The Journal of Gospel Music

Beverly Heath Jesus Boulevard BaCE Music (release date: July 8, 2018) www.beverlyheath.com By Bob Marovich The title track of singer-songwriter Beverly Heath’s CD, Jesus Boulevard, sounds like a road the Dixie Hummingbirds could take their “Christian’s Automobile” for a spin. There are blessings awaiting the believer on “Jesus Boulevard,” the Atlanta-based Heath sings. And along the way, one can make passage on “Righteous Way” and “Miracle Road.” All these roads lead to peace of mind. No pun intended, but Heath’s style is what you could call middle-of-the-road (MOR) gospel. It is neither sanctified nor atmospheric. MOR is, in fact, where ...

“Revelation” Keith Reed Jr. (release date: August 28, 2019) www.newsoundmusicgroup.org By Bob Marovich Supported by his group, the New Sound of Worship, Keith Reed Jr. asks God in “Revelation” to reveal His life-giving light during an especially dark moment. But despite the stressful circumstances that inspired the song, including Reed finding himself out of work and almost homeless, “Revelation” is surprisingly unruffled and even-tempered. The smooth jazz arrangement, conventional melody, and easygoing vocals smooth over the drama. The Columbus, Ohio, native currently serves as minister of music for Destiny Church International under the pastorate of Apostle Theodore Caesar. “Revelation” was ...

Harlem Gospel Travelers He’s On Time Colemine Records (release date: October 11, 2019) www.coleminerecords.com By Bob Marovich If He’s On Time included audible pops and scratches, one would think the Harlem Gospel Travelers’ debut album was a reissue of a forty-five-year-old vinyl LP discovered while crate digging. Even its Harvey Williams-inspired cover, created by artist Matt Chinworth, hearkens back to a different generation. Instead, He’s On Time is as current as right now. It’s the product of a group of young men, ages 18 to 21, who come from throughout the New York metropolitan area to Harlem to train under ...

Ian Copeland Green I Still Believe Cyrus Records (release date: August 7, 2019) By Bob Marovich Ian Copeland Green’s album I Still Believe may traverse different shades of gospel music, but the pop melodies, club-sized beats, and electronica of twenty-first century radio hits are the ties that bind the project together. The artist brings his experience as praise and worship leader at a church in South London, England, to bear on his craft. The radio-sized songs are almost uniformly P&W-focused in lyric and demonstrate Green’s capacity to work in a variety of styles—from the easygoing “A Hymn for Him” that ...

The Jewell Gospel Trio Many Little Angels in the Band NarroWay Records (release date: October 18, 2019) www.gospelfriend.se By Bob Marovich (as originally featured in Living Blues magazine) Any discourse on music of the Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Jewell Dominion typically turns to its sacred steel tradition with only incidental mention of the singing that takes place within denominational walls. Filling this void is Many Little Angels in the Band, NarroWay’s superb survey of the Jewell Gospel Trio, a female group from Nashville, Tennessee, raised in this African American Pentecostal sect. The Jewell ...

Sponsored Post New Artist Alert!!! Jason Williams’ new Single “Arise” is available today! Get it here: https://music.apple.com/us/album/arise-single/1481691987 Jason Williams is an Arkansas based musician, singer and songwriter. He has been honing his musical talents since the tender age of 9 years old. In his personal life, Williams has been through divorce, lack, loss, and even the heartbreak of burying two children, one of whom was lost to senseless gun violence. These difficult and dark episodes in his life have taught him how to trust God through anything. His songwriting pad has been covered with tears many times as he has ...

“Psalms 34” Chris Wesley & Undignified Praise, feat. Dana Hemphill Undignified Music (release date: April 5, 2019) www.undignifiedpraise.com By Bob Marovich Pastor Chris Wesley plays the role of exhorter as vocalist Dana Hemphill fronts Undignified Praise on this reading of “Psalms 34.” Written by Paul Shepherd and Tramaul Love, and arranged by Patrick Wright, Roy Cotton, and Wesley, this second single by Wesley and UDP is a praise song that improvises on the line, “I will praise the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Its simple structure and melody are suited for a worship ...

“Take Your Burdens” Chrystal Rucker From the forthcoming album Graced for This www.habakkukmusic.com By Bob Marovich Chrystal Rucker is one of the finest gospel singers today. Whether on her own or as a featured vocalist, she can turn a good gospel song into a great one. That’s what she does with “Take Your Burdens,” a conventional song of hope and encouragement written and produced by Asaph Ward. The single gets full-barrel Chrystal. She starts out by giving the song a melodic reading, then opens up her arsenal of growls, squalls, falsetto notes, leaving the listener thoroughly bedazzled by the end. ...

By Bob Marovich Malaco Music Group announced that Sister Lucille Pope passed away Thursday, September 26. Home going arrangements are as follows: Saturday, October 5, 2019 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: The Covenant Church 1700 Corey Blvd. Decatur, GA 30032 Funeral Home: McDowell Funeral Home 305 N. Hill St. Griffin, GA 30223 From her Malaco Music Group bio, which I created for their website: Born Lucille Hall on January 12, 1936, to a Concord, Georgia, sharecropping family, Pope sang while she plowed the fields. She also sang at church and at school, and wrote lyrics and songs whenever the spirit led ...

By Bob Marovich The sacred-secular divide in music is a uniquely modern conception, and it misses the point. In West Africa, where most enslaved Africans came from, all music was sacred and all music was secular. There was no distinction…until the music came to America during the African Diaspora and distinctions based on intent were forced upon it. This Saturday night-Sunday morning dialogue about what makes gospel gospel arises whenever a new generation of music makers blurs the applied distinctions to communicate a modern message to a contemporary community of believers and non-believers. Perhaps no artist today better represents the ...