Libra Boyd, Author at Gospel Music Fever

Reflections on Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)

Aretha Franklin died today at the age of 76, after a bout with pancreatic neuroendocrine cancer. The sadness I feel is indescribable.

I find it impossible to overstate the Queen of Soul’s influence in the world of music. Lady Aretha performed both the sacred and secular with unparalleled vocality and mastery. Rolling Stone declared her to be the greatest singer of all time. Millions around the globe and I completely agree. In fact, my absolute favorite performances will always the ones during which she accompanied herself at the piano. Her musicianship was virtuosic; however, it was often overshadowed by her other-worldly vocal talent. You’d best believe that both were God-given gifts. Although Lady Aretha was accepted to the Juilliard School to study classical piano in 1997, she had exhibited prodigious piano-playing abilities that enlivened even her earliest recordings and live performances as a youth.

Amazing Grace LP cover — *Amazing Grace* LP cover

I last attended an Aretha Franklin concert just over two years ago. The sold-out show was simply amazing. The queen held court for two hours, serving one hit classic after another. From her gospel catalog, she pulled “Precious Memories,” inviting gospel greats Melvin and Doug Williams to join her onstage. The arrangement was from her 1972 album Amazing Grace, the biggest-selling album of her entire six-decade career. As the words, “Precious memories, how they linger / How they ever flood my soul” wafted through the Durham Performing Arts Center auditorium, I wondered if this might be my final live experience with Lady Aretha. It was a sobering thought; I wish it had been a fleeting one. She appeared to be well and she sounded superb; nevertheless, rumors were swirling, and had been for some time, about her health and impending retirement. Regrettably, I was right: I would never see her in person again.

Aretha Franklin has died. The sadness I feel is indescribable.

Media outlets all over the planet will say much in the coming days about her life, her upbringing and the guiding hand of her famous father Rev. C.L. Franklin, her storied career, and her iconic accomplishments which include multiple Grammys and one of the best-selling albums in gospel music. Accordingly, I’ve decided to repost a write-up that I first published here on GMF in 2012, reflecting on my first live Aretha concert experience.

Also tune in this Monday, August 20, as I dedicate the entire hour of “The Gospel Music Fever Show” to the memory and gospel music of Lady Aretha. The broadcast will air at 12 PM CT (1 ET) at kwaygospel.com.

The queen has died. The sadness I feel is indescribable. Yet, I am thankful for God’s gift to us known as Lady Aretha Louise Franklin. Rest with the ancestors, Queen…

Aretha Franklin: Pumping Out Soul and Preaching Up Gospel

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

This story first appeared Feb. 10, 2012, on GMF.

Mostly everyone knows that Aretha Louise Franklin is the Queen of Soul. If not, at her insistence, they’d better recognize. I’m pretty confident that everyone at Durham Performing Arts Center is clear about it, but after the second half of last night’s ninety-minute show, some may think she’s solidified a spot among gospel’s royals, too.

Aretha’s fans see she makes no apologies for her relationship with Jesus Christ, and aficionados know her roots run deep in the church. So it was, Her Majesty took us on a ride through five decade’s worth of R&B and soul hits before sitting at the piano to play and sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” It was easily the most emotional performance of the night, with her instrumental intro and interlude underscoring the depth of her musicianship. And while the song itself isn’t gospel, its composer Paul Simon cites Rev. Claude Jeter’s line, “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in My name,” taken from the Swan Silvertones’ “Mary Don’t You Weep,” as his inspiration.

Maybe that’s why Aretha got to feeling churchy and wound up hurling a sermonette at the audience by the song’s end, testifying that the Lord’ll make a way. Of course, charismatic church folk know they can’t just “think about Jesus” without wanting to “dance all night.” By the time her hallelujahs infiltrated the rafters and penetrated the heavens, the orchestra had cued up music for a praise break.

From there, Aretha stepped back to center stage. Staying in her gospel vein (which incidentally brought her the biggest selling album of her career, Amazing Grace), she sang the worshipful “One Night with the King” before abruptly shifting gears to her 80’s R&B smash “Freeway of Love.” Determined to include God on that ride too, Aretha shouted “Good God Almighty” and recited the 23rd Psalm while her singers turned the corner on the vamp and changed lanes–first chanting “freeway” and then “higher,” before accelerating to an exclamatory “Jesus!”

The old school would call it straddling the fence. Somehow, however, the Queen has managed to maneuver the freeway of sacred and secular without being frowned upon by the same churchers who declare it to be disgraceful when other artists do so. Personally, I’m okay with the presence of gospel tunes in her concert repertoire. Considering the massive success of Amazing Grace though, I think she’d be just fine singing an entire gospel number and letting it stand alone. No fusion needed. Or let’s see, how can I phrase this lyrically? Ah yes, Let It Be.

