JGM Pick of the Week: September 26, 2016

“Keep on Praising”
Jewell & Converted
Independent; release date: September 23, 2016
www.cdbaby.com/cd/jewellconverted

The fiery female quartet Jewell & Converted score their second JGM Pick of the Week with “Keep On Praising.”

To a handclapping tempo, lead singer Jewell Taylor offers hypothetical personal challenges as Converted responds by chanting “What do you do?” The collective reminds the listener of how the Scriptures answer this and puts it in the vernacular: “lift up your head,” “wear a smile,” and praise your way through.

“Keep On Praising” is a traditional shouter near impossible to listen to sitting down, especially during the vamp, when the ladies and musicians reaffirm their point by turning up the temperature to the evangelistic boiling point.

From St. Louis, Jewell & Converted was named Female Quartet of the Year by the storied American Gospel Quartet Convention in 2003, two years after their founding. The group has recorded for the Phoenix Gospel and Malaco labels. Their first Pick of the Week (October 2014) was the equally effervescent “Hallelujah.”