A sad, sad day for gospel music fans. Dottie Rambo, a Kentucky native, died when her tour bus crashed in southwest Missouri early this morning, May 11. She was traveling overnight from Illinois to northern Texas — about 700 miles — so that she could perform at a Mother’s Day concert at a Dallas-area church. Rambo, a huge musical talent, struggled in anonymity for years. Then she caught the attention of Jimmie Davis — a two-term Louisiana governor and the author of “You Are My Sunshine.” Davis and Rambo collaborated on music together for a time, before she stepped out on her own. She wrote thousands of songs over the years, including “He Looked Beyond My Fault (And Saw My Need)”, “I Go to the Rock”, recorded by Whitney Houston, and “If That Isn’t Love”, sung by Elvis Presley. Her song “We Shall Behold Him” in about 1980 was chosen as top gospel song of the year. Besides writing songs, Rambo also sang them, winning a Grammy in the 1960s. Growing up, her songs were played frequently in my church. “I Call Him Lord” was frequently sung during the Christmas season. “Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome” has been sung by millions. Rambo had a wide and surprisingly diverse circle of friends. She was close to Lilly Tomlin and Dolly Parton and Elvis and a bunch of other stars in Nashville and beyond. I thought Rambo was the greatest female gospel songwriter since Fanny Crosby and it was always an incredible delight to be able to interview her. Her life is over. Her songs will outlast us all.

“> Click here to listen to her song “Tears Will Never Stain the Streets of That City.”

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.