All the same, there is a reason Aretha is the Queen. A darn good reason. And whether it’s pumping out soul or preaching up gospel, the living legend totally gets my R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Libra Boyd

Libra Nicole Boyd, PhD is a musician, award-winning author, gospel music aficionado, and the founder and editor of Gospel Music Fever™. Her commitment to journalistic integrity includes bringing you reliable gospel music content that uplifts and advances the art form. Libra is presently working on several scholarly projects about gospel music in the media as well as gospel music in social movements.

GMA announces 49th annual Dove Awards nominees

Wells

Nominees for the 49th annual Dove Awards have been announced. Tauren Wells and Tasha Cobbs Leonard are among several nominees who received multiple nods. The complete list of nominees is available here.

The 2018 awards show will take place October 16, at Lipscomb University’s Allen Arena in Nashville and will air October 21, exclusively on TBN.

Congratulations to all nominees!

Libra Boyd

“I Am Confident” – Dr. Charles Diggins ft. Queen with High Praise & Worship

“I Am Confident”
Dr. Charles Diggins ft. Queen with High Praise & Worship
From the CD, The Secret Place “Live” (2018)

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Despite what many of today’s gospel and inspirational playlists might imply, traditional choir music is alive, thriving, and kept at the forefront by artists such as Dr. Charles Diggins ft. Queen With High Praise & Worship.

The aggregation’s current single, “I Am Confident,” is from the full-length CD, The Secret Place “Live”, and is centered squarely on Philippians 1:6. High Praise & Worship fervently punctuates the biblical assertion in a staccato manner as the song moves along unhurriedly. Diggins’ verve and phrasing on the Roland Perry composition are occasionally reminiscent of gospel great Douglas Miller–certainly not a critique but rather a nod to the popular era of choirs fronted by robust voices like Miller, Cleveland, Brunson, Biggham, and Kee. Diggins is solid at the helm of the High Praise & Worship Chorale. Additionally, the minister of music and Alabama native has presented his own compositions and arrangements all over the country to include GMWA, NCGCC, and the National Baptist Convention.

The full-length CD features Diggins’ wife and music partner, Queen.

Libra Boyd

“Find A Way to Love” – Pastor Robert McCloud

Enjoy the video of Pastor Robert McCloud’s Christian rap single, “Find A Way to Love.” McCloud is a native of Detroit whose hip-hop interest was fueled more than 30 years ago by RUN DMC, KRS 1, LL Cool J, Fat Boys, and others.

Libra Boyd

Daja Rice on new book ‘Daddy’s Girl’ and the journey from heartbreak to redemption with father

Below is the abridged transcript of my interview with Daja Rice, which first aired June 4, on “The Gospel Music Fever Show” with Libra Boyd. #GMFRadio

By Libra Boyd

Gospel Music Fever

Photo | Montez Hilliard

Daja Rice is a singer, professional theater performing artist, playwright, and author of the book, Daddy’s Girl. She’s originally from Spring Valley, NY and presently resides in GA with her husband, Jonathan. Aside from serving in ministry with her husband, she has spent much of her career performing on stage and enhancing the education of youth through the performing arts.

Libra: Daja, how are you?

Daja: I’m great! How are you?

Libra: I’m doing well, I’m excited [for you to talk] to us about your brand new book, Daddy’s Girl. I really want to get into that, but before we do, I would love for you tell our audience about your ministry. You are in ministry with your husband Jonathan and currently, you are based in Georgia. You and Jonathan both sing. Tell me a little bit about that, because you’ve come on Facebook Live, and maybe done some singing [on there], and you’ve done some worship events.

Daja: Yes, we have a duo called The Rices and we sing [gospel music] together. Singing is something that we enjoy doing together, but we don’t just limit our marriage ministry to that. We also enjoy having candid and transparent conversations with people about marriage and the lessons that we learn. As a matter of fact, this past Friday (June 1), we celebrated our first year anniversary–

Libra: Congratulations!

Daja: … as a married couple. Thank you, thank you, thank you! So excited that we made it.

Libra: Absolutely.

Daja: Because millions didn’t. We’re one of the couples who did. So, to commemorate that, on Thursday, we had a conversation on Facebook Live, called “365 Things I Know About Marriage”. And the reason why we called it that–we didn’t actually talk about 365 things–but we called it that because a lot of times people don’t think that newlyweds know anything about marriage, and that is so untrue. You literally learn something new every single day. Hence the name, “365 Things I Know About Marriage,” because we learn something new every day. And so if you wanna shoot over to Facebook, www.facebook.com/thericessing, you’ll find that video there.

