Flashback 1991: Walter "The Big Man" Butts - Get High on Jesus

Walter “The Big Man” Butts
Get High on Jesus
Elisha Music 1991

No matter what style of sacred music Chicago’s Rev. Walter “The Big Man” Butts sings, when he opens his mouth, out comes traditional gospel.

That's because Butts’ voice has the raw force of a steamship horn, perfect for emotionally charged gospel singing. It’s also lined with a bluesy cry that has generated comparisons between Butts and James Cleveland.

Get High on Jesus includes several socially-conscious songs, including the title track. Fronting a now dated Morris Day-like electronic polyrhythm, Butts asks his sin-sick listeners on "Get High on Jesus" to turn away from drugs and turn to Jesus, because after all, He is the best high. “The Multitudes,” featuring a more standard gospel accompaniment, calls for an end to homelessness, hunger, illness and the loneliness of the forgotten elderly. “We Need Love,” a lovely composition with a simple but stirring message of universal brotherhood, is the album’s finest track. Here, Walter duets with Tyrone Butts, whose quartet-style falsetto is a fine foil to Walter’s throaty baritone.

Butts is at his best on gospel ballads such as “We Need Love” and “I’ll Be There (He’ll Be There),” where he is not held captive by a swiftly-moving tempo but can simply emote as the spirit moves.

The musicians and choir on Get High on Jesus are top notch, and it’s no surprise when you realize you are enjoying the early work of Daniel and Michael Weatherspoon. The brothers’ Spoonfed Productions is part of the success of Shekinah Glory Ministry. Daniel and Michael provide keyboard and drums for Get High on Jesus, respectively. The choir featured is Tyrone Dickerson and the Christian Fellowship Choir, which also assisted Yolanda Adams on her Through the Storm (also released in 1991, and included future gospel instrumental stars Angella Christie and Ben Tankard).

Two and a Half of Four Stars

Black Gospel Artists Nominated for 40th Annual Dove Awards

From the Dove Awards website: individual (and categories of) black gospel artists nominated for the 40th Annual Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards.

The 40th Annual GMA Dove Awards ceremony will be broadcast live April 23 at 8:00 p.m. ET on Gospel Music Channel.

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR

Jeremy Camp
Jon Foreman
Ernie Haase
Brandon Heath
David Phelps
Marvin Sapp
Chris Tomlin

GROUP OF THE YEAR

Casting Crowns
David Crowder*Band
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Mary Mary
MercyMe
Skillet
Third Day

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Casting Crowns
Steven Curtis Chapman
Fireflight
Marvin Sapp
Third Day
tobyMac
Chris Tomlin

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Addison Road
Francesca Battistelli
Fee
Jonathan Nelson
Remedy Drive
Chris Sligh
Tenth Avenue North


Dove Awards in Recorded Song categories are given to the artist and songwriter (if other than the artist).

RAP/HIP HOP RECORDED SONG

“Beautfiul Morning”; Reiterate; Grits featuring Pigeon John; Teron Carter, Stacy Jones, Mo Henderson, John Duncan; Revolution Art

“Do Yo Thang”; The Yearbook; KJ-52; Jonah Sorrentino; BEC Recordings/Uprok

“Joyful Noise”; Our World Redeemed; Flame featuring Lecrae & John Reilly; Marcus T. Williams-Gray, Lecrae Moore, Emanuel Lambert, Jr.; Cross Movement Records

“Pull Your Pants Up!”; Pull Your Pants Up!; Dooney “Da Priest”; Duwayne Brown; Malaco Records

“So Beautiful”; Citizen Activ; Manafest featuring Trevor McNevan; Chris Greenwood, Adam Messinger, Trevor McNevan; BEC Recordings

URBAN RECORDED SONG

“Declaration (This Is It)”; The Fight Of My Life; Kirk Franklin; Kenneth C. Loggins, Michael H. McDonald; Zomba Gospel

“Get Up”; The Sound; Mary Mary; Warryn Campbell, Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell, Eric Dawkins; Columbia Records, Integrity Music

“Love Him Like I Do”; Revealed; Deitrick Haddon with Ruben Studdard and Mary Mary; Warryn Campbell, Erica Campbell, Deitrick Haddon, Lamar Edwards; Zomba Gospel

“No Looking Back”; No Looking Back; Damita; Damita Haddon; Tyscot Records

“Not A Slave”; Life By Stereo; J.R.; Courtney Peebles; Cross Movement Records

TRADITIONAL GOSPEL RECORDED SONG

“Cry Your Last Tear”; Cry Your Last Tear; Bishop Paul S. Morton & the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Mass Choir; Vashawn Mitchell; Light Records

“Deliverance”; Past And Present; Lillie Knauls; Teddy Huffman, Lillie Knauls, Wayne Haun; Vine Records

“Free At Last”; Down In New Orleans; The Blind Boys of Alabama; Traditional; Time Life Music “God Is Good”; Love Forever Shines; Regina Belle; Bernard Belle; Pendulum Records, Walker Davis Entertainment

“Souled Out”; Souled Out; Hezekiah Walker; Estee Bullock, Nate McNair; Zomba Gospel

“Take It Back”; Take It Back; Dorinda Clark-Cole; Derrick Starks; Zomba Gospel

CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL RECORDED SONG

“Favor Of God”; Change The World; Martha Munizzi; Aaron Lindsey, John Rowsey; Martha Munizzi Music

“Great Grace”; Overcomer; Alvin Slaughter; Mary Alessi, Aaron Lindsey; Integrity Music

“How Great Is Our God”; How Great Is Our God; LaRue Howard; Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash; EMI Gospel

“My Name Is Victory”; Right Now Praise; Jonathan Nelson; Jonathan Nelson, Justin Savage; Integrity Music

“Shall We Gather At The River”; The Standard; Take 6; Robert Lowry; Heads Up International

“Waging War”; Thy Kingdom Come; CeCe Winans; Christopher Capehart, Brannon Tunie, CeCeWinans; PureSprings Gospel


Dove Awards in Album categories are given to the artist and producer (if other than the artist).

RAP/HIP HOP ALBUM

Citizen Activ; Manafest; Adam Messinger, Manafest, Boi-1da, Chris Stacey, Arion, Josh MacIntosh; BEC Recordings

Ordinary Dreamers; Group 1 Crew; Andy Anderson, Christopher Stevens, Sam Mizell; Fervent Records

Pull Your Pants Up!; Dooney “Da Priest”; Dooney “Da Priest”; Malaco Records

Rebel; Lecrae; Joseph Prielozny, G-Styles, Dion Burroughs, Kadence, Devon Burroughs, Teddy P., Bobby Taylor, JR, k-Drama, Sixth Sense Music Productions; Reach Records

Reiterate; Grits; Mo Henderson, T-Dogg, Anthony Johnson, Jr.; Revolution Art

URBAN ALBUM

Bold Right Life; Kierra Sheard; Warryn Campbell, J. Drew Sheard, Asaph Ward, Gerald Haddon, Paul Allen, J Moss; EMI Gospel

The Fight of My Life; Kirk Franklin; Kirk Franklin; Zomba Gospel

Kingdom Business; Canton Jones; Canton Jones, The Music Doctorz, Carlin Muccular, Antonio Neal, Randy Harrison, Vernon Messam; Arrow Records

