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“What the Song Does: Field Interviews on Gospel and Religious Life in Harlem and Chicago” – Hongbai Zhu
"What The Song Does" is a fascinating and easy-to-navigate photographic and interview montage of Brown University student Hongbai Zhu's field research in Harlem and Chicago.
JGM Music Hour Special – Gospel on Groover #2 (July 2026)
This JGM Music Hour Special features independent gospel and CCM artists worldwide who JGM found on the Groover platform. The show is streaming with no interruptions. Discover new artists!
Marvin Sapp Enters Partnership with Roc Nation; His 17th Album To Be Distributed by Music & Culture Juggernaut
Marvin Sapp’s 17th album, Restoration, will be distributed by music and culture juggernaut Roc Nation, through a newly established partnership that was announced today.
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Recent Posts
“What the Song Does: Field Interviews on Gospel and Religious Life in Harlem and Chicago” – Hongbai Zhu
"What The Song Does" is a fascinating and easy-to-navigate photographic and interview montage of Brown University student Hongbai Zhu's field research in Harlem and Chicago.
JGM Music Hour Special – Gospel on Groover #2 (July 2026)
This JGM Music Hour Special features independent gospel and CCM artists worldwide who JGM found on the Groover platform. The show is streaming with no interruptions. Discover new artists!
Marvin Sapp Enters Partnership with Roc Nation; His 17th Album To Be Distributed by Music & Culture Juggernaut
Marvin Sapp’s 17th album, Restoration, will be distributed by music and culture juggernaut Roc Nation, through a newly established partnership that was announced today.
Sponsored Post:
“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 [...]
A recent example of how gospel music is a global phenomenon can be found in Italy and on a single called “I’ll Give to You the Best of Me” by Giovanni Zucchi and Gio’s Project.
GRAMMY-winning San Francisco string quartet Kronos Quartet is out with the third single, “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away,” from their forthcoming album Glorious Mahalia, out April 3 via Smithsonian Folkways.
It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything on the Soul Messengerz, but “New Jerusalem” gives us that opportunity, even if the song was first introduced by the men about two years ago.
“Thirst No More” is the auspicious debut single by the Nu Nations Choir of New Orleans.
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
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)
“Blessings” Yolanda Adams From the Epic Records album Sunny Days (album release date: September 13, 2024)
Mervin Mayo, the Richmond, Virginia, policeman whose gospel singing was caught on video in 2020 and subsequently went viral, sings “In This Place” with a gritty and instantly-compelling R&B-style vocal delivery.
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 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 [...]
By Bob Marovich From the outside, it appeared as if Darnell Davis was on top of the world. He and his gospel group, Remnant, had signed with a major label, RCA Inspiration. They earned Dove Award and Stellar Award nominations for their 2014 release, Moving Forward. The CD cover photo depicted a smiling, confident Davis, [...]
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 [...]
