We Don't Need Music!...

The Music Makers were an a cappella group out of the Newburg Church of Christ formed in 1975 by Jesse Murrah. Their first album, We Don't Need Music!..., was self-released in 1977. After releasing a second album, Gloryland or Bust, the group became Straight Company, and they continue to perform a cappella music to this day. Bro. Jesse Murrah is now a minister at the North Central Church of Christ. He recalls that:

I used to be in bands when I was growing up. I was “out in the world,” as they would say. When I got into the Church of Christ, their worship services are fully a capella. They had these awesome harmonies. These people had a natural ear for harmonizing. In a lot of a cappella music, the bass singer sings along with the words. But I wanted to hear something that sounded like a bass guitar. I used to play bass guitar, so when I got into church, I started creating this bass part with my mouth to emulate what I would have played on bass guitar, but I did it vocally. 

I picked the unique voices that I heard. It was Marc Clemons, Patricia Livers and her husband Henry, and this old man with this growling baritone named Willie Lee Douglas. Everybody I picked was a lead vocalist, but if you started a song it didn’t mean you were going to finish it. We switched and alternated leads. That's another thing that made the group unique. I got that from The Temptations or The Miracles. I kind of formulated our sound around groups like that. 

Our sound disrupted the church. They didn’t want to hear that bass sound we were making. They called it the Boom-bidi-boom-boom. “We don't want to hear that Boom-bidi-boom-boom.” But the youth loved it because it brightened the music up, gave it a beat. We were ostracized. We were told we were out of order. But we packed the house, and then the adults who were progressive started liking it too, and it became a wave. 

We entered the Louisville Defender Home Show in 1976. Little David Anderson was the host. There were twenty-eight gospel groups and we won because a cappella was different. We had this new sound. It was refreshing, and people loved it. We got extremely popular and started touring a lot. We were gone most weekends. It was a blessing.