The annual Lucie Campbell Celebration will be 7 p.m. Sept. 28 at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church, Highway 404 in Duck Hill, and 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 29 at Duck Hill Baptist Church, 301 Main Street.
The weekend celebrates the life of gospel powerhouse Lucie Campbell, a native of Duck Hill. This year’s director of music is Opal Ballard, Jr. Ballard is a native of Duck Hill and currently resides in Chicago. He said he wanted to get involved with the Lucie Campbell Celebration because not many people know who she is, let alone how they are influenced by her music.
Ballard said Campbell died in 963, but her music is still being sung in Duck Hill and all over the country. “Local people are not really aware, even in the town which we live that she’s from here. And, they’re not aware of the magnitude of such a powerful woman. She wrote songs that we still sing in our churches.”
He said Campbell is believed to have written over 100 songs but only 63 of them were published. Some of her most notable songs are “He’ll Say Well Done,” “The Lord is My Shepard,” “My Lord and I (Walk this Road to Glory).”
“She also wrote ‘Something Within,’ which is sung all over United States, ‘Just to Behold His Face,’ ‘Footprints of Jesus,’ a lot of local churches are singing this material. ‘Jesus Gave Me Water at the Well’ and ‘In this Beautiful Home,’” Campbell said.
She also wrote “The Upper Room,” which was made famous by another gospel powerhouse Mahalia Jackson, Ballard said.
He praised Al White for doing an excellent job of keeping Campbell’s legacy alive.
“We’re blessed to have him to be the one to keep it going, especially with his connections in the music industry.”
Ballard said after seeing what a wonderful job White did last year, he wanted to get involved.
“I wanted to get him the information that he needed. He’s doing a fantastic job, and I wanted to be a part of supporting it.”
Ballard said the National Baptist Convention holds a Lucie Campbell workshop, he said not much is known about Campbell, but it’s slowly coming to the light.
“She wrote excellent music,” he said. “We have hymn books in our churches with at least one or more of her songs in it.”
The celebration is free to the public and Ballard said anyone is welcomed to come join in and sing with them.
