Dottie Peoples – I Got This – Live!

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog

Dottie Peoples and live performance go together like biscuits and gravy. 

The Ohio-born and multi award-winning gospel singer’s light shines through on her latest CD, I Got This – Live!  Recorded in April 2012 at Siloam ChurchInternational in College Park, Georgia, and released February 5, 2013, I Got This – Live! is a kaleidoscope of styles that work well in concert. 

Peoples eases into the live program with two praise and worship songs, “Welcome” and “Manifest Your Glory,” though by the conclusion of the latter, she has pulled out her shouting stops to expose her trademark churchy side.

Naturally, the album’s traditional songs are its finest.  These include the title track and current single, the kind of hand-clapping song of reassurance most associated with Dottie Peoples, whose “On Time God” and “Do It!” were gospel hits.  Her take on Eddie Robinson’s bluesy “Until Whenever” celebrates a God who is with us “until whenever and through whatever.”  “Back to the Old Church,” another slow, bluesy piece, is a dramatization of the Sunday morning rituals of the church mothers, deacons, and pastor, and naturally transitions into a praise break.  Peoples fills the feisty “Breakthrough” with vocal furor.

On the other hand, the singer showcases her jazzier side with a lovely reading of the wistful “Everything Must Change,” a song recorded by George Benson. 

Special kudos to Billy Rivers and the Angelic Voices of Faith of Memphis for backing Peoples admirably with the full-throated enthusiasm of Ricky Dillard’s New Generation Chorale, circa 1990, and Douglas Miller’s work with the True Way COGIC Choir, circa 1982.  Monica Lisa Stevenson’s husband, Derrick, is among the album’s capable musicians.  Dottie Peoples is a pro and I Got This – Live! is testimony.

Pick: “I Got This,” “Breakthrough.”