No Looking Back; Damita; Gerald Haddon, Tim & Bob, Deitrick Haddon, Courtney Horton, David Garcia; Tyscot Records

Revealed; Deitrick Haddon; Andre Harris, Vidal Davis, Warryn Campbell, Blaze “The Champ”, Deitrick Haddon, Gerald Haddon, David Haddon, Tim & Bob, Percy Bady; Zomba Gospel

TRADITIONAL GOSPEL ALBUM

A New Day; Paul Porter; Paul Porter, David Caton, Tony Homer; Light Records

After 40 Years…Still Sweeping Through the City; Shirley Caesar; Bubba Smith; Light Records

Cry Your Last Tear; Bishop Paul S. Morton & the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship Mass Choir; L. Trenton Phillips, Elvin Ross; Light Records

Do It!; Dottie Peoples; Dottie Peoples; DP Muzik Group

Down In New Orleans; The Blind Boys of Alabama; Chris Goldsmith; Time Life Music, Integrity Music

CONTEMPORARY GOSPEL ALBUM

Change the World; Martha Munizzi; Aaron Lindsey, Israel Houghton; Martha Munizzi Music

Stand Out; Tye Tribbett & G.A.; Tye Tribbett II, Dana Sorey, Thaddaeus Tribbett; Columbia Records, Integrity Music

The Sound; Mary Mary; Warryn Campbell; Columbia Records, Integrity Music

The Standard; Take 6; Mark Kibble; Heads Up International

Thy Kingdom Come; CeCe Winans; Tommy Sims, Christopher Capehart, Luther Hanes, Percy Bady, Cedric Caldwell, Victor Caldwell, Alvin Love III; PureSprings Gospel

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM

A Treasury of Hymns; LaDonna; Eric Wyse; Martingale Music

Always There; Harold Rayford; Antoine Chamber; Tyscot Records

Born to Play; Barry D.; Barry D.; Taqa Records

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; Various; Harry Gregson-Williams; Walt Disney Records

Love Beyond All Measure; Stephen Petrunak; Stephen Petrunak; GIA Publications

The Breath of Life; Angella Christie; Angella Christie, Kevin Griffen; ACSM

The Legendary Candi Staton on March 1 "Gospel Memories"

Tune to 88.7 WLUW Chicago this Sunday morning, March 1, from 3:00 to 7:30 a.m. Central Time for the live monthly broadcast of “Gospel Memories."

Not in Chicago? No problem. Go to http://www.wluw.org/, click the Listen Live button, and enjoy “Gospel Memories” from wherever you are!

Not awake? Go to http://www.gospelmemories.com/ where you can always enjoy snippets of this and recent broadcasts at any time, 24/7!

Highlights of the March 1 Program:

Words and Music with…Candi Staton: From the Jewell Gospel Singers to disco queen ("Young Hearts Run Free") and back again, Staton has a new CD, I Will Sing My Praise to You, on Emtro Records (Thanks to Bill Carpenter for setting this up).

In Loving Memory - gospel legends and pioneers:
Bishop Charles Cook of the Mighty Gospel Giants
Hazel Henderson, New Hope Baptist Church, Long Beach, CA
Ethel Holloway of the Thompson Community Singers
Rev. Leroy Taylor of the Soul Stirrers and Christland Singers

We'll pay tribute their life and work in the best way we know how:
through their music!

Preacher Feature: Rev. W. Pittman: "Buy Now, The Price is Right" (1975)

Vintage recordings by classic artists, such as:
Southern Harmonaires (Selah Jubilee Singers)
Rev. Morgan Babb and the Radio Four
Spirit of Memphis Quartette
Willie Morganfield
Bessie Griffin
Brother John Sellers
Heaven Bound Four
Brown Singers of Cincinnati (an acappella treat!)
Sis. Rose Jackson and the Chicago Apostolic Mass Choir
Flying Clouds of Detroit
Sallie Martin Singers (1949)
Cotton Brothers
Chicago’s Antioch B.C. Choir, feat. Charles Clency (1961)

…and much more!

So tune in and turn on to “Gospel Memories”…your home for the pioneers and legends of gospel music.

Next...Sunday, April 5, 2009 Broadcast:
Celebrating the 88th Birthday of original Roberta Martin Singer Eugene Smith (April 22, 1921)

De-Ann Lott - Return to the Center

De-Ann Lott
Return to the Center
Independent Release 2008
www.DeAnnLottmusic.com

Oakland and the surrounding Bay Area have been wellsprings of contemporary gospel music for decades, and De-Ann Lott (pronounced Dionn) is among the artists who are helping the area maintain its well-deserved reputation.

Lott’s forthcoming CD, Return to the Center, is produced by Jamie Walter Hawkins of the Bay Area’s famed Hawkins Family. Lott has toured and recorded with Bishop Walter Hawkins as well as with Berkeley’s Daryl Coley, but this is her first solo project.

In true California fashion, Lott’s music – previewed via a limited edition pre-release sampler – is bright and bubbly, friendly and accessible, energetic and joyous. The musicians are marvelous and provide steady support without overpowering the vocalist. Lott and Hawkins wrote all of the songs on the sampler.

While the fresh-sounding title track and “Worthy to be Praised” are the first single releases, TBGB prefers “Faith” because it is a simmering, straight-ahead, traditional-leaning gospel ballad with bluesy twists and interjections. One can only imagine that it makes for an outstanding live performance.

Lott’s years of apprenticeship as a background vocalist for sacred and pop artists have produced a singer of tremendous promise.

Three of Four Stars

Mary Mary Honors Stevie Wonder at White House

Josh Kimball of the Christian Post writes:

"Gospel music duo Mary Mary will be performing at the White House tonight in honor of legendary musician Stevie Wonder, who will be receiving the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song."

Read more at: Mary Mary to Perform at White House

George Scott, Quartet Promoter, Passes Away

Donald Cochran, program manager and mid-day host on Atlanta's Gospel WYZE 1480 AM, informed TBGB today that famed quartet promoter George Scott passed away.

Here are the details on the Homegoing Celebration:

The Homegoing Celebration for the
Late Great Gospel Promoter George Scott
Will be held Saturday, February 28, 2009 @ 12:00 noon

There will also be a Special Memorial Musical held
Friday, Feb. 27th @ 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Both Services Will Be At the
New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church
1690 Melrose Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30310
404.758.2727

Rev. P.L. Redmond Jr. - Pastor

Gus Thornhill is in charge of the funeral arrangements.

For more information, call 404.784.5134.

Cochran reported that Scott promoted quartet programs throughout the south, including Atlanta and Birmingham. Artists he worked with included Lee Williams and the Spiritual QCs, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and the Canton Spirituals. He will be sorely missed by those who knew and loved him, and especially by the quartet community.

Rumors we like to hear: Jennifer Hudson to do a gospel album?

AceShowbiz.com reported a rumor that Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson may be considering recording a gospel album.

That's the kind of rumor we like to hear. Let's hope it's true.

Such a move wouldn't be surprising. After all, Jennifer's breakout performance from the film Dreamgirls, "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," has gospel written all over it, from her dramatic vocal technique to the song's pacing and explosive ending. And on her eponymously titled debut CD, Jennifer concludes with a stunning rendition of "Jesus Promised Me a Home Over There."

