Devin Williams We Are Forever Yours (EP) Independent: (release date: August 4, 2017) www.devinw.com By Bob Marovich The power of love, both given and received, is at the center of We Are Forever Yours, the latest release by worship leader and six-time Billboard Top 30-charting Christian artist Devin Williams. Nowhere is this negotiation more explicit than on the current single, “Hear Our Hearts Sing.” Interceding on behalf of an inferred congregation on this vibrant song of corporate worship, Williams offers God the congregation’s (and his) collective hearts. But this is not a one-way proposition; in return, God will bestow peace, ...

By Bob Marovich In her kitchen washing dishes one day, Dana Fields began to sing a line in unscripted devotion to God: “I will praise you, simply because of who you are. / In worship I adore you, I will lay my life before you. / At the altar of your throne, I bow to you and you alone.” The lyric and accompanying melody became the anchor for “Simply Because,” one of the ten songs on A Personal Experience. Released last September, the album entered the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for one week in June 2017. The album’s charting ...

“So Good” Bri (Release date: June 9, 2017) Available from digital music outlets By Bob Marovich When on “So Good” Bri (Briana Babineaux) sings “God’s been so good to me,” there are plenty of reasons for her to express that sentiment. In a relatively short period of time, she went from unknown to YouTube sensation to Billboard-charting artist to multiple Stellar Award winner. But here, she focuses instead on the victory God has given her over the metaphorical shackles that once bound her down spiritually. Her newest single is buoyed by a quick-step tempo and BGVs that return every ounce ...

“The Blood” Charles Butler & Trinity From the Anointed Sounds Records album Make It (release date of single: February 2017) Charles Butler & Trinity heightens the tension dramatically and in short order on “The Blood,” a Mandel Copeland composition. Taking for its theme the redemptive power of Jesus’s death on the cross—a salient subject during this time in the liturgical year—“The Blood” begins with soft harmonies and contemporary chords but concludes with full-on preacher’s shouts and Trinity as a spiritually unshackled congregation. Mandel’s brother Josh Copeland leads, employing the same verve he had when he sang this song with the Copeland ...

“You Are” Dr. F. James Clark Presents NextGeneration Choir From the forthcoming album Sure. Focused. Centered. (release date: summer 2017) www.nextgenchoir.com By Bob Marovich Plaudits to the Most High are lifted with nimble vocalizing, a brisk tempo, and pleasantly startling punctuations of high notes by the NextGeneration Choir of the Shalom Church (City of Peace) of Florissant, Missouri. On the song’s hook, the music fades as the choir runs rapidly through a litany of names for God.  It was such an attention grabber, they could have kept on going. NextGeneration Choir, Dr. F. James Clark’s young adult chorus, hopes to ...

GRAMMY®-Winning Recording Artist Tasha Cobbs Weds Acclaimed Music Director & Producer Kenneth Leonard In Surprise Private Ceremony Atlanta, GA— GRAMMY® Award-winning recording artist Tasha Cobbs shocked friends, family and fans this weekend with a surprise wedding to longtime beau, acclaimed music director and producer Kenneth Leonard, Jr. On Friday, March 3, 2017, the pair exchanged vows before an unsuspecting group of family and close friends who believed they were gathering for a private dinner party. News of the wedding surprised many as it saturated social media, but the nuptials had actually been in the works for quite some time. “We’ve ...

“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 name scandalized, despite going through the fire and the flood, and even despite the prospect of “throwing in the towel,” which in context sounds like a contemplation of suicide, Douglas declares that every time, God “made a way somehow.” Moaning her way into the song’s vamp, Thompson gives her testimony ...

Various Artists WOW GOSPEL 2017 RCA Inspiration (release date: January 27, 2017) www.rcainspiration.com By Bob Marovich In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the annual WOW GOSPEL collection was my personal tutor for learning about the gospel scene. Back in those days, I was focused exclusively on vintage gospel music, and particularly the contributions of quartets. I looked forward with great anticipation to the next WOW GOSPEL project so I could take another lesson in modern gospel. I often purchased the two-CD set the day it was released. It was through WOW GOSPEL that I first encountered Richard Smallwood’s “Total Praise,” Mary ...

Gospel Music Legend and Former BMI Trailblazer Award Recipient Yolanda Adams to Co-Host with Gospel Singer-Songwriter VaShawn Mitchell NEW YORK, November 28, 2016 – Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) will honor gospel music superstars Kim Burrell and Marvin Sapp at the 18th annual BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Honors at the Rialto Center for the Arts in Atlanta, GA on January 14, 2017. This inspirational event will pay tribute to the very best of the gospel music community with former Trailblazers award recipient Yolanda Adams returning to the stage as host alongside gospel singer-songwriter VaShawn Mitchell. The invitation-only event, which is ...

Tonya Lewis Taylor I’ve Got to Win (EP) EARS Music Group (release date: August 2, 2016) www.tonyalewistaylor.com By Bob Marovich In 2015, Rhythm of Gospel Award winner Tonya Lewis Taylor landed on the Billboard Top Gospel Singles chart with “Thank You.” She’s done it again just recently with her latest single, “I’m a Winner.” Both selections are on I’ve Got to Win, a five-track EP she released in August. “I know the race has not been won, because I’m still running,” Taylor, a former background singer for pop artists and one-time publicist for Roc-a-Fella Records, announced to the audience on ...