Kronos Quartet have shared the third single from their forthcoming tribute album, and it is a genuinely moving piece of work. “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away” is out now, drawn from ‘Glorious Mahalia,’ arriving April 3 via Smithsonian Folkways, a concept album dedicated to the life and legacy of gospel singer and civil rights activist Mahalia Jackson. The San Francisco string quartet has built the project around archival recordings and new compositions, treating Jackson’s voice not as a historical artifact but as a living, guiding force.
The original “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away” is a 1935 gospel composition by Antonio Haskell, recorded by a 25-year-old Jackson in 1937, vibrating with the hopefulness and spiritual intensity that would define her entire career. Kronos Quartet’s arrangement, crafted by composer Jacob Garchik, builds directly from that original recording. Violist Hank Dutt melodically accompanies Jackson’s vocal line, while the ensemble employs heavy metal practice mutes to create an organ-like soundscape that expands the original into something rich and entirely contemporary.
‘Glorious Mahalia’ as a full album is an ambitious and carefully constructed project. It incorporates archival audio from a 1957 live performance in Chicago and a 1963 interview with Studs Terkel, alongside new compositions from Stacy Garrop, Garchik, and Zachary James Watkins. Newly recorded reflections from Clarence B. Jones, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speechwriter and lawyer, speak directly to Jackson’s role in the Civil Rights Movement, including her historic instruction to King at the March on Washington: “Tell them about the dream, Martin.”