Greg Delaine with Brother 2 Brother – 99 1/2 Won’t Do
Greg Delaine with Brother 2 Brother 99 ½ Won’t Do Trumpet Records LLC (2016) www.gregdelaine.com By Bob Marovich On 99 1/2 Won’t Do, Central Florida contemporary gospel quartet Greg Delaine and Brother 2 Brother combines sweet harmonies with hard lead singing and plenty of preaching/testifying. What they have done on this, [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: June 6, 2016
“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 [...]
Latice Crawford – Diary of a Church Girl (EP)
Latice Crawford Diary of a Church Girl (EP) EchoPark ARTS Entertainment (release date: May 20, 2016) www.laticecrawfordonline.com By Bob Marovich The word “testimony” could be substituted for “diary” in Diary of a Church Girl, Latice Crawford’s introspective and autobiographical follow-up EP to her self-titled debut album. Many know Crawford as [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: May 30, 2016
“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 [...]
Anthony Nelson & the Overcomers: Love Jesus, Love People
Anthony Nelson & the Overcomers Love Jesus, Love People New Heavens & New Earth Music (January 29, 2016) www.antheovercomers.com By Bob Marovich Earlier this year, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, contemporary gospel group Anthony Nelson & the Overcomers released its debut album, Love Jesus, Love People. Nelson, an engineer by training and [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: May 23, 2016
“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 [...]
Mighty Men of Faith – Believe in His Promises
Mighty Men of Faith Believe in His Promises N2L Records (2016) www.mightymenoffaith.com By Bob Marovich Since forming at a 2009 Men’s Day Celebration in Palo Alto, California, Wendell Basey and the Mighty Men of Faith have recorded a handful of albums and have garnered several honors, including two at last [...]
Tyscot Records: Feel Good! 40 Years of Life Changing Music
Various Artists Feel Good! 40 Years of Life Changing Music Tyscot Records (2016) www.tyscot.com By Bob Marovich What started out as a hobby for an Indianapolis, Indiana, dentist and his nephew is now the oldest existing African-American gospel music label in the country. Tyscot Records is celebrating its fortieth anniversary [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: May 16, 2016
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 [...]
Lisa Barron & Joyful Sounds – Show Me the Way
Lisa Barron & Joyful Sounds Show Me the Way Faith Productions (2015) www.cdbaby.com/Artist/LisaBarronJoyfulSounds By Bob Marovich Although at first blush it may seem as if Lisa Barron & Joyful Sounds is a female quartet, the EP Show Me the Way finds the group working mainly in the piano/organ-led gospel group [...]
The Original Gospel Creators of Atlanta – Blessed by the Best
The Original Gospel Creators of Atlanta Blessed by the Best Sharper Brothers Records (2016) www.sharprecordsusa.com By Bob Marovich The Original Gospel Creators of Atlanta deliver a decent album in Blessed by the Best. Buoyed by crisp electric guitar work from Terrain Foster (first cousin to the Five Blind Boys of [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: May 9, 2016
“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 [...]
“God Has a Blessing” – Sha’Quan Welch
“God Has a Blessing” Sha'Quan Welch Believe Music Works www.shaquanwelch.com Set in 12/8 time and featuring a traditional-style vibe, complete with bluesy vamp and piano, “God Has a Blessing” riffs lyrically on the church aphorism, “God’s got a blessing with your name on it.” The song comes from the pen [...]
Pastor David Wright & the N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir – Clap Your Hands
Pastor David Wright & N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir (Next Generation) Clap Your Hands Godfather Records (release date: April 19, 2016) www.godfathergospel.com By Bob Marovich When Pastor David Wright speaks of his father on the second of the two-CD N.Y. Fellowship Mass Choir recordings done in June 2013, he is referring [...]
Todd Dulaney – A Worshipper’s Heart
Todd Dulaney A Worshipper’s Heart eOne Music (release date: April 15, 2016) www.todddulaneyland.com By Bob Marovich Todd Dulaney is among the new-ish crop of male gospel tenors who croon rather than shout their praises aloft. His latest album, A Worshipper’s Heart, is his first live project and as good a demonstration as [...]
Conversations with the Gospel Legends – The Barrett Sisters
Check out the first episode of "Conversations with the Gospel Legends," a new program on Rev. Harold Bailey's PCC Broadcast Network. Our guests for the debut show are the world-renowned Barrett Sisters: Rodessa Barrett Porter and Billie Barrett Greenbey. JGM's Bob Marovich is the host. The next program will feature [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: May 2, 2016
“Oh How We Love YOU” Tiff Joy From the Tyscot Records CD Tiff Joy www.tyscot.com The second single from Tiff (“Amazing”) Joy’s eponymously titled album from 2015, “Oh How We Love YOU” finds the award-winning singer-songwriter leading an exuberant group of background vocalists on one of those rigorous praise pieces [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: April 25, 2016
“Glorify” The Gospel Starlights (released March 2016) www.gospelstarlights.com The Gospel Starlights of Tifton, Georgia, have been on the gospel highway since 1990. What is distinctive about the quartet is that it is comprised of four women and one man, as opposed to the more typical single-gender quartet structure. It makes [...]