Nor would it be unprecedented. Many pop singers who started in gospel made sacred albums in the midst of their career: Dionne Warwick, Brook Benton, Dee Dee Sharp, Roy Hamilton. Recent examples include Regina Belle and Heather Headley.

Jennifer learned her singing craft in part at the Progressive Baptist Church on Chicago's south side, and she loves gospel music. So...why not!

Mo Soul Music - Terry Newsome with Praiz People

Terry Newsome with Praiz People
Mo Soul Music
Soul Music Records 2007
www.sonicbids.com/terrynewsome

“Jesus Cool” is the title of Track 2 on gospel singer-songwriter Terry Newsome’s third project, Mo Soul Music.

The song, featuring Take 6-like harmonic complexity, is also an apt description of Newsome and Praiz People’s unflappable rhythm and praise style.

On Mo Soul Music, the Hinesville, Georgia-based artist and his coterie of background vocalists and musicians piece together a modern vibe behind lyrics that stress the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus. Despite the frailties of humanity, Newsome argues in his songs, Jesus is cool, a “friend always around” who “never tells nobody’s business.” Jesus is not so much a robed icon to worship from afar, but a loving best friend in a comfortable-fitting jersey and blue jeans who has your back, no matter how bad of a friend you happen to be at the time.

Of the thirteen cuts on the album, “You Mean More” is the most popular with Newsome's fan base. Its introduction features dense atmospheric overtones and rich, lovely harmonies suitable for ringing off cathedral walls. Newsome’s warmly emotional solo on “More” turns into a preacher’s gentle altar call as Praiz People supports him with a steady, breathy cadence.

The project’s emotional apex is “Mama Smile,” a touching, reflective piece about watching mother transition to her final reward. In a manner not unlike the hip-hopera rhythms of Dave Hollister, Newsome delivers an RnB recitative about the lady who lays dying, telling Jesus “she loved you to death.”

But Newsome is not down for long. A bonus track “Just Praiz” celebrates a “jumping, screaming and shouting” kind of praise, while the beats come down harder than anywhere else on the album.

Newsome notes that his songs are more than just words and melodies, but testimonies. This certainly rings true, as Mo Soul Music seems to be more about the message than about a bouncy melody or clever hook.

Nevertheless, the album is an appealing and enjoyable listen from an artist who was named Grand Prize Winner of the hit TV series “CATS” (Christian Artist Talent Search) on the Inspiration Network, and of the “Gospel Superfest New Artist Showcase” on TBN's "Backstage Pass."

Three of Four Stars

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 23, 2009

“My Worship”
Sharon MaRee
From the T Records/Emtro Gospel CD Triumph (release scheduled for March 31, 2009)
www.trecords.net

It helps to have family in the business.

I don’t mean in a nepotistic way, but when your sister is recording artist Elaine Norwood, you come from a gene pool that is recording-ready. This is contemporary gospel artist Sharon MaRee’s story.

The assistant choir director for the Music Worship Ministry of the Apostolic Faith Home Assembly Church in Los Angeles, MaRee shows that she can do more than lift her hands and encourage the choir to sing out.

On “My Worship,” from her sophomore CD Triumph, MaRee solos with a deep, soulful expressiveness (just like sister Elaine) and also demonstrates brilliant performance technique in her pacing. No shouting, just straight-away gospel singing, with a fine crescendo at the conclusion.

CD Single: "Can't Break Us" - DJ Morph feat. Frontlynaz

Can’t Break Us”
DJ Morph feat. Frontlynaz
From the CD International
Adullam House 2008

More Holy Hip Hop from Frontlynaz, but this time, they assist the Chicago-born and now South Florida native DJ Morph with his single, “Can’t Break Us” from Morph’s fifth CD, International.

“Can’t Break Us” is HHH versus the record labels and the music industry for all but ignoring the style despite its popularity, the artists’ professionalism and the dues they’ve paid, as well as its Christian-centered message.

On the other hand, being ignored might not be so bad. “I don’t care if the labels won’t sign us,” raps Morph. “They’ll turn you into a gimmick and make you a one-timer.”

Street-smart synths underscore the frustration, and the vocoder protests that “You can’t break us.” No doubt.

Rapzilla.com dubbed this CD a "Must Have" for 2008.

Guest Reviewer Will Harris on "Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day"

TBGB reader Will Harris contributes his own review of Cassietta Lerone Baker's book, Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day:

The legendary Cassietta George is one of the gospel industry’s most revered trailblazers. Her trademark voice is often imitated, but it cannot, and will never be, duplicated.

Sadly, Mrs. George is not known outside of the tight-knit community of her fans. She has not gotten the acknowledgement she deserves, not even being credited by Moby as the lead vocalist of the 1964 rendition of “Walk Around Heaven,” which was sampled by him for the track titled “One of These Mornings” on his 2002 album titled USA. Mrs. George has not been exposed in the same limelight as many of her contemporaries, despite making just as many, if not more, contributions to the genre as they have.

Many gospel stars do not have books written on them, and careful, in-depth studies of this genre of music and its artists is largely non-existent when compared to other areas of study. When I heard that a book was written on Mrs. George, I knew that as a gospel music historian I had to get it, and expand my knowledge as a fan of the Caravans and her.

The book, Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day, is written by Mrs. George’s nephew, Cassietta Lerone Baker of Memphis, Tennessee. As a result, the reader is getting as close of an account of Mrs. George’s life as one can get.

A friend of mine had a copy of Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day, and was nice enough to let me read it. Eager to expand my knowledge, I began to read the book and started to become disappointed in just the first few pages. The book was filled with many typos and grammatical errors, most of them rather simple in nature. Some of those typos were of gospel artists’ names (ex: Johneron Davis as “Johnrine” Davis and Gene Viale as Gene “Vila”), which seems ironic, since the author makes it known in the book that misspellings of Mrs. George’s name are seen as disrespectful. I had to go back over some sentences once or twice to try and understand what was being said because of those errors. Ideally, one only wants to have to go back over one or two sentences or phrases to understand the idea or theme being presented by the author for analytical purposes, not because of typographical and grammatical errors.

While it does ring true that Cassietta George is largely ignored by the gospel community when compared to others (the average person may know of Mahalia Jackson, but nothing of Cassietta George), some of the claims made in the book are exaggerated, or even downright false. Baker constantly mentions that Mrs. George was an original Caravan (pg. 102), and that the group disbanded in 1966 because of Mrs. George’s departure. That 1966 figure depends on what page you read, as other pages give years of 1965 and 1967 as the year the group broke up. In quoting a sentence from the book, “[a]ll you have to do is a little research for yourself and the facts will be there for you.” A little research shows that Mrs. George was an early Caravan, but NOT an original Caravan. The only Original Caravans were Ora Lee Hopkins, Elyse Yancey, and Irma Gwynn. The Original Caravans were founded in 1951 by Robert Anderson, two years before Mrs. George’s arrival.

