The Best is Yet to Come: A Testimony of One Young Man’s Redemption. By James C. Birdsong Jr. T & J Publishers, 2017. 362pp. (softcover). ISBN 978-0-9994121-7-6 By Bob Marovich Too often, memoirs written by members of famous families paint a rosy portrait of their lives. Not so in James [...]
“Just One Plague” Esther Igbekele JP By Bob Marovich To my knowledge, Nigerian gospel singer Esther Igbekele is the first music minister to release a song about COVID-19. Set to a buoyant West African rhythm, “Just One Plague” is a folk ballad that chronicles the impact Coronavirus has had on [...]
Leo V. Best Love Independent (release date: 2009) https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/leov By Bob Marovich Singer-songwriter and musician Leo Valladares, aka Leo V., brings the musical richness of his Latino culture to bear on some of the Christian songs packaged on his 2009 debut CD, Best Love. Teeing up a Latin beat for [...]
“Out of This” Jason Williams Paper City Records (release date: March 20, 2020) By Bob Marovich “Out of This” has one of the smoothest, mellowest grooves I’ve heard in gospel this year. Despite the contemporary setting led by acoustic guitar, the lyrics cut right to the soul like an old [...]
Avalon Called Red Street Records (release date: February 14, 2020) www.redstreetrecords.net By Bob Marovich Called is Christian power group Avalon’s fourteenth album but its first in a decade. It is also the group's debut CD for the Red Street imprint, an enterprise formed several months ago by Jay DeMarcus of [...]
By Bob Marovich On Sunday mornings from 1963 to 1984, Jubilee Showcase treated television viewers in Chicagoland with 30 minutes of gospel music programming featuring local and national artists. Before BET's Bobby Jones Gospel, Jubilee Showcase was the longest-running gospel television show. Steven Ordower, whose father Sid Ordower was the [...]
“Good God” Benita Jones Tyscot / Integrity (release date: March 6, 2020) By Bob Marovich As Benita Washington, the P&W singer from Selma, Alabama, captured national attention in 2003 after winning the "Gospel Dream" talent search competition in its inaugural season. Her subsequent albums included Hold On (Light/Intersound, 2004), Renaissance: [...]
By Bob Marovich Jordan Phillips passed this sad news along to the Journal of Gospel Music:
“Never Forget” Atlanta Chapter of the GMWA Mass Choir Aspire International Music Group (release date: February 22, 2020) www.atlantagmwamasschoir.org By Bob Marovich The choir representing the Atlanta Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America (GMWA) gives the classic Soul Stirrers hit from 1954, “Jesus I’ll Never Forget,” a distinctive [...]
Sponsored Post: "Out of This" is the latest single from singer-songwriter Jason Williams. This song is a beautiful deeply personal and introspective ballad that appeals to listeners across all genres. Produced by Gospel Music Super Producer Derrick Stevenson, the song features the talented Jazmin Crumley and Tamara Lloyd on background [...]
