to the title-track. How Great Thou Art was recorded in four takes. Jerry Schilling, a friend of Presley who was present at the session, remarked that after the last take the singer was "drained" and that he "almost fainted." He continued with the traditional song Stand By Me, which Presley had difficulty singing. Jarvis worked with him repeating the takes several times so Presley could use the vibrato needed to reach the falsetto range. After the eleventh take, Presley moved to a number often sung by Hess, Where No One Stands Alone. The next day, they recorded So High, Farther Along and In the Garden. The third night of recording, May 27, was set to be the last one for the album since the Imperials were scheduled to leave for the start of their Canadian tour. Presley recorded If the Lord Wasn't Walking by My Side as a duet with Hess. Additionally, the session produced Somebody Bigger Than You and I, Without Him, and Where Could I Go But to the Lord. The production of the record placed the slower numbers on the A side while the B side was dedicated to faster-paced songs. As Crying in the Chapel had not yet appeared on an album release, the slow-tempo song was included as a bonus track to close the B-side. The album cover featured the church and steeple of the First Church of Christ of Sandwich, Massachusetts. Release and reception How Great Thou Art was released in February 1967. Billboard qualified the release as "great," while the review remarked that the songs pointed to the where Presley "got his style of singing." Meanwhile, Cashbox felt that Presley sang the tunes in a "feelingful, sincere manner." The Tampa Bay Times called it a "considerable success," while The News Journal considered it Presley "at his versatile best." The Courier-Post felt that the songs of the A-side were "good," but that Presley "fails" on the flipside. The reviewer concluded that How Great Thou Art was "good listening," and that Crying in the Chapel presented Presley in "near his best." Journal & Courier wrote that the album was "well sung," while El Paso Times mentioned Presley's transition from "teenage to later pop," and it considered the style of the album "smooth and acceptable." The album reached number 18 on the Billboard 200 and number seven on the Top Country Albums chart. On March 19,