SONG.REVIEWSReleased January 1, 1956
Mahalia Jackson's 1956 recording of Thomas Dorsey's grief-born plea, made with just a piano and an organ, is the version that fixed the song in American memory -- Martin Luther King Jr.'s favorite, and a 2012 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.
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Al Green opened his 1982 album Precious Lord with the hymn and won the 1983 Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance, Traditional -- while critics split on whether the album's bright, pop-leaning arrangements suit songs this old.
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Ledisi, playing Mahalia Jackson in Ava DuVernay's Selma, sings the hymn for the film and its 2014 soundtrack -- a performance that has to work as drama as well as gospel, and mostly does.
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