Recent Posts
JGM Pick of the Week – September 7, 2026
Ann Nesby’s “Amen” is not the Wings Over Jordan / Jester Hairston / Lilies of the Field neo-spiritual but a contemporary piece proclaiming, to a bouncy and bracing backdrop, that when things get bad, “don’t give up,” remember who pulled you through, and “say ‘Amen’.”
JGM Pick of the Week – August 11, 2026
A 12x-Stellar nominee, Kim Person is proof that an indie gospel artist can blossom into a national star today, even if she is not signed to a major label.
JGM Music Hour – Episode 187
This episode includes music reviewed on the Journal of Gospel Music between late April and early June 2026.
Sponsored Posts:
Check out the Journal of Gospel Music's exclusive video interview of gospel quartet singer Li'l Prince - available here starting the afternoon of October 16.
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Recent Posts
JGM Pick of the Week – September 7, 2026
Ann Nesby’s “Amen” is not the Wings Over Jordan / Jester Hairston / Lilies of the Field neo-spiritual but a contemporary piece proclaiming, to a bouncy and bracing backdrop, that when things get bad, “don’t give up,” remember who pulled you through, and “say ‘Amen’.”
JGM Pick of the Week – August 11, 2026
A 12x-Stellar nominee, Kim Person is proof that an indie gospel artist can blossom into a national star today, even if she is not signed to a major label.
JGM Music Hour – Episode 187
This episode includes music reviewed on the Journal of Gospel Music between late April and early June 2026.
Sponsored Post:
"I Count Everything as Joy" is the lead single from Fellowship Chicago's new album, The Flow, which released digitally on April 3.
“After While” Brandon Camphor TOMii Entertainment (release date: June 20, 2025)
The documentary That’s the Way God Planned It is a vividly candid and elegiac portrayal of the life of music sensation Billy Preston.
The Chicago Defender reported in February on an exhibit at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield that celebrates "the remarkable artistic journey of Sylvia Fedrick, a Chicago-born recording artist and actress whose creative story reflects resilience, faith, and hometown pride."
“Word” Bishop Darrel Petties & Take 2 Independent (release date: November 14, 2025) By Robert M. Marovich “Word,” a declaration to keep the faith by remembering God’s promises during tough [...]
Author and gospel music historian Dr. Kathryn Kemp is teaming up with Chicago's historic Pilgrim Baptist Church to host the screening of Jessica Parker picturesMake a Joyful Noise, a documentary [...]
LATEST 5 STAR REVIEWS
Camille Nelson Sacred Lullabies Heart Dance Records (release date: August 23, 2019) www.camillenelson.com By Bob Marovich Religious music comes in many shapes and sizes. It can be thunderous or austere, passionate or quiescent, joyful or somber. Regardless, for sacred music to be effective, it must, as Father of Gospel Music Thomas A. Dorsey once said, [...]
Kurt CarrBless Somebody ElseRCA Inspiration (release date: July 19, 2019)www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich In what may well be the most heartrending introduction you will hear on a gospel album this year, Praise & Worship pioneer Kurt Carr uses the opening moments of his new CD, Bless Somebody Else, to relate the final moments he spent [...]
The Southern Sons of Memphis “Live” At Home in Memphis SOME Records (2016) www.sonsofmemphismusic.com By Bob Marovich Although released in 2016, the Southern Sons of Memphis’s “Live” At Home in Memphis is, like most gospel quartet recordings without undue amounts of synthesizer, evergreen. Bob Holloway, the Southern Sons’ longstanding member, is lead vocalist on almost [...]
Pastor Donald Gay On a Glorious Day The Sirens Records (release date: March 15, 2019) www.thesirensrecords.com By Bob Marovich Like amber, Pastor Donald Gay's On a Glorious Day preserves the sounds and stories of Chicago's traditional gospel music and church community. Pastor Gay has been in gospel music since knee pants (a photo on the [...]
Roberta Martin Singers Didn’t It Rain / Only a Look / The Old Ship of Zion: 1947-1962 Fremeaux & Associes (release date: February 2019) www.fremeaux.com By Bob Marovich Roberta Martin is to today’s enthusiasts of gospel music what writers like James Joyce and Henry James are to today’s enthusiasts of literature: someone whose work is [...]
LATEST PICK OF THE WEEK – SINGLES
“Like Jabez” Ernest J. Lee David’s Dance Music (release date: December 31, 2024)
“Let Him In” Flint Cavaliers feat. Pastor Shawn Brown From the Flint Music Group album The Fellowship (Psalms 133:1) (album release date: March 15, 2024)
UK-based modern worship artist Faithful Forever offers a stunning cover of “10,000 Reasons,” the Matt Redman hit from 2012.
“He Will Heal the Land” Rev. Hayward Anderson & the Davis Chorale Singers Anderson Music Group (release date: August 26, 2024)
“Near” The Beautiful Gate Music From the album We All Need Jesus (single release date: January 31, 2025)
By Robert Marovich
In A City Called Heaven, gospel announcer and music historian Robert Marovich shines a light on the humble origins of a majestic genre and its indispensable bond to the city where it found its voice: Chicago.
By Robert Marovich
In A City Called Heaven, gospel announcer and music historian Robert Marovich shines a light on the humble origins of a majestic genre and its indispensable bond to the city where it found its voice: Chicago.
By Bob Marovich May 18 marks the day Bishop Jason Nelson will release his fifth album, The Answer (RCA Inspiration). Recorded live at Greater Bethlehem Temple Church in Randallstown, Maryland, the album marks Nelson’s tenth anniversary as pastor of Greater Bethlehem Temple, the church his father, Bishop James D. Nelson Sr., once shepherded. JGM asked [...]
By Bob Marovich Jekalyn Carr frequently listened to her mother, Jennifer Selvy Carr, as she sang with the award-winning family gospel group the Selvy Singers. But this time it was different. The preteen was watching the Selvys sing from the set of Don McGlynn’s 2010 gospel music documentary, Rejoice and Shout. “We were on the [...]
Damon Williams, RCA Inspiration By Bob Marovich In 1998, Damon Williams eagerly purchased a copy of the first-ever WOW Gospel two-CD compilation. “It was a big moment in gospel music,” Williams, who was recently named Vice President of Marketing for RCA Inspiration, shared with the Journal of Gospel Music. “To find something that [...]
Gregory Gay passed along the sad news of the passing of Bishop Dr. Barbara Ward Farmer today, April 5, 2025.
By Robert M. Marovich Darrell Luster of Malaco Music Group informed JGM today that Huey Williams of the famed gospel quartet the Jackson Southernaires, passed away today, March 24, 2025. He was 86. Here is a biography of the Jackson Southernaires that I wrote for the Malaco Music Group website some years ago. Homegoing details [...]
