One of the most tangible evidences that there was something called the "Jesus Movement" are all those religious record albums that sit in dusty record collections or the dollar bins at those almost extinct record stores. Most of the "Jesus Music- Ips are readily identifiable with names such as The All Saved Freak Band and Love Song and album titles such as Heaven's Gonna Be a Blast, Bom Twice and The Everlastin' Living Jesus Music Concerto front cover art portraying very literal depictions of some aspect of the Christian life.

Behind each of these albums is a powerful conversion story or testimony a 1960s update on John Newton's age old line from the song "Amazing Grace" — the recurrent "I once was lost, but now I'm found" theme of individual conversion that appears throughout evangelical history. The "Jesus Music" that is such a staple of this era is a time capsule capturing the innocence and idealism that often follows such a personal soulish release and the compelling aftermath to share this newfound faith.

The music of Danny and Lynda Kimer and their band First Revelation is no exception. Though the couple was making a good living playing as a musical duo throughout nightclubs and hotels in and around the Long Island, New York area they began to take notice of the emerging Jesus rock musicians and their efforts. Feeling an initial tug to turn their own music toward a more evangelistic vein, Danny and Lynda experienced what they felt were a memorable series of events that left no question in their minds about the itinerant track their lives would take.

One night, while playing a gig at a Holiday Inn in Memphis, Tennessee Lynda took notice of a young girl whom she thought looked like her sister. Though she felt a strong urge to strike up a conversation in the hopes of sharing her faith Lynda let the moment pass. Later that night she came across the same girl but again let the moment slip awayteelmg that the motorcycle gang with whom the girl was keeping company might have frowned on her making an evangelistic appeal. Later that night, Danny and Lynda were horrified to find out that the girl died in an automobile accident. Waves of guilt over the lost opportunity hit Lynda hard, leaving her with an empty feeling that did not easily pass. -

As if her memory of the event was not enough, two seemingly random events occurred in quick succession. The first came when Lynda happened across an elderly woman in the bathroom of a hotel where the couple was playing. The woman was complimenting Lynda on her singing when she suddenly broke down and started to cry telling Lynda that she reminded other daughter who had just passed away. As the mother unfolded the events of her daughter's life, Lynda realized she was face to face with the mother of the young girl whose death had so affected her. And as if meeting the girl's mother wasn't enough to rattle her completely, a couple of weeks later while she and Danny were playing at a hotel in Puerto Rico, Lynda read a magazine article on Elvis Presley where he had outlined the death of one of his girlfriends—that very same girl— who had died in a terrible car accident. Believing that these occurrences were not simply random happenstance, Lynda told Danny that she wanted to change from a Top 40 cover band and to play gospel rock music.

The duo gave their manager notice that their music was going to take on a more overt Christian message. Having toured for nine years under the name "Revelation," they decided to slightly augment their title and became "First Revelation." After recording an album in 1972 they changed their touring circuit from hotels and nightclubs to churches and coffeehouses. Recalling those early days, Danny remembers, "All we had going for us was to say, 'Hey, we could be playing six nights a week and making a good living, but we'd rather be here to tell you about Jesus.' We had no other income but came in from our music. We were 100 percent, full-time musicians."

Over the next few years the duo would release three albums of music that showcased Lynda's vocals augmented by Danny's guitar playing that took notable clues from Roy Buchanan. Of their first release, simply entitled Danny & Lynda (1972), Jesus music archivist Ken Scott states, "Looking at the cover you'd expect a traditional gospel sound." One can imagine the clean cut looking duo making a staid church audience nervous. Kimer's guitar licks are as good as anything recorded in the era and come shining through despite the poor production quality of the time.

In 1973 the couple released what became the first issue of an album called This Side of Eternity. Poor production and dissatisfaction with the original cuts saw Danny & Lynda regroup and rerecord the entire album in 1974 under the same title but with a much fuller sound. Strings and orchestration are now evident as First Revelation moves up a notch in quality while still very much sounding like a homegrown operation. Even the hymn "Where Could I Go" cannot withstand a guitar-laden interpretation that turns it into a psychedelic anthem reminiscent of Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane. Even the unthinkable, recording the Sunday school staple "Jesus Loves Me," is more than passable hearing Lynda's capable vocals.

In 1975 First Revelation released their final album entitled Upon This Rock, which Ken Scott writes, had "the Moog playing a bigger role." And while touring as an evangelistic group had many memorable times, Danny grew tired of the politicking and what he remembers as the "behind-the-scenes nonsense." He recalls, "We began to see the business end of things and that it became much more important than telling people about Jesus." Having played for popular revival preachers of the time, their idealism began to wane and their opinion of the church scene began to sour. Danny states, "We began to think to ourselves, there isn't much difference between what we're doing in churches and the secular gigs that we played. So why not just go back to what we know best?"