Ain't No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely
Biography Religious History American Roots Music Pentecostal Studies Appalachian Culture Southern Gospel Music History Spiritual Memoir
Ain’t No Grave: The Life and Legacy of Brother Claude Ely is the only complete biography of the Appalachian Pentecostal preacher whose fiery 1953 recording of “Ain’t No Grave” became a roots-music touchstone covered by Johnny Cash, Elvis, and modern bluegrass bands. Author Macel Ely II—Brother Claude’s grand-nephew—spent a decade tracking down rare sermon tapes, church ledgers, and first-hand interviews to reconstruct the journey of a moonshine-guitarist-turned-evangelist who helped shape the sound of Southern gospel before his untimely death at 43. The 344-page hardcover, still in its pristine dust jacket and accompanied by an un-scratched bonus CD of original radio transcriptions, gives readers both the story and the songs in one collectible package.
What makes this Dust-to-Digital release stand out is its dual appeal to music historians and spiritual readers alike. The book charts how Claude Ely’s “hillbilly holiness” style fused Cherokee chant rhythms with primitive slide guitar, foreshadowing both rockabilly and the charismatic worship movement, while the narrative stays rooted in the raw humanity of tent-revival America—faith healing, snake handling, racial integration in the Jim-Crow South, and the personal cost of a life lived on the road for God. Young adults and seasoned collectors value the meticulous discography and the never-before-published photographs of 1940s brush-arbor meetings.
Because the volume is a 2010 first-printing hardcover in tight, unmarked condition—no ex-library markings, no inscriptions, no dog-eared pages—it is already scarce on the secondary market. Paired with the intact CD and Dust-to-Digital’s reputation for archive-quality box sets, this copy is a ready-to-gift heirloom for fans of Americana, Pentecostal history, or anyone searching for the back-story behind Johnny Cash’s final studio performance of the same title.
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