The Caravans did not disband in the mid-Sixties because of Mrs. George’s departure. In fact, Mrs. George departed the group for a period between 1956 and 1960, and for a brief time in 1961. Despite her departure, The Caravans didn’t disband during those five years. The Caravans also recorded past the mid-Sixties for Savoy, HOB, Jewel, and Caritas Records, putting out material until 1972 with members such as Willie James McPhatter, Loleatta Holloway, Julia Mae Price Williams, and with help from former members such as James Cleveland and Dorothy Norwood.

A little research also would have revealed that the woman credited as “name unknown” in The Caravans’ group photo from circa 1954-55, erroneously referring to the group as the “Original Caravans” on page 33, is Gloria Griffin, who was more renowned for her tenure with the Roberta Martin Singers from 1957 to 1969. Another false claim made was that that Eddie Williams named the group “The Caravans”, when Robert Anderson gave the group its name in 1951 when he founded it. Plus, Williams wasn’t a member of the group until 1958, long after the group name had been well established.

Some of the material in the book reads as opinion but is presented as fact, departing from the long-held understanding that historical texts are objective and unbiased. These errors, combined with the presentation of biased material, naturally makes one question the veracity of other statements made in the book, such as the potentially hurtful comments about Mrs. George and other members of the group.

Presenting such information as truth hurts the gospel music community and its historians. Historians such as Anthony Heilbut, Cedric J. Hayes, Robert Laughton, Horace Clarence Boyer, Robert Darden, Portia Maultsby and Doug Seroff have done decades of painstaking research to ensure that the information they have presented before us in the form of books, discography listings, interviews and websites is as correct as possible. These factual errors in Baker’s book, which could have been easily cross-checked, combined with the biased statements made in the book, have the potential to hurt the credibility of gospel music historians, and even have the potential to hurt the body of Christ, as the Bible beckons us to do the best we can when we work (Colossians 3:17, 3:23).

Readers expecting to find material comparable to that found in books such as Bernice Johnson Reagon’s We’ll Understand It Better By and By or Anthony Heilbut’s classic, The Gospel Sound, will be sorely disappointed. Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day has the potential to be MUCH better than it is now. Sadly, it reads as nothing more than a literary version of a “diss track” aimed at certain members of The Caravans. Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day is inconsistent and poorly executed.

NANM Sings Spirituals (NANM, Inc. 2006)

The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc.
NANM Sings Spirituals
NANM, Inc. 2006
www.nanm.org/products.htm

In the introduction to NANM Sings Spirituals, Roland Carter, immediate past president of the ninety year-old National Association of Negro Musicians, explains that the purpose of the NANM is the “preservation and cultivation of African American music, with an emphasis on the spiritual.”

The concept behind NANM Sings Spirituals, as proposed by NANM members Maxine O’Keefe (Detroit) and Samuel Walker (Altadena, CA), was to capture the orally transmitted, communal, singing of spirituals in the folk tradition, “unarranged – ‘in the raw’.” Thus was it done at the NANM’s 2003 and 2005 conventions in Los Angeles and St. Louis, respectively. Said Carter of these rarely heard interpretations of the spiritual canon, “The songs were allowed to be what they are, and the performances to become whatever they became…singing until we thought it was just right, or at least until it felt right.”

NANM Sings Spirituals is a recording of, or an eavesdropping onto, the traditional, acappella performances of thirteen spirituals at the 2003 and 2005 conventions. Most of the spirituals are introduced by a solo voice, with participants falling into place thereafter. Unlike formal arrangements of spirituals and more in keeping with techniques of gospel music, the performances allow for spontaneous interjections, vocal improvisation and hand clapping. Each performance is extemporaneous and as individual as a fingerprint.

The NANM singers are most enthusiastic when rendering “I Ain’t Goingt’ Study War No More” (aka “Down by the Riverside”). One can almost sense the joy bubbling over in the hearts of the singers as they give this spiritual a hearty send-up. “Hail, Hail, Hail” is given a Sacred Harp treatment, sans the fa-so-la warmup. The slow and mournful “Lord I Want to be a Christian” sounds akin to a Doctor Watts line-hymn, and echoes the Tuskegee Institute Singers’ version, recorded for Victor in 1914 as “I Want to be Like Jesus.”

NANM Sings Spirituals is a brilliant idea well executed, and a superb introduction to the spirituals as a sacred folk expression stripped bare of European music contrivances. I hope to sound as powerful as the NANM when I make ninety.

The project was sponsored by the NANM and the Georgia and Nolan Payton Foundation. Special thanks to Sam Edwards of Stanford University for passing this project along.

Four of Four Stars

Bloodline - Time for Change (BAMM Records 2008)

Bloodline
Time for Change: Live in Columbus
BAMM Records 2008
www.BloodlineMusicGroup.com

“Originality with no compromise.” “New Sounds for Generation Now.” “Urban gospel with a twist.” “Crazy Praise.”

These are just a few of the ways Bloodline describes itself. Listening to the Richmond, Virginia group’s first full-length project, Time for Change, I must say the descriptions are spot-on.

While the lyrics are standard issue from the praise and worship catalog (an exception is the apocryphal “Ready”), the music is far from standard. Bloodline uses its youthful creative energy to conjure a percussive, condensed and complex blend that is parts symphonic rock, hip hop and neo-soul. The musicians even dabble in rock steady on “Love Always” and “Jesus Jesus.” And the high-pitched moan of Middle Eastern bagpipes, courtesy of the keyboard, invites listeners to “Clap Your Hands” on the opening cut.

Bass player and gospel singer Debra Killings makes a special appearance on Time for Change. She provides a splendid lead on “Just Hold On,” the album’s most gospel-centric performance.

The title track and current single is mellow and easy-going, but changing your heart and mind – made musically and lyrically throughout the project – remains the group's primary focus.

Comparisons to Benita Farmer & New Journey naturally follow. The two groups provide an overall musical experience versus a track-by-track offering of memorable tunes for congregational singing.

Thus, when the CD stopped spinning, I couldn’t help but wonder: might this musical mix be the future of gospel music? Bloodline speaks to teens and young adults in particular, and since youth have always been the change-makers, only time will tell. Meanwhile, the group has opened for Yolanda Adams and are scheduled to perform on Jeff Majors’ and Bobby Jones’ television programs this year, so they are definitely on their way.

Three of Four Stars

I Got Two Wings - Lynn Abbott (CaseQuarter 2008)

I Got Two Wings
Lynn Abbott
CaseQuarter 2008
www.aumfidelity.com/casequarter

This is the story of an electric guitar-slinging, gospel music singing evangelist from the Church of God in Christ whose popularity was greatest in the 1940s and 1950s.

No, I don't mean Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

A lesser-known but equally electrifying musician was Elder Utah Smith. Smith made only a few recordings, and fewer still were released commercially, but he remains indelibly stamped on the memories of those who knew him or heard him play his guitar, sing and preach.

In I Got Two Wings: Incidents and Anecdotes of The Two-Winged Preacher and Electric Guitar Evangelist, music historian and journalist Lynn Abbott does a beautiful job bringing the enigmatic Smith and his times into focus. With painstaking (and likely eyesight-weakening) detail, Abbott scanned tiny-print newspaper and magazine articles, gospel music programs, and other ephemera to piece together clue-by-clue the history of a man who was larger than life, and not just because he performed in a pair of enormous white wings.

