“Georgia Tom” Makes His Mark

Song: “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”

“Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust also in Him; and He will do it” (Ps. 37:4-5).

In 1899, little notice was taken of a baby boy born in Villa Rica, Georgia, a small town about forty miles from Atlanta. He was around the church most of his early life. His father was a devout Baptist preacher and his mother was an organist. She started young Thomas on the piano when he was seven years old.

He became a Christian at age sixteen, but left the things of the church a few years later and became an entertainer. He had gotten a job in a club in Atlanta where he met many of the vaudeville entertainers of that day. He then decided to embark on a career as a blues musician and was for a number of years billed as “Georgia Tom.” He very shortly tired of that kind of life and felt constrained of the Lord to return to his Christian activities. He then began to write gospel songs.

He carried his blues rhythm into his gospel music, which was rejected by many of the church leaders. He later said, “I got thrown out of some of the best churches in those days. I felt like going back to the jazz field of music.” Yet, he continued to write songs and to train his choirs. He built such a following that it was not long before people began to flood into churches to hear his music.

By 1920, his travels had carried him to Chicago where he joined the Pilgrim Baptist Church. Because of his rededication to Christ, the Lord allowed him to become a leader in the field of gospel music. Dorsey wrote about three hundred songs and directed choirs for more than fifty years, most of that time at the Pilgrim Baptist Church.

In 1977, Thomas Dorsey told me the following story, which happened forty-five years earlier. During the time of the interview, although seventy-eight years of age, he was still the director of The Gospel Choir, one of four choral groups of the church. He was also President of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses.

He began, “My wife, Nettie, was about to bear our first child. I was called to St. Louis to sing in a revival. I wondered if I should go, because of my wife’s condition. She persuaded me that I should go ahead.

I asked a friend to go with me. When we were a good way out of town, I remembered that I left my music case at home. I knew that I must have my music, so I drove back to get it. At that point my friend decided that he would not make the trip with me after all. So I, alone in my Model A, drove to St. Louis.

During the first night of the meetings, a lad brought a telegram to me while I was still on the platform. It was horrible news. It was a message that my wife had died giving birth to our son.

I rushed to a phone while the people were still singing, and found that the message was true. Mr. Gus Evans drove me back to Chicago that night. When I arrived, I found that the wonderful, baby boy was seemingly fine, and yet, that night he also died. I buried my wife and little son in the same casket.

During the next few days, I became very despondent. I was filled with grief. I had thoughts of going back to the world’s music on the Chicago’s south side, and yet I knew that God had taken me out of all of that.

A few days later I went over to Madame Malone’s College, a neighborhood music school, to visit with my good friend, Professor Frye. We walked around the campus for a while, and then went into one of the music rooms.

I sat down at a piano and began to improvise on the keyboard. Suddenly I found myself playing a particular melody that I hadn’t played before. As I played I began to say, ‘Blessed Lord, blessed Lord,’ blessed Lord.’ My friend walked over to me and said, ‘Why don’t you make that precious Lord?’ I then began to sing, ‘Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, help me stand.’

When I finished the song, we began to use it before it was published. So many people wanted a copy of it that we put a rush act on the printer and got the song out. And it has been going ever since. I have gotten letters from people all over the world. I have traveled better than half way around the world myself. It was a great tragedy, but we got the message to the world.”

Thomas A. Dorsey learned a marvelous lesson that day. The Lord healed his spirit and gave him back his song. He learned, like many others since that time, that when we are in our deepest grief, when we are seemingly far from God, He is still close to us. During those times we need His restoring power. “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” has been translated into more than thirty languages and is sung in many countries around the world.

The Lord will never leave us comfortless nor will He forsake us. When we despair in the darkness of life’s afflictions, we need only to reach out and he will be there to answer every need and bring us into the warm glow of His light.

Lindsay Terry has been a song historian for more than 40 years, and has written
widely on the background of great hymns and worship songs including the books
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (2008) and The Sacrifice of Praise (2002).