Jerry, Buddy & Zoomer
Zoomer Roberts: lead vocal & guitar
Buddy Winston: banjo & harmony vocal
Jerry Boyer: harmony vocal
recorded 1985 at the Chamizal Theatre
Woody Guthrie took an old song about Jesse James, changed a few names, and had himself a "new" outlaw ballad: "Jesus Christ". I know people who don't like it because rather than proclaiming the divinity of Jesus, it deals with the opposition He encountered regularly throughout His travels and ministry, culminating in His death and burial. It's a ballad, not a hymn. The first time I ever heard Woody sing this song, I thought the line "they laid Jesus Christ in His grave" was "the late Jesus Christ in His grave." It was easy to get the lyrics wrong in the vinyl era.