Gospel and blues enthusiasts are familiar with Smith’s incendiary 1953 recording of his signature song, “Two Wings,” for Checker Records. On this disc, Smith sings and plays with abandon, producing fuzzy riffs with such ease that one wouldn’t be at all faulted for imagining that the evangelist single-handedly launched the rock-and-roll era.

I Got Two Wings is not only filled with great information, but it also includes many vintage photos, ads, record labels, and rare candid shots of the COGIC evangelist in winged regalia, surrounded by singing and clapping congregants.

The most fascinating information Abbott uncovered in his research was about the May 1941 Coffee Concerts, one of which featured gospel artists such as Smith and the pre-Drifters Thrasher Wonders. The Coffee Concerts were held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and produced by the Vassar-educated Louise Crane. Crane’s experiment was daring for the time, but she pulled it off perfectly, introducing new fans to the exuberance of sanctified singing and musicianship.

Abbott notes that despite Smith's popularity on the tent revival circuit, he was ignored when it came to assigning greater positions of responsibility within the COGIC denomination. The evangelist responded with dignity, developing his own church and ministry, and touring with indefatigable energy until death claimed its earthly angel in early 1965.

An eighteen-track companion disc includes recordings discussed in the book, meaning all of Smith’s commercially-available singles, some super rarities, and songs by artists inspired by the two-winged evangelist and his Two Wing Temple of New Orleans.

What Abbott and Kevin Nutt’s CaseQuarter have done with I Got Two Wings ought to be the template for all gospel biographies to follow. Recommended.

Rev. Leroy Taylor, Quartet Pioneer, Died in January

The New Faith Missionary Baptist Church on Chicago's south side reported that Rev. Leroy Taylor passed away January 8, 2009. Homegoing services were on January 11.

The 89 year-old Taylor was a member of the Soul Stirrers and a founding member of the Christland Singers (above). He pastored New Faith from 1973 until 1997 (fellow Stirrer and Christland Singer R.H. Harris was once chairman of the Usher Board), and remained a faithful participant in Sunday services until he fell ill in December.

Rev. Taylor will surely be missed by the family of New Faith and by Chicago's gospel quartet community.

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 16, 2009

“We’re Going to a Meeting”
The Soul Stirrers
From the Malaco CD A Soul Stirring Reunion (2008)
www.malaco.com

Lead singer Willie Rogers summons the spirit of fellow Stirrers alumni Sam Cooke, Johnnie Taylor, Spencer Taylor and Martin Jacox on “We’re Going to a Meeting.” The song was written by Malaco quartet maven Darrell Luster, but it contains echoes of Cooke’s bubbly pop hit “We’re Having a Party.”

The “meeting” the Stirrers sing about in “We’re Going to a Meeting” is in the afterlife, but Rogers reminds us that this is a happy song, and it is. Happy to the last note.

And speaking of Malaco…

“Holy Ghost,” Georgia Mass Choir’s fast-paced hand-clapper from its 2007 Savoy album Tell It, reappeared on the R&R gospel charts recently. It was listed among the “most added” singles during the week of February 13, 2009. “Holy Ghost” features fine evangelistic lead singing by Lorrain "Punch" Baldwin.

Retrospective - Blind Boys of Alabama (Sheridan Square Records 2007)

Retrospective
Blind Boys of Alabama
Sheridan Square Records 2007
www.sheridansquaremusic.com

The Blind Boys of Alabama are among the most anthologized quartets in all of gospel music. For good reason, too – the group has been recording since music was on thick ten-inch discs and Truman was in the White House. Earlier this month, they were presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The group’s three-disc Retrospective on Sheridan Square Records blends recent recordings of the Blind Boys with electrifyingly sanctified, hard-singing early sixties output. The “big oops” is that the vintage recordings are not by the Alabama Blind Boys, but actually by the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi.

Among the Alabama Blind Boys’ recent releases on the set are “Do Lord” with Chicago blues icon Koko Taylor, “Holdin’ On,” “Sacrifice,” and a lovely acappella version of the spiritual “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen.” Here you'll find the group’s anti-drug paean “No Dope” (“We don’t need no dope, ‘cause we got hope”), from the marvelous live I Brought Him With Me CD (House of Blues, 1995), and “If I Had a Hammer,” featuring the effervescent Jimmy Carter. The latter is offered twice: once as a radio edit and later in a seven-minute version.

When Clarence Fountain and the group were with Vee Jay Records, they made gospel hits out of Brook Benton’s “Looking Back” and the Broadway classic “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Updated versions of each are featured on the set.

The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi recordings inadvertently included are the mesmerizing “Blessed Assurance,” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” “Jesus Satisfies” and “Speak for Jesus.” The tracks are from the Mississippi Blind Boys’ 1959-1965 era and can be found on the Best of the Blind Boys, Vol.2 LP (Peacock 188). If you don’t have that album, you are unlikely to have heard “Blessed Assurance,” “Jesus Satisfies” and “Speak for Jesus,” as they were never issued as singles. And if it’s any consolation, Carter is on the aforementioned tracks from Peacock 188, because he was in the Mississippi Blind Boys during the early 1960s.

The irony of “Amazing Grace,” the concluding track, is not lost on the Blind Boys of Alabama, as they wrench every ounce of emotion from the final line, “I was blind but now I see.”

Retrospective is a fine set, but gets points off for the error.

Two and a Half of Four Stars

Gratitude - Calvin Earl (Back to Basics Records 2004)

Gratitude
Calvin Earl
Back to Basics Records 2004
www.calvinearl.com

Following in the footsteps of artists such as Ella Jenkins and Odetta, who performed African American spirituals within a folk music context, Calvin Earl has produced Gratitude. It is Earl’s personal statement of “gratitude” to his ancestors for their gift of the spiritual, which he updates for a 21st century listening audience.

According to Earl’s website, his sophomore release was also conceived “to help teachers and students experience the music created by the African people enslaved in America.” But this isn’t your typical Silver-Burdette spiritual collection for the classroom. These arrangements are more in step with modern tastes, similar to what the group Ollabelle has done with sacred music in recent years.

Unlike classical arrangements of spirituals for the concert hall, the collection of songs on Gratitude have a folk-rock sensibility, fronted by Earl’s relaxed singing and guitar style and backed by a cooing chorus. These ingredients make the “sorrow songs” more hopeful-sounding and accessible to modern listeners.

“Come By Here,” a fun and bouncy reworking of the media-maligned “Kum Ba Yah,” opens the set and is the most memorable and hummable of the collection. Some songs, such as “Deep River,” which consciously or unconsciously interpolates the melody of “Old Man River,” are barely recognizable from standard arrangements of the spiritual. Earl experiments by infusing “Wade in the Water” with African-sounding drums and shouts, and giving the uptempo “Down by the Riverside” and “Do Lord Remember Me” a Nashville-style country beat. A rock-and-roll rhythm carries “Rock a My Soul.”

Born in North Carolina and a professional singer since childhood, Earl is an avid proponent of the preservation of spirituals, so much so that in 2007 he lobbied Congress successfully to recognize the contributions of African American slaves and specifically the spiritual as a National Treasure.

Three of Four Stars

TBGB Challenge: Gospel Music for Weddings

We use the Bible for a roadmap, but what about using gospel music for a wedding?

