Brother Claude Daniel Ely, coined as the King Recording Label's "Gospel Ranger" of the Appalachian Mountains, was born in Pucketts Creek, Virginia.
[1] The book is based upon oral history ascertained from over 1,000 personal interviews Dr. Ely conducted with musical artists, ministers, and Appalachian residents who remembered the singer/preacher.
The set, entitled Ain't No Grave: The Life & Legacy of Brother Claude Ely, was released in 2010 by Dust-to-Digital out of Atlanta, Georgia.
Ely and many others ... foreshadow the rock-and-soul explosion, when church-reared performers such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin fused sanctified and secular style to revolutionize pop music.
[4] Dana Jennings, editor for The New York Times, wrote: It's sanctified singing like Ely's that we hear echoes of in Elvis and Little Richard, in James Brown and especially in Jerry Lee Lewis ...