Gospel Music According to Chicago Choir Closes GMWA

The Gospel Music According to Chicago (GMAC) Choir put the finishing touches on the 41st Gospel Music Workshop of America, which closed Friday, August 15. The week-long event was held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

During the concluding musical Friday evening, on which they were the final act, the GMAC Choir performed several traditional gospel songs, such as “Come On Children Let’s Sing,” “God is Still on the Throne,” “Perfect Praise,” and “I’ve Got a Testimony.” They sang and clapped to the warble of a Hammond Organ and even incorporated a washboard into the rhythmic mix.

GMAC specializes in traditional songs written by Chicago composers such as Thomas A. Dorsey, Kenneth Morris and Roberta Martin. It is comprised of many of the city’s living legends, including Rev. Ray Allen Berryhill, Vernon Oliver Price, Fred Nelson III, Delores “Honey” Sykes, Nash Shaffer, and Bobby Wooten. It is the fulfillment of an idea birthed almost concurrently by Dr. Dennis E. Cole, president of the Chicago Area Gospel Announcers Guild and Mama Ann Yancy.

Music coordinator is LouDella Evans Reid, the leading light behind the music at Fellowship M.B. Church in Chicago where her brother, the influential Rev. Dr. Clay Evans, is pastor.

GMAC’s debut CD, recorded live earlier this year at Chicago’s historic First Church of Deliverance, is scheduled for release in October 2008. More information is available at http://www.gm2chicago.com/.