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Recordings from the Collection of Brandywine Friends of Old Time MusicThe Dixie Hummingbirds and The Little WondersField Recorders’ Collective 2007www.fieldrecorder.comThe Field Recorders’ Collective is an aggregation of music enthusiasts dedicated to sharing priceless recordings from their collections with the public, not leaving them sitting on a shelf or stored in [...]

“One More Blessing”The Gospel 4From the forthcoming CD: The Gospel 4 Live: “One More Blessing”4 Life Miracle Records 2007www.4lifemiraclerecords.comGeorge Dean and the Gospel 4 wrecked the house at least twice during their visit to the Gospel Music Workshop of America last month: once during the Thursday evening quartet program, and [...]

DrivenThe Canton SpiritualsZomba Gospel 2007Driven is a fitting title for any quartet recording, but especially for the latest release by the Canton Spirituals. For more than 60 years, since Harvey Watkins, Sr. founded the group in Canton, Mississippi in 1943, the group has traveled the length and breadth of the [...]

Speaking of musical innovators….Yale graduate Kersten Stevens, someone you have met before on The Black Gospel Blog, paid a visit to the Gospel Announcers Guild during the Gospel Music Workshop of America in Orlando, Florida last month.Stevens charmed the Guild members right out of their seats with her gospelized instrumental [...]

The multi-talented and multi-award winning Israel (Houghton) and New Breed were in the Windy City Tuesday night, September 4, entertaining a packed auditorium in the DuSable Museum of African American History to promote their new live project, A Deeper Level, released that morning.Israel must have been tickled by the electricity [...]

“He’s Done Enough”Beverly CrawfordFrom the JDI album Live from Los Angeles (2007)My stars, can Beverly Crawford sing!On the down-home bluesy “He’s Done Enough,” the Grammy-nominated Crawford tells her audience, “We’re going home, y’all,” and with a great gospel chuckle, she delivers us there.“If He doesn’t do anything else, He’s already [...]

“Listen”Trin-i-tee 5:7From the CD T57, released September 18, 2007Spirit Rising Music 2007http://www.trin-i-tee57.com/“Listen Here!”If Trin-i-tee 5:7’s opening exhortation doesn’t hook you, the bumping and weaving uber-cool beat – best described as bachelor pad gets hip-hop makeover – will most certainly do the trick.The popular and glamourous female gospel group (Chanelle Haynes, [...]

"Open Your Mouth (Give Him a Shout)"Zie'lfrom Genesis LIVE!Light/Gospel Warehouse 2007www.light-street.com THIS is the single from Zie'l I've been waiting for! The female group does just what the title says, winding their modern harmonies around a good, solid church song with a relentless backbeat underscored by hand-clapping. The single was [...]

“Holy”Darius Twymanfrom his forthcoming project With Just One WordCharacter Music 2007www.myspace.com/DariusTwymanMusicGrowing up Catholic, I used to hate “Holy Holy Holy” because it was sung like a funeral dirge, not at all like the pop music I enjoyed on 1970s radio. Thanks to the gospel community embracing this hymn, we can [...]

“I Can Go to God in Prayer”Ami RushesFrom the forthcoming album Lifting (ARM 1004)http://www.amirushes.com/For her first CD Covering, Southern California Community Choir alumna Ami Rushes secured the production skills of Kurt Carr, dug into her file of traditional gospel favorites, and literally “covered” them. She continues to bring classic back [...]