When a church bulletin contains blurbs such as these, you have to sit up and pay attention

"Founded in the spring of 1996, House of Mercy offers a discriminating blend of high church and low, of tradition and innovation, sincere worship and healthy skepticism."

"Hymns by Hank Williams, Louvin Brothers, Martin Luther, Violent Femmes, Fanny Crosby, Johnny Cash"

"Readings from Nietzsche, Thomas Frank, Douglas Copeland, Flannery O'Connor, John Dillenger, Patricia Hampl, Soren Kierkegaard, Annie Dillard"

That is if you can call a 12-page heavy stock booklet, containing reprints of an original Louvin Brothers song folio, a "bulletin."

But that's what they handed you as you entered House of Mercy (which meets every Sunday evening at 5:30 in First Baptist Church on the northeast edge of downtown St. Paul) for a special service devoted to the music of Charlie and Ira Louvin, featuring Charlie Louvin.  (Ira was killed in an auto accident in 1965, two years after the duo broke up.)  There was an interesting mix of people on hand, from blue-haired senior ladies to sideburned gen-X dudes.

I wasn't terribly familiar with the Louvins outside of hearing folks like Emmylou Harris, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, and Nicolette Larson cover some of their tunes.  The song of theirs with which  I'm most familiar is This Train's cover of "The Great Atomic Power," which frontman Mark Robertson often introduces by saying that since they had played Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light," the greatest country gospel song ever written, they'd balance it out by playing one of the dumbest.  With titles like "Are You Afraid to Die?" and "The Weapon of Prayer," and album titles "Satan is Real" and "Tragic Songs of Life," these guys didn't mince words.

Beneath the massive organ pipes dominating the front of the sanctuary,  the House of Mercy band played first (acoustic guitar, dobro, mandolin, pedal steel, standup bass, drummer on snare w/brushes) leading the congregation in one of the two songs printed in the program.  Then 12 local groups took turns stepping up to the red-carpeted chancel to perform a Louvin song, with the church's  three pastors interspersing background on the Louvins and introducing the next musicians.

The performers included Urban Hillbilly Quartet (who played Cornerstone this past summer) and some folks who've gotten a little recognition outside the Twin Cities scene, like The Carpetbaggers and former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap.  Most played it pretty straight on acoustic instruments, but the power-pop trio Magnatone mixed in a Les Paul and cranked out a Husker Du-like "Higher Power" which broke up the stream of fiddles, mandolins, and more standup basses than have probably ever been assembled in one place.  Dunlap closed this segment playing solo acoustic guitar and singing "Kneeling Drunkard's Prayer" in a quiet croak that recalled John Prine.

There was a short intermission, then Charlie Louvin came out and told stories and sang with the house band for about an hour.  Some of the fingers on his left hand had been damaged in an accident with a friend's RV awning, so his guitar playing was somewhat limited.  He joked about hoping his 40-plus years on the Grand Ole Opry might turn into a regular job there someday.  Unfortunately, the vocal mix was a bit muddy, making some of the stories and lyrics difficult to make out at times.

The mandolin player in the house band also sang tenor, which are what Ira Louvin's roles had been in the act, so it was quite touching when Louvin would look over and grin his approval.  The highlight of the evening was "The Christian Life," which was covered by The Byrds on their seminal 1968 country-rock album Sweethearts of the Rodeo.  Louvin led the quietly beautiful "Whispering Now" to close the service.

Last year, House of Mercy did a similar service with the music of Hank Williams, which makes you look forward to what they'll come up with next year.  However, I don't think I'll wait that long to check out House of Mercy again.