The Mighty Name of Jesus from High Fidelity

One of our favorite young bluegrass acts of recent years has been High Fidelity, based around the husband-and-wife partnership of Jeremey Stephens and Corrina Rose Logston. Having met both of them separately in their teens, before they knew each other, their individual fidelity to the cause of traditional bluegrass music, as well as their undeniable talents, were clear from the start.

I first knew Jeremy as a banjo player, and a fine one at that, with his impressive knowledge of the style of Don Reno, but he is the guitarist with High Fidelity, at which he also excels. Banjo chores are taken up by Kurt Stephenson, who likewise harbors a keen familiarity with the playing techniques of the ’50s and ’60s, with Corrina on fiddle, Daniel Amick on mandolin, and Vickie Vaughn on bass.

The band’s repertoire consists of often forgotten classics from The Stanley Brothers, Reno & Smiley, Jim & Jesse, The Louvin Brothers, and other pioneers of what we now call traditional bluegrass, though it was a new and somewhat revolutionary sound at the time it was first recorded. But High Fidelity also brings forward new material written within the band that reflects the sound of that bygone era we love so well.

That’s just what we have in their latest single from Rebel Records, the first new music by the group in three years, from an upcoming gospel project called Music in My Soul, expected in September. It’s a new song Corrina wrote, and sings in duet with Jeremy, entitled The Mighty Name of Jesus. Had they said that the song was found on an old radio transcription by an unknown group from 1955, we would have believed it. Corrina has perfectly captured that style in this cheerful and engaging number.

She tells us that it fell upon her unbidden, like a direct connection with the Holy Spirit.

“The Mighty Name of Jesus is an incredibly special song to me. It came to me at a time in my life when I was struggling with mysterious health issues, and all I had to get me through was my faith in the Lord. Early one morning, I woke up with it playing in my head like a recording. I knew I could easily fall right back asleep, and I actually started to, but I thought, ‘I better just grab my phone to record this.’

I was so sleepy that I actually forgot that it existed for a few days! When I finally remembered something about it and listened to the voice memo, I was a bit in shock. It was like listening to a song for the first time, only it was me singing it! I had gotten three verses and two distinct choruses that morning. As I wrote out the words, the fourth verse came to me, so I wrote it out, too

I could talk on and on about the amazing things with this song. I hope it is an incredible blessing to everyone who hears it!”

The Mighty Name of Jesus is indeed a lovely song, performed with fine support from Corrina and Jeremy’s regular bandmates.

Have a listen…