JGM Pick of the Week – January 30, 2024

“Blessed My Soul”
Jason Singleton & Friends
From the Singletone Music Group CD
The LowCountry Church Experience (release date: July 16, 2023)

By Robert M. Marovich

In what artist and minister Jason Singleton calls a Low Country arrangement, meaning the area along South Carolina’s coast, “Blessed My Soul” evokes the exuberance of the antiphonal and iterative congregational singing that once emanated from the region’s praise houses.

In other words, rather than having a definite ending, “Blessed My Soul” moves on a motive that is repeated and embellished upon by the assembly for as long as the spirit dictates. Jason Singleton & Friends’ spirited reading of “Blessed My Soul” lasts for three-and-a-half-minutes, but in the right circumstance, it could go on for ten times longer.

A native of Charleston, South Carolina, Jason Singleton is director of worship & arts and outreach minister at Destiny Worship Center in North Charleston. He is dedicated to preserving and modernizing the Gullah-Geechee culture and sound in gospel music.