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“Go Get It”Mary MaryMy Block/Columbia Records (2012)www.mary-mary.comAmong the stars melding today’s beat with sacred and inspirational lyrics, Erica and Tina Campbell, better known as Mary Mary, hammer out another single, “Go Get It.” The title track of their new CD (due out in May), “Go Get It,” finds the duo [...]

Lisa Knowles & the Brown Singers of Memphis, Tennessee Experience the Evolution - Live (2008)http://www.cdbaby.com/By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.On their live CD, Alescia “Lisa” Knowles & the Brown Singers of Memphis, Tennessee put joie de vivre in gospel music performance.The ladies don’t employ melodrama, complex jazz chords or meditative moments. Experience [...]

“Get Up”BatayahFrom the album Simply Batayahhttp://www.batayah.com/Fueled by an insistent guitar/bass riff that sounds plucked from Chic’s “Le Freak” but cloaked overall in atmospheric neo-soul with a touch of house, “Get Up” implores the listener not to worry because God can do anything….so “serve Him today.” The lovely Batayah’s latest single [...]

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.Life can change in an instant.Ask gospel singer-songwriter-group leader Isaac Simpson.In the summer of 2006, Simpson was driving his vehicle in his home state of Ohio when he heard gunfire. One bullet entered the rear window of his car and struck him in the [...]

“Rise”The Sounds of BlacknessFrom the Malaco Records CD The Sounds of Blacknesshttp://www.malaco.com/NAACP Image Award-winners The Sounds of Blackness follow their optimistic anthem “Fly Again” with “Rise,” another optimistic selection, and the second single, from their eponymously-titled CD.Like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” “Rise” opens with a swirl of funk/soul and [...]

“So Happy”JacQui S feat. DJ Shotgun and Tom G.Faze 2 Productions (2012)www.cdbaby.com/cd/jacquisAdd one more to the growing stack of inspirational songs focusing on love and relationships."So Happy” is JacQui S’s shoulder-shaking shout out to those who understand that happiness is Job One in a relationship…and have their own inner peace [...]

Lee Williams & the Spiritual QCsLiving on the Lord’s SideMCG Records (2011)www.mcgrecords.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.Lee Williams has turned flatfooted gospel quartet singing into an art form. Not moving, not even cracking a smile, Williams nevertheless delivers a song with such power that congregants spill into the [...]

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.What if your early vocal training came under the tutelage of Jessie Mae Renfro Sapp?For those unfamiliar with the great Madame Sapp, her trumpeting voice places her alongside fellow COGIC singers Ernestine Washington and Emily Bram Bibby as a candidate for Most Powerful Gospel [...]

“Yes”Lil’ Blair and the Fantastic HeirsFrom the CD Yes (2011)4 Winds Records/Malaco Recordshttp://www.malaco.com/On the melodic walking-tempo “Yes,” written by Darrell Luster, Titus “Lil’ Blair” Stallworth leads the high-harmony Fantastic Heirs while pleading with the Lord to bestow discipleship upon him. That could mean preach, pray, “teach someone about the promises [...]