| God Be with You | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Jim Reeves |
| Cover: | God Be With You.png |
| Released: | February 1959 |
| Genre: | Country, gospel |
| Label: | RCA Victor |
| Producer: | Chet Atkins |
| Prev Title: | Girls I Have Known |
| Prev Year: | 1958 |
| Next Title: | Songs to Warm the Heart |
| Next Year: | 1959 |
God Be with You is an album of sacred songs recorded by country singer Jim Reeves and released in February 1959 on the RCA Victor label (catalog no. LPM-1950).[1] [2]
The album was Reeves' first of sacred songs.[3] He recorded the album shortly after signing a five-year extension of his contract with RCA Victor. In a single three-hour session on September 9, 1958, he recorded six standards: "God Be With You", "A Beautiful Life", "In the Garden", "Precious Memories", "Whispering Hope", and "The Flowers, the Sunset, the Trees".[4]
At the September 9 session, Reeves was backed by a woman guitarist Velma Williams Smith. At that time, there were no women working as session musicians in Nashville, and Smith later recalled that when she showed up at the September 9 session, Reeves gave her a look as if to say, "I bet this is gonna be good."[4] Smith went on to work on many of Reeves' records.[4]
On the album's release, Billboard wrote: "He does a top notch job. Performances are sincere and skilled, and the recording job by Chet Atkins is excellent."[5]
Biographer Larry Jordan wrote that Reeves was at his "most moving" when singing sacred songs, citing "Evening Prayer" and "God Be With You" as prime examples.[6] Of the songs recorded at the September 9, 1958 session, Jordan wrote: "The religious songs he mastered that day have been enjoyed countless times by legions of his fans in the ensuing decades.[4]
Side A
Side B