As thoughts turn lovingly to, well, love this Valentine’s Day, and as planning for spring and summer weddings heats up, TBGB challenges its readers to suggest gospel songs appropriate for a wedding.

Make your comments in the “comments” section, and we’ll post the full list in an upcoming blog entry. Submit as many recommendations, and as often, as you wish. You will be helping many couples walk down the aisle in gospel music style!

Let’s get started. Here are some wedding-appropriate gospel songs, courtesy of TBGB:

"Amazing Grace" – without question

"As Long As There’s You" – The McClurkin Project (from We Praise You, GospoCentric 2007)

"Believe" – Brian Courtney Wilson (from Just Love, Spirit Rising Music/Music World Entertainment 2008)

"Dance With Me" – Phil Tarver (from Draw Nearer, Kingdom Records 2006)

"I Found Love (Cindy's Song)" - BeBe Winans (from the CD Still, Malaco Records 2009)

"I Thee Wed" - Jay McGee - (from the CD I Hear Foot Steps , 2003)

"We're Just Getting Started" - Kevin LeVar (2011 - available exclusively on iTunes)


Herman Williams offered these suggestions:

- The songs of Phil and Brenda Nicholas

- "God in My Corner" - Connail Johnson (from the CD I Heard the Voice, Marlee Records 1997)

"Undetected Illness" Keeps Regina Belle from Touring in '09

Singer Regina Belle, whose Love Forever Shines was a critical success in 2008, announced this week that two surgeries and plenty of recovery from an "undetected illness" will keep her from touring in 2009.

Read more in the article below, from Melanie Clark of BlackPlanet.com's Elev8:

Sudden Illness Sidelines Regina Belle

Endurance - I've Got a Home (SCCME Records 2008)

Endurance
I’ve Got a Home
SCCME Records 2008
www.musicbyendurance.com

“I'm talking about foot tappin’, hip smackin’, good old fashioned church!”

This line, from Endurance’s uptempo workout “Old Fashioned Church,” could well be the group’s personal motto. The Stellar-nominated three-man quartet from Houston provides listeners with plenty of opportunities to tap feet and smack hips on I’ve Got a Home.

“We Don’t Have Church” echoes the sentiments of “Old Fashioned Church” by lamenting that the worship service used to be an all-day Sunday event, but today “church begins at eleven o’clock and ends at twelve o’clock” (sounds like the Catholic Mass!).

An unintentionally relevant moment appears on “Wait on the Lord,” when a man is told by his bank that he will have to wait on his loan. Gee, I wonder why…

The album’s hit is the title track, a driver that features a quintessential quartet backbeat and colorful guitar riffs from Nathaniel (Big Tye) Thomas that pay homage to the Dixie Hummingbirds’ Howard Carroll, a quartet guitar pioneer and innovator.

Prathan “Spanky” Williams does a superb job as producer, striking an ideal balance between musicians and vocalists so listeners can appreciate the message as well as enjoy the music. Williams himself wrote most of the songs on I’ve Got a Home, provides some of the back-office musicianship, and even handles the cover design. A busy guy, to say the least.

Three of the thirteen tracks on I’ve Got a Home are musical soundtracks to songs featured on the CD. While I understand why groups do this, I would have preferred to hear three more original songs by Endurance instead, and let those who need the soundtrack buy one separately. The lyrics aren’t in the liner notes anyway, so a separate soundtrack CD is a better idea for quartets interested in covering these songs.

Endurance is Claude Cummings, Earl Sampson and Mike Robertson. They may not have walked away with the Stellar this year, but look for great things from this quartet in the future. They have an energy, an “endurance,” that struts right out of the speakers and into your heart and soul.

Three and a Half of Four Stars

Dixie Hummingbirds, Dr. Bobby Jones Inducted into GMA Hall of Fame

Congratulations to the Dixie Hummingbirds and Dr. Bobby Jones. They joined Dolly Parton, Lari Goss and Michael W. Smith as the latest inductees in the Gospel Music Association (GMA) Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

The ceremony took place in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, February 2.

Pictured above (L-R) are: GMA Foundation Executive Director Steve Brallier; Inductee Lari Goss; Inductee Lyndon Baines Jones of The Dixie Hummingbirds; Inductee Michael W. Smith; Inductee Dr. Bobby Jones; Inductee Dolly Parton; Ed Harper, chairman of the GMA Foundation Board; GMA President/CEO John W. Styll; Sundray Tucker (daughter of deceased Inductee Ira Tucker of The Dixie Hummingbirds), Inductees Carlton Lewis, William Bright and Torrey Nettles of The Dixie Hummingbirds.

From the GMA Hall of Fame website:

The GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame was established in 1971 and has inducted more than 150 members since its inception, including 2007 inductees Phil Keaggy, The Statler Brothers, The Winans and Joe Moscheo. Previous inductees include Elvis Presley, Mahalia Jackson, Keith Green, Amy Grant, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Andrae Crouch, Sandi Patty, Vestal Goodman, Tennessee Ernie Ford, 2nd Chapter of Acts, The Oak Ridge Boys, Petra, Bill and Gloria Gaither, the Rambos, Evie, Richard Smallwood, Jake Hess, The Lewis Family, Thomas A. Dorsey, the Fairfield Four, Billy Graham and the Jordanaires.

(Photo by Aaron Crisler/GospelMusicUpdate.com)

Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day - Cassietta Lerone Baker (self-published 2008)

Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day:
The Untold Story of Cassietta Baker George
Cassietta Lerone Baker
Self Published 2008
www.cassiettaleronebaker.com

“One of these mornings/It won’t be very long;
You’ll look for me and I’ll be gone.”

And then a piercing chord from a Hammond B3 swings down like the blade of a guillotine.

That’s “Walk Around Heaven All Day,” as performed by Cassietta George.

Though credited to the Caravans, this 1964 recording for Vee Jay Records that bears musical resemblance to “That Lucky Old Sun” is really a Cassietta solo. There are no other Caravans present on the recording, but no matter, nobody else was needed. Cassietta made that song a gospel masterpiece all by herself.

Subsequently, “Walk Around Heaven All Day” has been covered by hundreds of gospel artists, sampled by the techno artist Moby, and is one of the 100 most influential gospel songs of all time. It’s the one recording I want played at my funeral.

But who was the person behind the song? Cassietta Lerone Baker, the singer’s nephew, sets out to tell that story in Miss Walk Around Heaven All Day. Baker recounts Cassietta's successes as well as her very human failings. He also opines that she took more than her fair share of elbows in the ribs from fellow artists along the gospel highway.

The opening section of the book offers an interesting biography of the legendary Memphian’s early years, her membership in the Songbirds of the South, and how she came to join the Caravans.

Baker pulls no punches in telling the story. As the book progresses, Baker’s narrative takes on a personal catharsis. He prepares the reader by indicating in the acknowledgements page that writing the book was a “painful journey” but “it is time for closure.” Indeed, while pouring out page after page of emotionally-charged prose about the disrespect and dishonor his aunt suffered, like Quentin Compson in Faulker's Absalom Absalom, Baker seems to be exorcising the burdens of the past from his own soul.

