Gospel Singles to Watch: Endurance

“Thank You Lord For Mama”/”I’ve Got a Home”
Endurance
From the CD I’ve Got a Home
SCCME Records 2008
www.myspace.com/endurance20072007

Hailing from Houston, the Stellar-nominated gospel quartet Endurance may be relatively new on the national scene, but they are strictly old school, that tangy-sweet traditional sound indigenous to the American South. Carl Stewart, Claude Cummings, Michael Robertson and Earl Sampson make up the group, and their record company is an amalgam of their initials (Sounds of Carl, Claude, Michael and Earl) though only three members appear on the CD cover.

“Thank You Lord For Mama” features the gutsy, rough-hewn, quintessentially quartet voice of CD producer Prathan “Spanky” Williams. Lyrically, “Mama” reprises the eternal quartet theme of a praying mother, though this mother also has a sixth sense.

Endurance picks up the tempo on “I’ve Got a Home,” a rousing “drive” number in which the group sings about their home over Jordan. There, they sing, they will walk the streets of gold to meet their friends and Jesus, but they also name check James Cleveland and June Cheeks as others they look forward to greeting along the way.

“I’ve Got a Home” is the better of the two tracks, but both are sure to delight quartet enthusiasts, as they spring forth from the very soul of black southern quartet singing.