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  • Charles Jones I Know a Man cover
    Published On: May 4th, 2024

    “I Know a Man” by Macon, Georgia, singer-songwriter Charles Jones contains lyrical echoes of Brother Joe May’s 1950 hit “Do You Know Him,” but the melody is wholly different.

  • Meet Johnnie Washington Cover
    Published On: April 30th, 2024

    With Meet Johnnie Washington, Pastor Mack C. Mason trains his historian’s eye to illustrate how local communities of dedicated and enterprising ministers and evangelists turned Christianity into a pervasive force in modern American life.

  • Kings of Quartet Cover
    Published On: April 29th, 2024

    “The Blood” Paul Porter & Melvin Williams From the Marxan-Blackberry Records album The Kings of Quartet Vol. 1

  • CeCe Winans More Than This cover
    Published On: April 26th, 2024

    Fresh off her multi-award-winning debut live project Believe For It, CeCe Winans drops another five-star live project with More Than This.

  • Published On: April 24th, 2024

    Christian hip hop artist Lawrence Hancock’s tenth studio album, See Me Through, is a litany of spiritual emotion channeled through a moody atmosphere reminiscent of Phil Collins’s debut solo hit “In the Air Tonight.”

  • Published On: April 22nd, 2024

    “Jesus Dropped the Charges” Earl Bynum and Phillip Carter SOV Inc. (release date: March 30, 2024)

LATEST 5 STAR REVIEWS 

  • The Williams SingersDestinedDeznell Music Group (rel. April 2014)By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogNot to be confused with the Williams Brothers of Mississippi, the Williams Singersis a quartet from Indianapolis, Indiana, the city that brought you, among other artists, Brown’s Inspirational Singers, Robert Turner and the Silver Hearts, and Al “the Bishop” Hobbs.Darnell, Dezrale, [...]

  • North Carolina Community Choir A Story To Tell Malaco Records (2013) www.malaco.com By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog If there’s a choir to give the Mississippi and Chicago Mass Choirs a run for their money, it’s the North Carolina Community Choir. Formed initially to back the Sensational Nightingales on “Every Promise in the [...]

  • Denita Gibbs Without You Audiostate Entertainment 55 (released August 13, 2013) www.audiostate55.com By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog Without You is Denita Gibbs’ sophomore release but her first for Audiostate 55 Entertainment and its muscular distribution.  It is also her first album in nine years but it is well worth the wait. A [...]

  • Charles Jenkins & Fellowship Chicago The Best of Both Worlds EMI Gospel/Inspired People (2012) www.emigospel.com By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog. It could not have been easy for Charles Jenkins to succeed the iconic Rev. Dr. Clay Evans as Pastor of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago. Evans, a Civil Rights leader and [...]

  • Reverend John Wilkins You Can’t Hurry God Fat Possum Records/Big Legal Mess (2010) http://www.biglegalmessrecords.com/ Talk about old school. On You Can’t Hurry God, Reverend John Wilkins takes us way back into the North Mississippi Hill Country for sacred music, guitar evangelist style. The result is an album with the simple authenticity of an Alan Lomax [...]

LATEST PICK OF THE WEEK – SINGLES

  • “I’m Encouraged” Patrick Noble Allen presents Claude Deuce Embrace Your Texture Enterprises (release date: February 24, 2022)www.ClaudeDeuce.com By Robert M. Marovich Written last year by Claude Deuce, who is also the featured vocalist, “I’m Encouraged,” presented by music industry veteran Patrick Noble Allen, is a gospel power ballad about holding onto blind faith, no matter [...]

  • “Make It With Me” Ray Curenton Independent (release date: April 22, 2022) www.raycurenton.com By Robert M. Marovich “Make It With Me” is a lovely, introspective, and lyrically intricate song with the soul of a John Legend ballad. Written with Tim Dillinger and co-producer Brandon Adams, “Make It With Me” finds Ray Curenton employing the Passion [...]

  • “I Got Joy” The Dorsetts Independent (release date: January 6, 2022) By Robert M. Marovich Husband-and-wife duo Arnold and Sharee Dorsett—known as the Dorsetts—offer “I Got Joy,” a simple tune with an easy rhythm and a catchy refrain that not only establishes the premise of the song but invites a congregational singalong and possibly a [...]

  • “Grateful” Earnest Pugh Blacksmoke Music Worldwide (2022) By Robert M. Marovich Earnest Pugh’s current single, “Grateful,” is a gently swaying ballad of thanksgiving for Christ’s love, expressed most ardently in his sacrifice for all humanity. Pugh and his background vocalists riff on the “you didn’t have to do it but you did” trope. The song’s [...]

  • “Highest Praise” Terry Fuller Project ft. Justin Mickens Independent (release date: June 24, 2021) https://www.tjmusicgroup.com/ By Robert M. Marovich Accented by rhythmic foot thumps, Terry Fuller Project’s “Highest Praise” is a joyful selection that will set listeners to handclapping and foot tapping. Lead singer Justin Mickens handles vocals like the effervescent quartet lead he is [...]

CONVERSATIONS WITH THE GOSPEL LEGENDS

A City Called Heaven

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.

A City Called Heaven

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.

RECENT INTERVIEWS

  • By Bob Marovich Ask today’s Christian hip hop artists about their inspirations, and they will talk about artists such as Lecrae, Trip Lee, and Sho Baraka. But Pastor Robert McCloud is old school.  Coming of age during rap's emergence as a popular entertainment form, his inspirations include Run DMC and LL Cool J.  Nevertheless, he [...]

    Published On: September 16th, 2015Categories: Christian Rap/Hip Hop, Interviews
  • By Bob Marovich “I always did love music,” Jonathan McReynolds told the Journal of Gospel Music, “but I don’t think I ever envisioned a music career to come out of it.” Nevertheless, McReynolds, a rising star on the gospel music circuit, is poised to release his sophomore album, Life Music: Stage Two (eOne, Tehillah Music Group), on [...]

    Published On: September 6th, 2015Categories: Contemporary Gospel, Gospel Fusion, Interviews
  • Last week, Motown Gospel artist Tasha Cobbs released her second album, One Place Live. Recorded at Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina, the album received five of five stars from the Journal of Gospel Music. JGM’s Bob Marovich caught up with the award-winning vocalist last Friday, the day of the album release. JGM: How do [...]

    Published On: August 28th, 2015Categories: Interviews, Praise & Worship

PRAYER LIST

  • By Robert M. Marovich Lady Sharon Poston shared the sad news that her husband, Deacon Dr. Timothy D. Poston Sr., passed away on March 15, 2022. The California organist's Churchin' on the Hammond B3 Organ was reviewed by the Journal of Gospel Music in 2018. We at JGM express our condolences to the family, friends, [...]

    Published On: March 26th, 2022
  • By Robert M. Marovich The gospel music community is mourning the loss of Derrick Lee, who transitioned from labor to reward February 19, 2022, at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. He had been battling health issues for some time and had been in the hospital since the week after Christmas 2021. Friends and associates sete [...]

    Published On: February 21st, 2022
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