Portions of the book unveil behind the scenes cat-fighting as well as serious allegations of chicanery, at times coming across like a gospel “Hollywood Babylon.” Be forewarned: some of the allegations in the book, and on Baker’s website, are graphic and not for the faint of heart. They are controversial to say the least and will encounter no small amount of criticism from the gospel community. Ultimately, it’s up to the reader to separate the wheat from the tares.

The narrative has a tendency to whiplash back and forth chronologically. This and the syntactical errors should have been given a good once-over by an editor before going to print. Baker’s book would also have benefited from testimonials by known gospel artists to corroborate or refute the allegations, providing a more even-handed history.

A discography of albums on which Cassietta George is soloist concludes the book.

Cassietta George, who is now walking around Heaven all day, is one of gospel music’s greatest treasures whose body of recorded work has withstood the test of time.

The book is available directly from the author at www.cassiettaleronebaker.com.

In His Will - Perfect Peace (Church House Music 2007)

Perfect Peace
In His Will
Church House Music 2007
www.perfectpeaceministry.com

Husband-and-wife team Lee and Ruth Burns of Alexander City, Alabama continue to spread country church goodwill whenever they perform as “Perfect Peace.” Proof of this is evident throughout In His Will, the duo’s follow-up to its 2006 firecracker Jesus is a Sure Thing.

Regardless of whether the ten songs on In His Will were culled from hymnbooks or are new compositions, they all have that good old Baptist sing-along quality: simple melodies and repetitive, easily remembered verses. The best moments on the CD are when Lee and Ruth harmonize with background vocalists Shane Roark and Sharon Terrell on congregational favorites such as “Blessed Be the Wonderful Name of Jesus” and “I’m Going Home on the Morning Train.” "Morning Train" incorporates familiar lyrics from other gospel songs, giving it a true congregational feel.

The concept of “Drinking from a Saucer” is clever (“I’m drinking from my saucer, ‘cause my cup has overflowed”) and on top of that, it is given a decidedly country treatment courtesy of a prominent steel guitar. The background musicians, by the way, seem to be having a great time as they go for broke on most all of the tracks, ending many with a rock-and-roll style flourish.

The quartet-styled “Get High on Jesus” riffs on the “Jesus is the best drug” theme with an admonitory lecture and infectious chorus (“If you want to get high, high, high, just do it on Jesus”).

The final track, “I Don’t Know Why Jesus Loves Me” captures the essence of good duet singing. It does it so well, in fact, that it should have been the opening track instead of the gospelized version of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”

While not as strong as Jesus is a Sure Thing, In His Will is nevertheless a nostalgic tribute to the songs people used to sing “back in the country, when people had church.”

Two and a Half of Four Stars

Joiner's Five Trumpets Honored at Gary Quartet Program

Joiner's Five Trumpets, arguably the most popular quartet to come from Gary, Indiana, was honored Sunday, February 8, 2009 at a musical celebrating Black History Month and saluting local quartets.

The event was sponsored by New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Gary, where the Rev. Benjamin J. Holmes is pastor.

Mr. James Jones, a member of Joiner's Five Trumpets; and Mrs. Virginia Joiner-Holmes, beloved local gospel announcer and daughter of the group's founder and manager, the late Rev. Milton E. Joiner, accepted the honor. Jones joined the group in the mid-fifties and stayed on until the 1970s.

Left to right: Virginia Joiner-Holmes, James Jones, Marvin Lyles and Rev. Benjamin J. Holmes.

Besides Jones and Joiner, other members of Joiner's Five Trumpets throughout its history included John Ford, Walter Ford, Larry Bride, Jack Evans, Chester House, George Hanes, Jerry Jennings, Lee Sims, James Cochrane, George Dowell, and Roscoe Robinson.

Joiner's Five Trumpets recorded for the Hi-Hat label and Joe Brown's JOB Records, and was affiliated with various radio stations, including WGRY and WWCA. Rev. Joiner passed away in 1982.

Following the plaque presentation, dynamic gospel quartet performances filled the air, courtesy of New Friendship's Anointed Voices, Rev. Luster Lewis and the Heavenly Sounds (Michigan City), the Wings of Harmony (Gary) and the Heavenly Heirs (South Bend).

Prior to the musical section of the program, Bob Marovich, TBGB editor and host of WLUW Chicago's "Gospel Memories," offered a brief history of gospel quartet singing, citing some of Northwest Indiana's most famous quartets, including the Five Trumpets, the Silvertone Quintet (aka Silver Quintette) and the Echoes of Eden, a female quartet that recorded for Vee Jay Records.

Sis. Antoinette Gaines, New Friendship's music minister, joined forces with WGVE announcer Marvin Lyles of "Gospel Sunrise" to present the program. Lyles served as master of ceremonies.

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 9, 2009

“Jesus Promised Me a Home Over There”
Jennifer Hudson
From the Arista CD Jennifer Hudson (2008)
www.jenniferhudsononline.com

Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson now has a Grammy Award to set next to her Oscar. At the
51st Grammy Awards on February 8, 2009, the "RnB Album of the Year" award was bestowed on Jennifer Hudson’s eponymous debut CD.

To be sure, Jennifer Hudson is packed with hits such as "Spotlight," "Pocketbook," "If This Isn’t Love” and the song she sang tearfully at the awards ceremony, “You Pulled Me Through.”

But the final track is truly the closer. “Jesus Promised Me a Home Over There” is the same kind of sacred denouement that classical vocalists have employed for decades when concluding their recitals with a spiritual.

On “Jesus…,” Hudson demonstrates her zeal for no-nonsense gospel singing, no doubt developed during her days at the Progressive Baptist Church on Chicago’s south side. The hymn, accompanied by Roberta Martin-esque piano fills and a Hammond organ that purrs with dignity, is sung with fervent passion by Hudson, who summons the spirit of Chicago's great gospel women in her delivery. One can almost picture the young woman standing in front of the altar, robed in blue, hands clasped, eyes lifted upward, and delivering her hymn to a shouting audience.

I am more convinced than ever that she is poised to become The Next Big Thing.

If it hasn’t done so already, Arista should ensure that the track is made into a single and serviced to gospel radio stations. And based on this performance, Hudson should consider recording a full-length album of gospel songs.

Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Blind Boys Take Home Grammys

From the Associated Press: black gospel artists who won honors at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, held February 8, 2009.

Gospel Performance: "Get Up," Mary Mary; track from "The Sound" (Columbia)

Gospel Song: "Help Me Believe," Kirk Franklin, songwriter (Kirk Franklin); track from "The Fight of My Life" (Fo Yo Soul Ent./Zomba Gospel; Publishers: Universal Music-Z Songs/Kerrion Publishing)

Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: "Thy Kingdom Come," CeCe Winans (PureSprings Gospel/EMI Gospel)

Traditional Gospel Album: "Down in New Orleans," The Blind Boys of Alabama (Time Life)

Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: "The Fight of My Life," Kirk Franklin (Fo Yo Soul Entertainment/Zomba Gospel)

The Blind Boys of Alabama were also given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The quartet has been singing, touring and recording for more than sixty years.

Photos from Tommy Ellison Homegoing Service

Steve Mann of Black Box Photography in Asheville, NC has been promoting and photographing Tommy Ellison and the Singing Stars and other gospel quartet figures for fifteen years.

