“Hold On”Monica Lisa StevensonFrom the CD Live in Atlanta (forthcoming in fall 2011)http://www.monicazmuzik.com/Traditional gospel singer Monica Lisa Stevenson channels the fiery energy of fellow Alabaman Dorothy Love Coates on “Hold On,” a churchy hand-clapper on which MLS’s background choir moves the beat like a Chicago church choir: with the force [...]
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Jeneal JohnsonNew HomeEJMJ Music Grouphttp://www.jenealfjohnson.ws/It’s no surprise Jeneal Johnson is a traditional gospel singer. She hails from deep within the quartet community, having ministered in her family’s group, the Farmer Spirituals of Summerville, Georgia; the female AMF Quintet; and later, the Israelite Travelers.Johnson’s new album, New Home, demonstrates her fealty [...]
“Yet Love”Luther Barnes and the Sunset JubilairesAIR Gospel 2011http://www.malaco.com/Luther Barnes, sporting the best groomed beard in gospel music, puts forth his softer, gentler side on “Yet Love,” a ballad about the importance of loving one’s enemies (Luke 6:27-28). Barnes even playfully coins a new noun, ‘yet love.’ It describes in [...]
PRoDying to LiveReach Records 2011http://www.reachrecords.com/By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.“Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to welcome you to the truth.”So announces Christian hip hop artist PRo on “A Life Worth Dying For,” a track from his new (and third official) CD, Dying to Live. That truth, delivered with [...]
Betty Spivey, a musical gift to world of Gospel
ManifestHighest Praise Manifest Music, LLC (2011)http://www.manifestsings.com/By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.Manifest calls themselves a “Christian men’s ensemble” – with fourteen members, they are technically a choir – and they bring a little bit of everything to their debut CD, Highest Praise. The fact that they are hard to [...]
“Rejoicing in Heaven”Operation Faith, feat. Rev. Harold Johnson (2011)www.cdbaby.com/cd/operationfaithBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.The way-too-serious intonation at the start of this song about joy in the afterworld is quickly (and thankfully) overcome by the song’s funky beat and more than a sampling of Memphis-style gospel soul. The gurgling [...]
“Medicine for Someone Else”Ruben StuddardFrom Medicine – Live at the Black Academy of Arts and LettersMCG Records (2011) http://www.mcgrecords.com/By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog.In an interesting twist on the “pay it forward” mantra, American Idol’s teddy bear of a man Ruben Studdard instructs the audience to turn the [...]
“The Balance”Marsha McWilsonwww.myspace.com/marshamcwilsonOn “The Balance,” Niagra Falls, NY native Marsha McWilson intones her problems in a smoky, after-hours, girlfriend-to-girlfriend voice. It’s a slow, introspective and intimate urban AC song about the pressures of contemporary life and the need for a “balance to hold me up so that I won’t fall.” [...]
