Bishop Dready Lewis Manning (August 10, 1934 – August 16, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He played gospel music infused with

Piedmont blues Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast, or Southeastern blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melo ...

elements. He was also the founder of St. Mark Holiness Church in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and a North Carolina Arts Council Folk Heritage Award winner.

Biography

Dready Manning was born in

Northampton County, North Carolina Northampton County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,471. Its county seat is Jackson. Northampton County is part of the Roanoke Rapids, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, whic ...

, United States, in the farming community of

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

. Mirrored at By the age of eight he was orphaned. He went to live with his aunt's family of

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

who grew cotton, peanuts, and corn. Some of his uncles and cousins played blues guitar in the North Carolina Piedmont fashion. When Manning was seven years old, he began learning how to

fingerpick A fingerpick is a type of plectrum used most commonly for playing bluegrass style banjo music. Most fingerpicks are composed of metal or plastic (usually Celluloid or Delrin). Unlike flat guitar picks, which are held between the thumb and fin ...

guitar. His skills improved over time and by his teenage years Manning had earned a reputation as a master of blues guitar and harmonica.Scott Sharpe, "The Bishop Rocks the House," ''The News & Observer'', 16 March 2003. His style was influenced by Piedmont blues musicians such as Blind Boy Fuller, Brownie McGhee and

Buddy Moss Eugene "Buddy" Moss (January 16, 1914 – October 19, 1984) was an American blues musician. He is one of two influential Piedmont blues guitarists to record in the period between Blind Blake's final sessions in 1932 and Blind Boy Fuller's de ...

, and national stars including Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed and Sonny Boy Williamson. As a young bluesman, Manning played in clubs and sold

moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

. Having been drinking abundantly, in 1962 Manning developed

esophageal varices Esophageal varices are extremely dilated sub-mucosal veins in the lower third of the esophagus. They are most often a consequence of portal hypertension, commonly due to cirrhosis. People with esophageal varices have a strong tendency to develop ...

that caused unstoppable bleeding from his nose. Some family members and neighbors, who were members of a local Holiness church, prayed over him, using the Christian ritual of

laying on hands The laying on of hands is a religious practice. In Judaism ''semikhah'' ( he, סמיכה, "leaning f the hands) accompanies the conferring of a blessing or authority. In Christian churches, this practice is used as both a symbolic and formal met ...

. When Manning heard their prayers, he felt the bleeding stop. He had "a converted mind right then", disavowed the blues and pledged to use his musical talents to serve God. He and his wife, known as Mother Marie, joined the Holiness congregation. Three years later they moved to Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, and branched a St. Mark Holiness church, opening in 1975. Manning began composing sacred songs, performing for prayer meetings and revivals, and releasing gospel recordings. With his wife and their six children he developed a distinctive gospel sound by the late 1960s. Marie Manning sang powerful old-time gospel while Bishop Manning played guitar. Along with their five children they formed the Manning Family gospel singers, featuring different family members as vocalists. Starting circa 1970, Bishop Manning has recorded gospel 45s on Jimmy Capps' JCP, Memorial Records, Hoyt Sullivan's Su-Ann, and on his own labels Manning, B.L.M., Peatock, and Nashbrand. Some of these were reissued in 2011 in a set by Fat Possum Records' Big Legal Mess subsidiary called ''Converted Mind''. In 1996, an album, ''Take One Moment At A Time'', was released which presented a more modern sound, and in 1997 records under his name were released by ShurFine/Pastor Records. Through the Music Maker Relief Foundation, he recorded the album ''Gospel Train'' (2005), where he turned to play an acoustic guitar and harmonica. Manning was a long-time host of a Sunday morning radio show on WSMY in Weldon, North Carolina. He died in August 2017, aged 83, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

Recognition

In 2003, Bishop Manning won a

North Carolina Arts Council The North Carolina Arts Council is an organization in the U.S. state of North Carolina that provides grants to artists, musicians and arts organizations. The group's mission is "arts for all people." It was founded by executive order in 1964 by Gov ...

Folk Heritage Award. The Award "recognizes individuals throughout North Carolina who have demonstrated long-time contributions and commitments to the cultural life — and, in particular, the artistic expressions — of their local communities."Folder NF-3355, Manning, Bishop Dready, Proclamation of "Bishop Dready Manning Day," in the Southern Folklife Collection Artist Name File #30005, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Manning is credited with keeping an older gospel tradition alive. Drewery N. Beale, mayor of Roanoke Rapids, proclaimed April 8, 2003, "Bishop Dready Manning Day" in that city. The Proclamation listed six celebratory clauses that document Manning's history and contributions.

References

External links

Biography of Bishop Dready Manning from Music Maker FoundationBiography of Bishop Dready Manning from Charlotte Folklore Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manning, Bishop Dready 1934 births 2017 deaths American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues harmonica players American performers of Christian music American gospel musicians 20th-century American guitarists People from Gaston, North Carolina 20th-century American male musicians