By Bob Marovich Kenny Lewis, founder and leader of the Stellar Award-nominated gospel group One Voice, didn’t have to go any further than the current news to find inspiration for his new album. “With the way that the economy was going and with the election,” Lewis told JGM, “we really didn’t know what was going to happen. I felt like it was time for everybody to refocus back on Jesus and loving Jesus.” Refocus, Kenny Lewis & One Voice’s new (and fourth) album, is all about getting back to loving Christ. Released last Friday, May 19, the album’s single, “Love Song,” ...

BJ McKenzie Encouraging God’s Nation (Isaiah 61:1) BJ Muzic (release date: September 6, 2016) www.bjmuzic.org By Bob Marovich Taking Isaiah 61:1 for his thematic anchor, award-winning solo artist and choir director Bernard “BJ” McKenzie Jr. of Chicago offers a healthy dose of optimism on his debut solo album, Encouraging God’s Nation. But the lyrics do not stop at simply getting through life’s trials.  Getting to one’s favor, or blessings (breakthrough), is just as significant. McKenzie offers these linked messages of hope and expectation time and again, most particularly on the single, “Born 2 Win.” It is a contemporary gospel song about looking past ...

God’s Posse The Kind of God We Serve: Live in Chicago (EP) Trewworks Music Group/Denzell Music Group (2017) By Bob Marovich God’s Posse is emerging as one of Chicago’s most popular quartets, alongside the Stars of Heaven, the Kinsmen, and the veteran Victory Travelers. Its EP, The Kind of God We Serve: Live in Chicago, is an effort to introduce themselves to an even bigger audience. The seven tracks on the EP were originally released on the group’s 2011 album of the same title, but they are not cuts from Nelson Larkins, God’s Posse’s founder and leader, who retired in ...

Check out Bob Marovich’s essay, posted on the Global Small Business Blog this morning, on the five myths that persist about the birth of gospel music in Chicago.  Click below: Five Myths about Gospel Music in Chicago  

The Choirs of Trinity United Church of Christ Stay Connected Unashamed Media Group (release date: February 28, 2017) Available on Amazon.com, itunes, other digital outlets. The hard copy with the 36 page color booklet will be available at the church by March 3, 2017, through its bookstore and website. By Bob Marovich Disc One of Stay Connected, the forthcoming two-disc project from Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ music and arts ministries, is alone sufficient to declare the project excellent. That it contains two discs makes it spectacular. It has been fifteen years since the South Side church has released ...

“Outpour” Lynn McCree featuring Judah 1st www.igaraa.com/lynn-mccree.html Songs that open with hushed piano and vocal never fail to get my attention. Lynn McCree’s “Outpour” got my attention. It’s a lovely ballad, lovingly sung, a prayer closet pleading to the Lord for a pouring out of blessings. “Pour out your joy / I don’t want to cry no more,” McCree and her Judah 1st singers express. The song is as passionate and delicate as the blessings they seek, and it feels as if it could even extend beyond its 3:42 length. The production expertly focuses on the singing, with the piano taking a secondary but ...

This is a very important interview for anyone who wants to know more about the Civil Rights Movement. Pastor Lottie Woods-Hall was on the front lines of the 1963 Birmingham Movement. She talks about her work with the movement, going to jail with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., singing to encourage the marchers, and coming to Chicago to work with the Harold Bailey Singers. Conversations with the Gospel Legends with Bob Marovich. Guest: Pastor Lottie Woods-Hall. from PCC Studio on Vimeo.

Remember “I Had a Talk With My Man Last Night?” Hear from the lady who made it famous! Bob Marovich talks with Pastor Mitty Collier about her career in gospel and soul music, as well as her current ministry. “Conversations with the Gospel Legends,” a production of Rev. Harold Bailey’s PCC Network.

Don Frost Silk Suits and Raggedy Underwear NBA and NFL Players Publishing, Inc. (246 pages, illustrations) http://donfrostbook.com By Bob Marovich If books on gospel music remain woefully underrepresented in the pantheon of American music writing, the number of volumes chronicling the white Southern Gospel experience is smaller still. Not if Don Frost can help it. The founder and host of the popular Music City Gospel Showcase television program and convention, and member of the Frost Brothers Quartet, has released Silk Suits and Raggedy Underwear.  The book doubles as his memoir and a biography of the Frost Brothers Quartet. Organized in 1924, ...

By Bob Marovich JGM learned today that powerhouse gospel vocalist Lecresia Campbell passed away on September 29. Born in Chicago, Campbell was the lead singer on Walt Whitman & the Soul Children of Chicago’s 1990 gospel smash, “Perfect Praise (How Excellent).” She earned a bachelor’s degree in Applied Voice at Tougaloo College and went on to teach elementary school for eight years. She also was background vocalist for Vanessa Bell Armstrong and sang alongside many others in the gospel industry. In 2008, Campbell recorded a solo album, Even Me, which earned her a Stellar Award nomination for Best Female Vocalist ...