Ragamuffin Archive: Classics
Rich Mullins – June 13, 1997 | Longview, TX
Recorded Live at LeTourneau University
One of the earliest Rich Mullins bootleg recordings I ever received came in the mail on a homemade CD labeled simply: Rich Mullins June 13, 1997 Longview, Texas. The disc included a printed track list on the back and a grainy but poignant cover photo of Rich playing an acoustic guitar for a crowd huddled in a tornado shelter.
The show was taped at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, just three months before Rich’s tragic passing. Remarkably, this concert was only the sixth date of Rich’s summer tour — a run that would become his final — and this recording is the earliest known audio from that tour. The audio isn’t the clearest — the taper humbly described his equipment as a “cheap portable cassette recorder that was in the process of failing” — but the spirit of the night is unmistakable and unforgettable.
The setlist from this recording includes a mix of fan favorites and rarities:
01. Nothing But the Blood
02. Awesome God
03. Brother’s Keeper
04. Boy Like Me, Man Like You
05. The Harlan County Waltz
06. Madeline’s Song
07. 78 Eatonwood Green
08. Calling Out Your Name
09. You Did Not Have a Home
This particular recording is notable for including two unreleased Rich Mullins songs: The Harlan County Waltz, an instrumental Rich wrote in honor of his father, and Madeline’s Song, written for the daughter of Rich’s close friend, James Bryan Smith. Madeline was born with severe birth defects, and Rich performed the song with tenderness and deep compassion.
Roughly 18 minutes into Rich’s set, tornado sirens interrupted the concert. Rich paused to lead the audience in prayer, then lightened the tension with a wry smile: “We’ll go ahead till we hear a train.” Moments later, the show was halted, and the crowd was moved to a designated storm shelter on campus.
That might have been the end of it — but Rich wasn’t one to leave people hanging.
He soon arrived at the shelter, barefoot and with guitar in tow, and started playing for those who stayed behind. In a concert review posted to the Rich Mullins Mailing List the next day, attendee Matthew Black recalled:
“Rich stood in a little corner with the rest of the band and played us one of his new songs… about how the hopes of man rested on a homeless man. Incredible song.”
That “new song”, You Did Not Have a Home, had only just been written a few days earlier and was never recorded by Rich in a studio. The photo on the CD cover captures that moment in the shelter — Rich mid-song, standing near the campus snack bar, keeping the audience comforted and captivated even as the threat of a terrible storm lingered.
Twelve years after we first uploaded this recording to YouTube, a comment appeared from the original taper, using the handle @sbigglesby. He wrote:
“Wow, what a blast from the past! I was the fellow that taped this on a cheap portable cassette recorder that was in the process of failing. That’s why the sound warbles in and out somewhat. I also took the photo of Rich playing the guitar in the student union that I used for the cover of the CD I made.
Rich was keeping us enterained [sic] while we waited out the tornado warning. He was singing an early version of You Did Not Have A Home in the picture above at the snack bar.
God Bless!”
The Longview concert is an incredible portrait of Rich Mullins at his most real and unrehearsed — cracking jokes, comforting strangers, playing songs never released, and turning a night of bad weather into a memory still treasured by those who were there.
This CD was among the first Rich Mullins bootlegs I ever owned. It was sent to me along with a few others by the same kind stranger who recorded it. I would love to credit him by name if anyone knows his identity. In the meantime, I remain deeply grateful for his generosity in preserving and sharing this unique night in Rich’s final summer.
We are honored to feature Rich Mullins – The Final Tour: Longview, TX as part of our Ragamuffin Archive: Classics series at RagamuffinArchive.com. The concert is available now on YouTube and Mixcloud.
Listen to Rich Mullins – The Final Tour: Longview, TX on YouTube:
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