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From Shout! Magazine:(Louisville, KY) In honor of National Family Literacy Day, the National Center for Family Literacy is pleased to announce JDI recording artist Beverly Crawford as its National Spokesperson for Literacy.Crawford struggled with literacy and subsequent depression as a teen. Few people knew of her well-kept secret, as she [...]

K.Love Sugar Coatedwww.cdbaby.com/kloveShekinah Glory Ministry stomps on the devil’s head. Holy hip hop artist K.Love goes one step further: he shoots the devil full of scripture and then uses his limp head for a footstool. K.Love’s domination over demons is from the engaging track “War” from his solo debut CD, [...]

Bishop Paul S. MortonPaul Morton’s ChristmasTehillah Music Group/Light Records 2008www.lightrecords.comHad he never received the calling to preach, Bishop Paul S. Morton could have been a soul balladeer.At least that’s what I hear on Paul Morton’s Christmas, released in time for the 2008 Yuletide Season. On this album, Bishop Morton of [...]

“All I Need”Brian Courtney WilsonFrom the forthcoming Spirit Rising/Music World Entertainment CD Just Love www.spiritrisingmusic.com“A real simple prayer.”Such is how Brian Courtney Wilson introduces “All I Need,” a single from his debut CD Just Love, produced by Stan Jones for Matthew Knowles’ Spirit Rising imprint.“All I Need” is indeed a [...]

Norris O. GarnerPraze PartyGospel Praze 2007http://www.prazeparty.com/Born in North Carolina but now a resident of California’s Bay Area, Norris Garner is a choir man. He has written, sung with, accompanied, directed and taught choirs at the Gospel Music Workshop of America and the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. He [...]

The Black Gospel Blog extends its deepest sympathies to I AM Magazine's Publisher Jerry Griffis (left) on the loss of his mother, Ruth.According to Jerry, Ruth Griffis (below) lived for a long time in Chicago and worked in a family owned restaurant on the west side. She also worked many [...]

Angela HallBeautiful GodIMOK Gospel Music 2008www.imokgospelmusic.comBrooklyn-born Angela Hall is not your typical gospel singer.I could tell Hall was theater trained even before learning that she in fact earned a BFA in Musical Theater from the Boston Conservatory of Music and performed in the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Black and Blue. [...]

“Jesus You’re My Everything”First CreationFrom the FC Productions/New Day Distribution CD, Nobody Like Jesuswww.myspace.com/firstcreationmusic First Creation’s “Jesus You’re My Everything” is a James Cleveland moment.Everything about the recording reminds me of classic King James: the earnest lyrics (“Without you, Jesus, where would I be?”); the skillfully rendered, unpretentious harmonies; the [...]

Eric SpoonerEternal, Vol. 1: Fill Us Once AgainPureStream Music Group 2007www.ericspooner.comFans of the music of Israel & New Breed or Phil Tarver and Shekinah Glory Ministry will enjoy this debut CD by Baton Rouge, Louisiana native son Eric Spooner. Spooner is a young man with a smooth-as-silk tenor voice who [...]

Music Book Vol. 1Mel HolderPsalmist Music Group 2008www.melholder.comFirst, a disclaimer: I am not a fan of gospel (or inspirational) jazz because it sounds like smooth jazz to me, and I am no fan of smooth jazz. In fact, the term “smooth jazz” makes no sense: jazz was never meant to [...]