Ghost into your life, and spoke of the grand aspects of heaven. Much of the sermon was worked into the framework of a strong acknowledgement of the Heaven/Hell dichotomy. He asked people to stand up and read the verses. Mary Worthem and Joe Worthem were two people that did this, along with 2 or 3 others. They would read a line or so, then he would jump in and explain or expand upon the idea and put it into more familiar or rather “non-King James words.” This went on for about an hour or so, then they began saying some closing prayers. I noticed towards the end of the service that a large man in a sheriff’s uniform came in and sat behind us. He was with a white lady in hospital scrubs. I could not tell whether or not they were married or in a relationship together, but found this interracial relationship interesting. Also, Pastor Worthem thanked us again for coming and asked us if we had anything to say. The 3 of us each gave a brief thanks to the congregation for their kindness and hospitality. Shortly after prayers, they began to sing the song “You Pray For Me, I Pray For You.” They had sung this song the last time I went to their service. I later asked Mary Worthem in the interview if they sung this regularly and she said it was one of Pastor Worthem’s favorite songs, so they in fact did. After this there were some closing prayers and some announcements were made. Then everyone stayed around for a while and conversed. I met several people, shook hands and thanked them for being so welcoming. Dr. Wharton left at this point.  Then we met up with Mrs. Worthem  (hereafter known as MW) and went to the office in the back to conduct the interview. It was a small room, probably 10’x10’. MW sat behind the desk and Stephanie and I sat on the other side (me on the left her on the right). Stephanie was conducting the interview and I was the recordist. There was a little bit of background noise from people in the sanctuary conversing in the recording, but I thought it was unavoidable and we went with it. MW is a very nice lady, and seemed to be pleased to do the interview. She is 50 something (I can’t remember her exact age), wears glasses and her hair is chin-length and very neat. Her answers were very brief and concise, she was not a rambler. Stephanie asked her questions and she gave very good answers, but was not intent on expanding upon most of her ideas. She had led a very interesting life; she was born in Alabama, moved to Indianapolis, then moved to Mississippi, where she had live for close to 30 years. She discussed growing up and how she and her family was very musically oriented, but only within the scope of religious music. All of her life she had only sung religious music and didn’t seem to express much interest in secular music. She admitted to liking some secular music, but she didn’t seem to have much to say about it. One thing I found particularly interesting was her songwriting. She never gave a number, general or finite, of how many songs she had written, but I got the impression it was quite a few. She had done a recording years ago, but wanted to make a CD with her original music. She said she didn’t write all the time, but did when the “spirit spoke to her.” Her religious experiences were her inspiration for writing, especially as she only wrote religious songs. Also, I found it interesting that she had tried out for the Word Network, a Christian television channel, for a show which she described the tryouts. She said in some aspects, that it was very similar to the American Idol tryouts on TV today. She said she did not make it but enjoyed the experience.  While we were in the office doing the interview, a girl, who I assumed to be her daughter came in and looked appalled that she had come in there during the interview. We all thought her reaction was pretty funny. Throughout the interview on occasion, Stephanie asked me if I had any questions for MW. I asked her how she taught the choir to sing if she did not read music, and she told me that she just told them what to do, which I thought was quite an impressive ability. After the interview we thanked MW and looked over the release. I altered it to specify that her interview would only be used for scholarly purposes in the archive, and that she should be contacted if any other inquiries were to be made. The interview was fairly brief, but we got some great information and insight into MW’s life in music. When we left the room, the little girl was waiting outside as was her husband (can’t remember Mr. Worthem’s name). They were apparently waiting on her and we apologized for the wait. We again thanked them and departed at around 8:45 PM.  

Interview with Mary H. Worthem, church musician

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