TBGB Pick of the Week: June 23, 2008

“It’s the Grace of God Keeping Me”
Ron Barrett
From the CD It’s the Grace of God Keeping Me
(private press) 2008
www.myspace.com/ronbarrett

Stellar-nominated Chicagoan Ron Barrett is a young man with an old soul and deep roots in traditional gospel music.

Ron’s father, the late Rev. S.L. Barrett, was the beloved pastor of Galilee Baptist Church and a gospel radio announcer in Chicago. His uncle, the Rev. T.L. Barrett, was also a popular preacher who recorded sermons for Savoy’s Gospel subsidiary and the Randy’s Spirituals imprint. His cousins are the renowned Barrett Sisters. Ron himself possesses an impressive dossier of work with some of the finest gospel choirs in Chicago – Sweet Holy Spirit, Fellowship, Nu City Mass, Chicago Mass, the list goes on – where he further honed his vocal skills.

The title track of Barrett’s wonderful traditional-leaning album, It’s the Grace of God Keeping Me, has the flavor of a mass choir song – uptempo and unabashedly traditional – presented by Barrett and a cadre of backing voices. Pastor Wendell Lowe backs the ensemble by drawing ragtime riffs like precious memories out of the Hammond organ.

While “Grace” is the outstanding track on the album, other can’t-misses are the hymnic “So Glad I Know Him,” composed by Ethlyn Wade; Barrett’s heartfelt, albeit brief “Pass Me Not;” and the rousing “He’ll Do Just What He Said.”