He was given exclusive permission to photograph Bro. Ellison's homegoing service, held Saturday, January 10, 2009 at Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia, SC. TBGB is honored to share these photos with you; special thanks to Steve for his generosity.

Mann reports, "It was a beautiful service with tributes from the Singing Stars, the Swanee Quintet, The Brooklyn Allstars, Doc Mackenzie, Darrell McFadden and the Six Voices of Zion."

Singing Stars Dennis Bowers and Sam Williams pay their last respects to Tommy Ellison.

God Did That Thing - Bishop Bobby Hilton & Word of Deliverance Mass Choir

God Did That Thing
Bishop Bobby Hilton & Word of Deliverance Mass Choir
BVHilton Records 2009
www.goddidthatthing.com

If his new live project, God Did That Thing, is any indication, Forest Park, Ohio's Bishop Bobby Hilton is no one-hit wonder.

Hilton and the Word of Deliverance Mass Choir's single, "God Did That Thing," is just one example of a project brimming with powerful choir performances, fueled further with prominent guest appearances by Dorothy Norwood (on the title track) and Twinkie Clark, among others.

The mass choir is traditional-leaning, complete with shouting leads and fortissimo harmonizing backed by walking electric bass lines, snarling bluesy guitars and booming drums. They deliver dramatic anthems with slow, simmering energy like Shekinah Glory Ministry. Listen to "Holy," which reverberates with silent power right up to Wendi Henderson-Wyatt's final high note as the song goes from a minor to major key. Then they make Henderson-Wyatt hit that stratospheric note once again during the reprise. Similarly, "Lord, You Deserve the Glory" has the flavor of a Hawkins Family performance.

For those who prefer uptempo choir songs, Word of Deliverance Mass Choir offers up a "Church Medley" that includes congregational favorites such as "What He's Done for Me," Calvin White's "Long as I Got King Jesus," and the special section of Ricky Dillard's choir workout "More Abundantly." Hilton and the group pay tribute to Charles Fold by reprising the latter's "Never Will I Turn Back." Their force-of-nature energy throughout this tambourine-pounder made me think I was listening to Chicago's Dr. Charles G. Hayes and the Warriors.

Bishop Hilton and Twinkie Clark trade hard-shouting leads on the cleverly-titled "Lord, Help Me Keep My Yes," which by the end is the clear congregation pleaser. In fact, a couple of times during the project, the spirit was so high and the drums rolling with such anticipation that I expected the live recording to erupt into a Holy Ghost praise free-for-all. But if it happened, it wasn't caught on mic.

This is a spectacular CD with one brilliant performance after another. Those who enjoyed the 1970s and 1980s mass choir LPs presented by James Cleveland, you'll enjoy God Did That Thing.

Four of Four Stars

Tonya - Special Friend (Kingdom Records 2008)

Tonya
Special Friend
Kingdom Records 2008
www.kingdomrecordsinc.com

No doubt about it: Tonya Baker can sing.

I don’t mean “sing” as in big-voiced, megachurch-filling gospel diva. Tonya has what I consider a bright pop sensibility, like a Regina Belle or a Heather Headley. Whether delivering a gospel ballad or an energetic, beat-laden groove, Tonya’s beautiful voice floats over and through the melody with the strength and grace of an eagle. The musicians backing her provide a light but vigorous jazz soundtrack anchored by the gentle but firm tinkling of a piano.

The songs on Special Friend are varied somewhat in style, tone, and theme, though most fit thoroughly within the popular rhythm and praise sound. Lyrically, the songs range from odes of worship to internal conversations about very real issues, such as dealing with difficult people, staying holy in a world of confusion and, as in the case of Tonya’s single, “Vengeance Is Mine,” talking a loved one out of completing suicide.

Notable tracks are “Where Would I Be,” which is the old Doc Watts’ “Father I Stretch My Hands to Thee” but with a post-modern twist. “Love You Like Him” could, with a few word changes, be a Top 40 love song. Tonya even flirts with electronica on “Raise a Praise.”

I risk raising hackles by calling Special Friend entertaining listening, because some may misconstrue that what I mean by “entertainment” is that the music is somehow vacuous. Not at all. Tonya never goes off topic lyrically, providing important moral messages throughout her songs. My point is that Special Friend is delicious to the ears. Gospel music is, and always has been, entertaining and inspiring at the same time.

Three and a Half of Four Stars

"Something to Sing About" - A Salute to Black Gospel Quartets

On Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.,
‘The Anointed Voices’ of New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church
will be celebrating BLACK HISTORY MONTH with a
salute to BLACK GOSPEL QUARTETS in SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT
featuring:

• Heavenly Heirs of South Bend, IN
• Wings of Harmony of Gary, IN
• Rev. Lewis and the Heavenly Sounds of Michigan City, IN
• Bob Marovich (WLUW Radio) of Chicago, IL & The Black Gospel Blog
• Marvin Lyles (WGVE Radio) Gospel Sunrise Productions of Gary, IN

New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church
1545 Waite Street, Gary, IN 46404
219-949-4279

Rev. Dr. Benjamin J. Holmes, Pastor
Sis Sonja Adams, President
Sis. Antoinette Gaines, Minister of Music

TBGB Pick of the Week: February 2, 2009

“Great Things”
The Church Boyz
www.myspace.com/thechurchboyzchicago

“This is for everybody going through…great things are coming your way!”

So exhorts The Church Boyz, Chicago’s new, young quartet with the old-time sound. Their uptempo number “Great Things” is a local hit with national legs. No surprise. Has there ever been a better time for “Great Things” than now? Anywhere?

“Great Things” is led by Pastor Terrence Keys, who by the end of the song is fully clothed in the preacher’s cadence. It’s a song of breakthrough, of blessings coming, a sentiment especially popular with today’s gospel songwriters because it resonates with today's gospel music enthusiasts.

In other words: if art expresses the aspirations and desires of a society, twenty-first century gospel music, as an art form, expresses excited anticipation of a better day ahead. ‘Course it always did, one way or another, but this time, the anticipation seems more confidently stated. Amen!

"Keep Blessing Me" - The Golden Wings Quartet of Tupelo,MS

“Keep Blessing Me”
Golden Wings Quartet
www.goldenwingsquartet.com

Since 1970, the Golden Wings Quartet of Tupelo, MS have kept the gospel quartet tradition alive while at the same time reminding us that Tupelo is known for more than the birthplace of Elvis Presley.

Since most of the singing members been with the group since its beginning, it’s not surprising that the Golden Wings Quartet stays true to the rich, robust 1970s. In fact, the Golden Wings earned New Gospel Quartet Artist of the Year in 2002 by the National Association of Gospel Promoters in Atlanta.

The group’s latest single, “Keep Blessing Me,” has a deep, bluesy swing a la the Williams Brothers, a false ending (“Just about the time you thought they were through, somebody would get that mike and ease up like this right here”), and a backbeat that sounds like a quartet kickline.

Classic sounds from Toby Coker, James Parks, Michael Penson, Tyrone Parks, Kelvin Carruthers, Elbert Evans and Lamar Edwards. Musicians are Nicholas Jones (keyboards), Paul Rogers (bass guitar), Genaris Carruthers (drums).