Gospel Music

Toni RackardUnconditional LoveBehind the Veil Records (release date: April 27, 2010)www.tonirackard.comYou can see it in Toni Rackard’s welcoming but no-nonsense eyes on the jewel case of her national debut CD, Unconditional Love. This lady is a worship warrior. She makes it plain throughout the album, too, with references in the [...]

“To Be Faithful”Betty LesterFrom the CD To Be Faithful (2000)In the early 1960s, Betty Lester, then a soloist with Chicago’s New Friendship Baptist Church Choir, recorded “To Be Faithful.” It was a song she wrote after experiencing a particularly anxious time as a young mother and wife trying to make [...]

Bishop Paul S. MortonMemorable MomentsTehillah Music Group/Light Records 2010www.lightrecords.comBishop Paul S. Morton, entrepreneurial pastor of the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, has had his share of trials, including a health scare and a two-element gut punch – fire and water – to his New Orleans flagship church that [...]

"Grateful”KingDNA Musicboyz 2010www.4kingmusic.comFor King, praise and dance go together like sunshine and South Florida, the group’s home base. So when you are declaring gratitude for what God has given you, for Heaven’s sake, move your feet.It’s hard not to move during “Grateful," a bright, hook-laden R&B-flavored song with strong group [...]

“God Life”Vadiawww.myspace.com/vadiagospelPrince had his “Pop Life.” Sheila E lived “The Glamorous Life.” Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington educated us on the “Lush Life.”Meanwhile, Sacramento, California’s Vadia Hubbard (aka Vadia) is “living the ‘God Life.’” Constructed with compelling polyrhythmic house-style beats, “God Life” is a catchy, club-ready invitation to join the [...]

"I Come to Praise Him"VIZHIONFrom the Rimshot Records CD Pressin' Onwww.myspace.com/vizhionI haven't heard gospel zydeco since the ensemble on Bishop Paul S. Morton's Still Standing (Light/Tehillah 2006) turned "We Made It" into a post-Katrina celebration. On "I Come to Praise Him," the members of Houston-based VIZHION get their own praise [...]

"You Keep Blessing Me"Jewel LucienYaplys Productions 2009www.myspace.com/jewellucienThe Nashville-raised Jewel Lucien is now a resident of Texas, and is arguably as well known for her many performances on the musical stage as for her sacred singing."You Keep Blessing Me" is her latest single. It has a retro '70s vibe from the [...]

“Alright”Michele MundyFrom the Favor Records CD Divine Favor (2009)www.cdbaby.com/cd/michelemundyIn 2004, Roger Mundy, Jr. entered a New Albany, Mississippi hospital unresponsive. His singer-songwriter daughter Michele explained: “I went outside the hospital to pray because his blood pressure was increasing. I heard a voice…tell me to go sing to him.” She reentered [...]

“He Can (Work It Out)”Youth for ChristFrom the Emtro Records CD Thanks in Advance (2010)www.emtro.comThe mass choir Youth for Christ was not only one of the first national artists on Troy and Emily Sneed’s Emtro Records, but it also garnered a Grammy-nomination for its first CD, Higher, and a Stellar [...]

A Gospel Calling: Mahalia Jackson SingsHollywood Select Video/Infinity Entertainment Group (2010)Although Nat Cole’s television variety program in the 1950s helped open the door a little, by the early 1960s, African Americans were still relegated to the same old stereotypical images on the squawk box. Diahann Carroll and “Julia” were still [...]