“It’s Gonna Happen” – Jekalyn Carr
“It’s Gonna Happen” Jekalyn Carr Lunjeal Music Group/Malaco Music Group (available on iTunes August 12) www.myjekalyncarr.net “It’s Gonna Happen” is the latest single from the seventeen-year-old from the Mid-South who brought you “Greater is Coming” and “They Said, But God Said.” In a chirpy vibrato that evokes the pre-teen Tanya Tucker, Jekalyn [...]
Pick of the Week: August 5, 2014
“Forever Mine Lord” The New Gospel Saints From the NGS Records CD Forever Mine Lord (2012) www.newgospelsaints.com On “Forever Mine Lord,” the doo-woppy title track of their 2012 CD, the New Gospel Saints of Chicago demonstrate why they are called the “Temptations of Gospel Music” Possessing a silky smoothness reminiscent [...]
Mark Yandris – A Sound for God’s House
Mark Yandris A Sound for God’s House Released June 16, 2014 Available at Amazon, iTunes, etc. By Bob Marovich Mark Yandris is a brother from another mother. Like me, he has Slavic roots and family ties to the Calumet Region south of Chicago. Whereas our family remained in Da Region, [...]
Bryan Andrew Wilson – The One Percent
Bryan Andrew Wilson The One Percent Bryan’s Songs Records / EchoPark JDI www.bryanwilson.com By Bob Marovich Rarely do we have a chance to hear child singers grow up on record. There are exceptions, most notably Michael Jackson, who got better with age, and Judy Garland, whose voice seemed to have [...]
James Fortune & Friends Offer One Energetic Performance After Another
"James Fortune & FIYA and Friends" Gospel Music Workshop of America Centennial Ballroom - Hyatt Regency Atlanta, GA Tuesday, July 29, 2014 By Bob Marovich Photo: Alexis Spight (center) with James Fortune (right) The Gospel Music Workshop of America. Your mind conjures up images of delegations of robed choirs singing [...]
“I Gotta Do Better” – Jon Plair
“I Gotta Do Better” Jon Plair www.jonplair.com With “I Gotta Do Better,” singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and COGIC PK Jonathan Plair admonishes those “slacking in their praise” to do better. Do better, he exhorts, and you will change your life. The song is conventional in melody and arrangement, but Plair and his [...]
The Heart of Nancey Jackson Johnson
Nancey Jackson Johnson The Heart of Nancey Jackson Johnson Camdon Music 2014 www.CamdonMusic.com By Bob Marovich I have enjoyed listening to Nancey Jackson Johnson solo on several projects over the past few years, beginning with “Lead Me to the Rock,” from Rev. Stef & Jubilation’s 2006 The Launch Out Project. Nancey's [...]
TBGB Pick of the Week: July 21, 2014
“I Believe”Dr. Marcus Cosby & the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Mass ChoirFrom the 2012 CD Oh to Be Kept By Jesus (Anniversary Edition)Available on Amazon.com“I Believe” is a robust, stadium-sized praise anthem and assertion of personal belief from the Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church Mass Choir of Houston, Texas. The orchestral [...]
Chanel – Trin-i-tee 5:7 According to Chanel
ChanelTrin-i-tee 5:7 According to ChanelObsidian Records (release date: June 17, 2014)By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogChanel’s solo debut, Trin-i-tee 5:7 According to Chanel, deserves the superlative “CD Most Likely to Be Released as Vinyl.” The art design by Shamael Lataillade focuses on paisley-bracketed images of Chanel Haynes Schwartz [...]
Andrea McClurkin-Mellini – Higher
Andrea McClurkin-MelliniHigherCamdon Music (June 17, 2014)www.camdonmusic.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogSister of gospel star Pastor Donnie McClurkin, singer-songwriter Andrea McClurkin-Mellini is no newcomer to gospel music. She was a member of the McClurkin Singers and a charter member of the New York Restoration Mass Choir. She penned the [...]
Mr. Del & Rod G. Newman – Geeks & Gangstas
Mr. Del & Rod G. NewmanGeeks & GangstasHoly South/Geek World Entertainment/DMG (released April 1, 2014)By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogAlthough Mr. Del’s Hope Dealer just hit the streets, not long ago the Grammy and Dove-nominated Christian rapper from Memphis joined forces with Rod G. Newman of Birmingham, Alabama, [...]
Disciples of Christ – Renewed Praise
Disciples of ChristRenewed PraiseD.O.C. Productions/B.A.D. EntertainmentDisciplesofchristgospel@gmail.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogFrom Houston, Texas, the Disciples of Christ is a family female traditional gospel quartet group with plenty of contemporary flair. Evocative of Lisa Brown & the Knowles Singers and Vetrea Stack Ruffin & the Ruffin Family, the Disciples are [...]
Eric Thomas – Keep On Climbin’
Eric ThomasKeep On Climbin’Self-released (2009)www.cdbaby.com/cd/ethomasmusicBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogKeep On Climbin’ by Chicago singer Eric Thomas could easily be subtitled "With the Sons of Chicago Gospel Legends."That’s because Richard Gibbs (Inez Andrews’s son), Bryant Jones (Rev. Billy Jones and Jeanette Robinson Jones’s son), and Joey Woolfalk (Johnny [...]
Minister L. Jones – Hallelujah to His Name
Minister L. JonesHallelujah to His NameSharper Brothers (released January 16, 2014)www.sharprecordsusa.comBy Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel BlogIf I were a betting man (I’m not), I’d wager that the early work of Commissioned and the Winans had more than a smidgen of influence on the singing style of Minister Lorenza [...]
“Beautiful” – Wincey
Wincey “Beautiful” From the CD Time to Say (2012) www.winceyco.com Wincey Terry-Bryant’s “Beautiful” is an acoustic love song to God, though it could also be an acoustic love song to another person, or even encouragement to one’s self, for that matter. Its lithe, lilting melody is lovely and in sync [...]
TBGB Pick of the Week: July 7, 2014
“Amazing Worth” Charles Butler & Trinity feat. Jeremiah Hicks From the EPM Music Group CD Better www.epmmusicgroup.com Gospel enthusiasts first became aware of Washington, DC’s Charles Butler & Trinity when the ensemble backed Earnest Pugh on his 2009 hit, “Rain On Us.” In February 2013, the group released its debut [...]
“Worthy God” – M. Roger Holland
“Worthy God”M. Roger HollandFrom the forthcoming GIA CD Building Up the Kingdomwww.giamusic.comM. Roger Holland gives what could be just another P&W ballad a richness through a nuanced arrangement complete with strings, background vocalists, canny melodic changes, and expert use of dynamics. His voice is a mix of Luther Vandross and [...]
“Jesus Can Work It Out” – Pastor Greg Harris
“Jesus Can Work It Out” Pastor Greg Harris Sabbath Day Records www.sabbathdayrecords.com Not the more famous Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer/Christian Tabernacle song, this “Jesus Can Work It Out” articulates the same message nonetheless. Little Rock, Arkansas’ Pastor Greg Harris extols Jesus as the best doctor and the best lawyer. Harris [...]
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