By Bob Marovich “I wanted to do something different.” That’s how multi-GRAMMY Award nominee and Stellar and Dove Awardee Jekalyn Carr describes Changing Your Story Live. Her new album is scheduled for release this Friday, October 23, on Lunjeal Music Group / The Orchard. The main difference between Changing Your Story Live and her previous releases, Jekalyn told the Journal of Gospel Music, was that it was recorded at an outdoor festival. “We were at Atlanta’s Praise in the Park, but it felt like we were in church. People came ready for church! I wanted to capture as much of ...

By Bob Marovich Jekalyn Carr frequently listened to her mother, Jennifer Selvy Carr, as she sang with the award-winning family gospel group the Selvy Singers. But this time it was different. The preteen was watching the Selvys sing from the set of Don McGlynn’s 2010 gospel music documentary, Rejoice and Shout. “We were on the set of [Rejoice and Shout] and they found out I could sing,” Jekalyn told JGM during her recent visit to Chicago. “They wanted me to sing ‘Amazing Grace.’” Jekalyn’s “Amazing Grace” stole the show. But for all the buzz about the young girl’s performance, it was ...

“You Will Win” Jekalyn Carr Lunjeal Music Group (release date: September 15, 2017) www.iamjekalyncarr.com By Bob Marovich Twenty-year-old singing sensation Jekalyn Carr extends her string of inspirational hit songs with “You Will Win.” Defeating the enemy means believing in God and taking control of one’s life in thought and action, Carr sings.  She and her background vocalists and musicians build the intensity of the song from melancholy introduction to dramatic denouement. “You Will Win” is among the selections on Carr’s fourth album, One Nation Under God, available February 23.

“Something Big (Live)” Jekalyn Carr Lunjeal Music Group (released August 7, 2015) www.malaco.com Eighteen-year-old gospel singing sensation Jekalyn Carr reprises “Something Big,” her single from earlier this year, as a live performance, complete with ambient shouts from her appreciative audience. Carr is energetic and exudes the power of positive thinking in this live performance. Perhaps the single is a teaser for a forthcoming live album, the release of which would make sense, but as a live single, it would have been better to hear her sing something new.

“My Everything” The Selvys Lunjeal Music Group/Malaco Music Group www.malaco.com With the Showers, foreverJONES, the Jones Family Singers, and the Murrills, you’d think that family gospel groups are the latest music fad. In truth, family gospel groups have been around since the beginning. The Ward Singers, Brown Sisters, Davis Sisters, Gay Sisters, Ingramettes, Hightower Brothers, and Pilgrim Jubilees are just a few who spring immediately to mind.  There are scores more. The Selvys of Earle, Arkansas, have been singing the glory down as a professional gospel group for 25 years. Organized by Reverend Jesse Selvy Jr. and Johnnie Selvy, the ...

“All Praise” Anton Milton & Glorified Lunjeal Music Group/Malaco Music Group (2015) www.malaco.com South Carolina native Anton Milton, now working out of New Jersey, cites Israel Houghton, Fred Hammond, and John P. Kee among his inspirations. His single, “All Praise,” testifies to this with its energetic ensemble vibe. The kind of cheerful though somewhat conventional R&P selection that worship teams like to open the service with, “All Praise” features plenty of antiphonal vocal play between Milton and Glorified. The ensemble comes from Allen Carr’s Lunjeal Music Group, the Arkansas imprint that gave us Allen’s daughter, Jekalyn Carr. Lunjeal’s partnership with ...