I hope you read Jay Nordlinger’s most recent Impromptus — even more casually brilliant than usual, ranging from the Venezuelan dissidents our media ignores to the thousands of Ash Wednesday witnesses that no-one New Yorker really could. Among other tidbits, he remarked upon the confidence shown by Jamie Barton, a white opera singer, in delivering a couple of black spirituals to a New York audience, one of which was “His Eye Is on the Sparrow.”

Barton said it is her favorite hymn. That is taste indeed, and a sign that all that Donizetti and Sibelius aside, Barton is still a Georgia girl at heart. I’m sure there are many beautiful recordings of it out there in various styles, but what came into my memory is the version by the classic black gospel vocal quartet, The Harmonizing Four. Pure joy, distilled into the 45 format.

Well, looking up that song led me to my happiest you-tube discovery in some time. Tommy Ellison, who sang with the Four for a bit, went onto to develop his own group: Tommy Ellison and the Five Singing Stars. What a great blending of classic gospel sound, with mid-’70s funk/soul elements. Yes! They were still goin’ strong, near up to the time when Ellison passed away in 2009, and continue to perform today, especially in the Carolinas, featuring several other church-wreckin’ singers.

And style? Well, check out these steps. If you’re allergic to such churchy delights, well, the new Terry Teachout essay on Peggy Lee, will surely provide a road-map to other warmth-generating musical links. My Peggy pick for this day would be her version of “Sunny Side of the Street” with the Goodman sextet, but Teachout can direct you to her peak recordings of the 1950s.

I’ll return to matters political on another day. If the comments are back, why don’t you tell us some of your picks for cold-weather musical warmth?