“You Covered Me” Pastor Marlon Lock Available digitally www.pastormarlonlock.com Stellar-nominated gospel artist Pastor Marlon Lock of Milwaukee delivers a gentle contemporary ballad about how he got over: it was all because of God’s protective covering.  Lock delivers this forthright declaration with melodic tenderness but he's moved by the end to shout a little for having [...]

“Testimony” Monica Lisa Stevenson Puretonez Productions (release date: April 21, 2016) www.monicazmuzik.com Award-winning gospel singer Monica Lisa Stevenson—the “fifth Caravan”—is adept at updating the traditional gospel sound for today’s ears. Hew new single, the brassy and soulful “Testimony,” with its funky take-charge rhythm, is the first taste we get of her forthcoming album, due out [...]

“Mother Emanuel” Shirley Caesar From the forthcoming Entertainment One Music CD Fill This House Available from digital retail outlets Gospel songs with explicit social messages are a rarity these days, making Shirley Caesar’s sobering memorial to the shooting at "Mother" Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, stand out all the more. The mournful piano [...]

Roy of Roy & Revelation “Will You Be Ready” Roy & Revelation 4 Winds Records / Malaco (2016) www.malaco.com On their new single, “Will You Be Ready,” Stanley Roy Ladson and his group, aka Roy & Revelation, give Christian eschatology a 1960s party dance beat, making the strong medicine more palatable. Implicit in [...]

“Better Days” Le’Andria Johnson Available from digital media outlets Since hearing her 2011 debut EP, The Awakening of Le’Andria Johnson, I have considered Le’Andria Johnson to be one of modern gospel music’s most expressive voices. Paired with the right songs, such as her debut single, “Jesus,” she can be downright lethal. “Better Days” is one [...]