“Sister Gertrude Morgan, vocals, tambourine,” reads the back of this CD, and that’s a good example of truth in advertising: the 50 minutes or so of music here (recorded, aptly, in the Prayer Room, back in the early ’70s) consist entirely of the good Sister sitting down, banging out a rhythm, and singing a number of traditional gospel selections straight out of the public domain, unaccompanied, with a little preaching thrown in. If you’re only going to buy one disc like this, this is the one to get. In fact, it’s the only one available.

Whether you enjoy these 14 selections—one of which, “Power,” appears in two versions—will probably have a lot to do with how badly you need that old-time religion; there really is nothing here but Morgan and her faith, but that faith was as genuine, primal, simple, and unselfconscious as her own popular folk art (which also adorns the cover). The title song ends its title phrase with “for my Lord.” And when she testifies that “I Got the New World in My View,” she isn’t talking about America.

The back cover also maintains that all these songs are “traditional,” and some of them are certainly that (“Way In The Middle Of The Air,” “Take My Hand, Lead Me On”), but most of the time, this is a congress between the tradition Sister Gertrude carried on from the church and the personal dialogue with the Lord she carried on in her head.

You don’t have to share her beliefs to enjoy her passion, but if you never made it to her Ninth Ward home, “The Everlasting Gospel Mission,” back in the day, this’ll give you a good idea of what went on there. And given her commitment—she literally quotes chapter and verse from the Bible while singing—you may well find yourself swept up in her joy. Just tell your agnostic friends you’re supporting the arts.