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Jerry Flemings, performing on the steel guitar at the Friday night worship service, Church of the Living God, Toccopola (Pontotoc County).
The Church of the Living God is a small denomination of churches found in the northeastern region of Mississippi. The churches are connected to a national church that was started in the early 1900s by a traveling evangelist (there are member churches in several other states). Like many other Pentecostal denominations, music plays a crucial role in the worship services of the Church of the Living God. However, unlike most other African American churches, the pedal steel guitar plays a prominent role in their music. It serves as a lead instrument in the band at the church and younger musicians are recruited and instructed in how to play the instrument.
The Toccopola church has the largest number of active musicians in the group of Church of the Living God churches in north Mississippi. Because of this, the church shares its musicians with several of the smaller congregations. The musicians travel and perform at several of the other churches in the region.
Photo by David Wharton.
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