Boo Deezy – Positive Ratchetness Vol. 1
Boo Deezy Positive Ratchetness Vol. 1 3L Records (2016) www.reverbnation.com/boodeezy904 By Bob Marovich I’ve said before that Christian hip hop artists are modern day manifestations of the early twentieth century street evangelists who took the Word out of the church and into the highways, byways, and street corners. Listening to [...]
Favour – Fisherman
Favour Fisherman Sharlat Records (2016) www.sharpradiogospelsuperfest.com By Bob Marovich On Fisherman, their six-track EP, Detroit quartet Favour is all about getting you ready...for your blessings, for a miracle, and for the day Jesus returns. Favour is a sweet-singing quartet with the smoothness of Atlantic Starr and the Manhattans, though Shawn [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: March 20, 2017
“Continuous Praise (Over and Over)” Zion’s Joy! Damascus Road Recording (release date: January 14, 2017) www.zionsjoy.com On “Continuous Praise (Over and Over),” Zion’s Joy!, an eleven-member multicultural gospel group from Indianapolis, evokes Kirk Franklin’s ensembles with its staccato vocals, musical swagger, ear candy hooks, and professional production. It’s a praise [...]
Sandra McCracken – God’s Highway
Sandra McCracken God’s Highway Independent release (release date: September 9, 2016) www.sandramccracken.com By Bob Marovich Modern day hymnist Sandra McCracken’s latest CD, God’s Highway (also available on vinyl), continues where her 2015 Psalms left off: new songs based on Biblical texts and that sound as if they came from the [...]
“Trust In You” – Anthony Brown & Group TherAPy
“Trust In You” Anthony Brown & Group TherAPy From the forthcoming album A Long Way from Sunday www.tyscot.com Anthony Brown & Group TherAPy burst onto the gospel scene in 2012 with their self-titled album for Tyscot, but really raked in the accolades with their second album, Everyday Jesus. It took home ten [...]
Leon Triplett – God is in Control
Leon Triplett God is in Control Triplett Records www.TriplettRecords.com By Bob Marovich In the early 1970s, Chicago’s Leon Triplett was making soul records for Curtom/Thomas Records with his twin brother Levi. The Triplett Twins’ 1972 “Pretty Please” even got a second life when it was heard in Big Stone Gap, [...]
“Step Back, Watch God Move” – Minister R.L. Taylor and the Sons of the Father
“Step Back, Watch God Move” Minister R. L. Taylor and the Sons of the Father Independent (release date: November 1, 2015) www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MinisterRLTaylorandtheSonsofth A song that just aches for quartet choreography. To a loping backbeat, “Step Back, Watch God Move” teaches that when problems get too tough for you to handle, [...]
Carolyn Traylor – The Best of My Story
Carolyn Traylor The Best of My Story Traylor Made Music Group (release date: March 31, 2017) By Bob Marovich Working in the traditional-or-die mode of such artists as Dottie Peoples, Beverly Crawford, and Lemmie Battles, Carolyn Traylor of Greenville, Texas, flexes her vocal muscles on her latest album, the thoroughly [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: March 6, 2017
“How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” Out of the Dust Discovery House Music (release date: March 7, 2017) www.outofthedustmusic.com I’m inclined to think that English songwriter Stuart Townend is a nineteenth-century hymnist reincarnated. His 1995 composition, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us,” as covered by the husband-and-wife duo [...]
Out of the Dust – (self titled)
Out of the Dust (s/t) Discovery House Music (release date: March 7, 2017) www.outofthedustmusic.com By Bob Marovich Some of the best songs are birthed out of suffering. For Out of the Dust's Chris and Stephanie Teague, the circumstances of their separation, divorce, and remarriage, and their reliance on Jesus for [...]
Judy Jacques – The Sixties Sessions
Judy Jacques The Sixties Sessions Playback (2016) www.playbackrecords.net By Bob Marovich In the early 1960s, while teens were swooning over the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Judy Jacques, an Australian youth, was soaking up whatever American gospel records she could get her hands on. At the same time, Australia’s Yarra [...]
“Victorious” – Ernest Billups & Tribe of Levi feat. Bishop Eric McDaniel
“Victorious” Ernest Billups & Tribe of Levi feat. Bishop Eric McDaniel E’mazin Entertainment (released August 2016) www.emazinentertainment.com “Victorious” is a spirited litany of positive affirmations from Ernest Billups and his sprightly vocal group Tribe of Levi. It is also Billups’s testimony of how God has granted him victory over personal challenges--that no [...]
n•i•a•s•h•a – Gospel Mixtape Vol. 5
n•i•a•s•h•a Gospel Mixtape Vol. 5 Loveworld Life (released in August 2016) hulkshare.com/niashaMawerez By Bob Marovich If you need confirmation that gospel music is an international phenomenon, n•i•a•s•h•a's Gospel Mixtape Vol. 5 is proof that praising God in song is global. Snippets of music from U.S. artists such as Tasha Cobbs, [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: February 27, 2017
“It Could Have Been Me” Dorothy Norwood feat. Dorinda Clark-Cole From the Echo Park JDI album An Incredible Journey Available on iTunes, Amazon.com The old-school hand-clapper “It Could Have Been Me” brings together Dorothy Norwood and Dorinda Clark-Cole, two female vocalists representing two different generations but equally powerful when it comes [...]
Stay Connected – The Choirs of Trinity United Church of Christ
The Choirs of Trinity United Church of Christ Stay Connected Unashamed Media Group (release date: February 28, 2017) Available on Amazon.com, itunes, other digital outlets. The hard copy with the 36 page color booklet will be available at the church by March 3, 2017, through its bookstore and website. By [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: February 20, 2017
“Outpour” Lynn McCree featuring Judah 1st www.igaraa.com/lynn-mccree.html Songs that open with hushed piano and vocal never fail to get my attention. Lynn McCree’s “Outpour” got my attention. It’s a lovely ballad, lovingly sung, a prayer closet pleading to the Lord for a pouring out of blessings. “Pour out your joy / I [...]
JGM Pick of the Week: February 14, 2017
“Testify” James Douglas feat. LeJuene Thompson From the forthcoming project Still I Praise https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jamesdouglas42 It could be intimidating for some artists to have a fiery singer like LeJuene Thompson on their single, but James Douglas proves an equally effective vocalist on “Testify.” “Testify” is as it sounds: despite having his [...]
“When I Stopped Playing with Jesus” – LaTonya Earl
“When I Stopped Playing with Jesus” LaTonya Earl (private release, 2014) To purchase a copy, email Latonyaearl1@gmail.com Houston gospel singer LaTonya Earl gets transparent on “When I Stopped Playing with Jesus.” After “playing with,” or not fully accepting, the Lord, Earl “plants her feet” in church and sees the light. [...]
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