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 [...]

Frontlynaz Game Over Frontlynaz, Inc. 2008 www.frontlynaz.com Say what you will about Holy Hip Hop, but the Stellar-nominated HHH group Frontlynaz spits rhymes and drops beats with the power and urgency of a brakeless freight train. Their Game Over grabbed my attention and held it with clenched fists from beginning to end. Captivating and compelling, [...]

“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 [...]

“All of My Help” The Dedicated Souls Elite and Creative Music Productions By Robert M. Marovich If “All of My Help” by the Ohio-based Dedicated Souls sounds like a Canton Spirituals track, it’s because it was written, produced, and is led by the Canton Spirituals’ own Antoine Porter. The message is clear: when you try [...]

“You’ve Been Good to Me”Zacardi CortezBlacksmoke Music Worldwide (release date: January 27, 2022) By Robert M. Marovich “You’ve Been Good to Me” is a song with simple lyrics and a singable melody—essentially a chorus and pounding vamp—but it’s the aggressive, hard-charging way in which Zacardi Cortez and his background singers render it that brings the [...]

“Peace Be Still” Kelontae Gavin Malaco Music Group (release date: January 20, 2022) www.malaco.com By Robert M. Marovich At the Malaco Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration in Jackson, Mississippi, gospel soloist Kelontae Gavin put his own melismatic touch on “Peace Be Still.” It’s from the CD and DVD chronicling the Fiftieth Anniversary concert, where today’s gospel artists [...]

“The Glory” Mama Tee feat. Awipi & Rume Independent (release date: October 9, 2021) By Robert M. Marovich "The Glory" is the product of an international collaboration between Canada-based songwriter Tolu Adeosun (Mama Tee), Nigerian-based music director and producer Awipi Emmanuel, and singers Rume and Jojo Vocals. Modern gospel singers in or from Africa tend [...]