Morris Belknap - “Jesus Saves” LP Review on Skull Valley Records

Skull Valley Records, an independent label based out of Phoenix, AZ has properly reissued yet another mid-west masterpiece that was lost in time and the mystical, desert sands until now. Belknap was born in San Carlos on an Apache Indian Reservation after the second World War in 1947. Devoted to his ongoing faith and love for the Gospel, Belknap was supported by his loving and caring wife Lorraine who stood by his side, unconditionally, as he toured the US, as well as Canadian reservation spreading his love and enduring passion for music and the word of God. Her influence was not limited by her support both finically and the unlimited time she sacrificed, but that of a driving force for Morris’ music and vision. They were simply a vesicle for God and his word. Released in 1976 during the country’s 200th anniversary of… well you fill in the blanks. With little to no finances, his Xian masterpiece, “Jesus Saves”, was pressed as a very small batch and handed out to church folks and anyone interested in the message he was so determined to spread across the land that, at the time, was soon to begin it’s long and painful healing process from the destruction and chaos of the Vietnam War. Stretched across ten tracks, Belknap’s music explores a healthy retrospect of nature, the sometimes rare and mythical discipline of being devoted to faith, outer-worldly influence and the journey to find salvation. Towards the end of the millennium in 1999, Morris passed away, but his spirit is lived on by his loving wife, who to this today still spreads the message and radical vision of religion and faith that her late husband started nearly 50 years ago.