A rare music gem, recorded around 1927. Before there was Mattie, Anna or Rosetta, there was... Arizona Juanita Dranes--a blind COGIC missionary, singer and pianist who is credited as the first person to ever play piano on a gospel record. Her first recording was in 1926, some six years before Thomas Dorsey's Precious Lord. Arizona Dranes is the musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe credited with influencing her raucous, syncopated style; Jerry Lee Lewis also credits her playing as an influence. Missionary Dranes' style of barrelhouse piano and intense sanctified singing essentially created what we know today as the gospel beat. Encouraged to record by COGIC founder Bishop C.H. Mason, Dranes recorded 16 songs for Okeh Records, from 1926-1929. As a result of the Great Depression, she stopped recording; however, she continued to travel and play for Bishop Mason at COGIC conventions and convocations.
