The House of Mercy church in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, has a reputation for supporting old-time and gospel music in this area. For instance, they sponsored Ralph Stanley's visit to Minnesota. He (along with several local bands) performed a "Saturday Night" concert at the Turf Club and a "Sunday Morning" concert at House of Mercy. The idea was inspired by Ralph's double album "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning." The Saturday night concert consisted of songs about "lying, cheating, stealing, death, and love" and the Sunday morning concert was about "mercy, death, redemption, and love."

What impresses me is that the church isn't embarrassed about being associated with the Saturday night aspect of life.

The church has a house band (The House of Mercy Band), its own record label (Mercy Recordings), a number of audio archives, and now they're publishing their own hymnal called "Songs of Mercy" which will be officially released at a concert tomorrow.

I was hoping to provide more detailed information about the hymnal, but I was unable to find a list of songs or ordering instructions. Stay tuned.