“I want to say what I mean. Be practical, precise, to the point, and, at the same time, diplomatic.”
Born in 1946 and raised in Louisiana, Pastor Champion didn’t have an easy life. Between his mother being accosted by the Klan, his father’s gambling, and his own 90-day stint in jail for using a “whites-only” bathroom, the pastor had many sad stories of pain and injustice to tell, but he didn’t want to talk about those things. Instead, it seems, he preferred to sing of the good things, preaching the word of God. I Just Want to Be a Good Man, out now on David Byrne-founded label Luaka Pop, captures a recording of Pastor Champion (who served at the 37th Street Baptist Church in Oakland) singing and playing simple gospel songs on a two-track Nagra reel-to-reel before he died at the end of 2021. Honest music, a heart laid bare.