Photo | Tierre Peterson

Libra: Awesome. And you have a brand new book called Daddy’s Girl. Tell us about it.

Daja: Daddy’s Girl is an autobiographical story about my process from heartbreak to redemption with my natural father, which inspires women to not only literally acknowledge and embrace the power of the father/daughter relationship, but it also shares personal experiences, like I said, with an effective strategy to promote healing and redemption period. Not only with your natural father, but with anyone or even with yourself. And so I’m really excited about it, because it’s always a beautiful thing when God turns your test into a testimony, and so I’m hoping that this will be a blessing to people.

Libra: [I like how readers have] the opportunity to reflect [through] the writing prompts [that] are connected to each of the nine chapters of the book. You said in the book that your assignment is to “help people choose forgiveness, even if you don’t get an apology.” Your assignment is to “help people to choose love, even if your heart is broken.” How did you find this place? How did you come to understand this as your assignment?

Daja: I just believe that [just as I] overcome by the words of my testimony, so will other people and so I believe that because God gave me this beautiful story, I have a mandate on myself to share it with other people and let them be blessed by it. And so that’s how I came into knowing that as my assignment. But before it becomes an assignment, it’s just a reality. Sin is a hard reality to face when you do have to do things like forgiving people who don’t say sorry, or love when your heart is broken. Those are hard things to do. And so what I wanted to do through this book was share my experiences with other people [and] tell them how I took responsibility for my healing and redemption.

Libra: You talk about the point at which you were with your then-boyfriend, now husband. You recalled the point that you were with him at the fair and you had a breakdown. But it was a breakdown that ended up being the breaking point that provided the segue for your breakthrough. Tell us more about that.

Daja: It was a powerful moment because I realized just how emotionally unstable I was, and that’s a hard reality to face too–because it provokes you. You have to do something. And you can’t just sit back and blame other people for how you feel; you have to take responsibility for it. So I listened. In context. My husband–or my boyfriend at the time–and I were at the fair. We’d had a really great time, it was an awesome day, and then we get in the car and I just burst into tears [over] what we thought was nothing. But it wasn’t “nothing.” It’s never “nothing.” So [I went] on this rant about how unhappy I was. He let me let it all out, and then he [said] to me–and I don’t even think he knew how powerful this was at the time, “You want me to be your father and I can’t be. I can’t be your father.”

Because I had a void there for my natural father, I was expecting Jonathan to fill areas that he was not meant to fill. And when you do that, it’s a very dangerous thing because then you start to place unrealistic expectations on your counterpart. And everybody comes into our life for a reason, and so I compared people to rubber bands in Daddy’s Girl. I said, “You know, rubber bands will do just like people. They’ll do what they’re supposed to do, but if you try to stretch them too much, eventually they’ll pop.” And that’s what I started to see with Jonathan. It was just, you know it was one of those “pop” moments, like, “Girl, I love you, but I can’t be all of this for you. I can only be what God has called me to be for you, and that is a boyfriend right now. And one day it might become a husband, but it will never be a father. That’s not what God called me to be for you.”

And so once I faced that reality, I also faced the reality that some of the pain and some of the hurt that I was experiencing, I was actually bringing on myself.

Photo | Tierre Peterson

Libra: Was Jonathan aware of the nature of the relationship between you and your father at that time?

Daja: Yes, but Jonathan (pictured right), even though he was aware of the nature of our relationship, only got my side–because my father lived almost a thousand miles away from me. And so my father and Jonathan had met, but they didn’t have a lot of interaction with each other, and Jonathan didn’t have the opportunity to make his own judgment.

It took me a little time [to come to terms with the reality that Jonathan presented me that day at the fair], but he was right. And I didn’t realize that until maybe a couple weeks later. So when I finally realized that he was right, I didn’t even tell him that he was right. I just went to work. I sat with it, I reflected on it, and then I did something with it.

Libra: And what strikes me is that you handled all this with care. You mentioned in the book that you received your father’s blessings to write Daddy’s Girl, which I think is critically important because your father is still a part of your life. He was at your wedding. How is your relationship with your father now, and what has been his response to the completed book?

Daja: My relationship with my father is real. It’s a real father/daughter relationship. We talk often. He gives me his fatherly advice. He disagrees with some of the things I do. I disagree with some of the things he does. We love each other through it. It’s a real father/daughter relationship. None of that idealistic stuff that I used to hold him to, and so our relationship is redeemed in that way. And what he thinks about this book is that people will be blessed by it, just like I do. And so he’s just super supportive.

Libra: Well that’s really encouraging. That has to mean a lot to you. How can folks purchase Daddy’s Girl?

Daja: You can go to www.thericesent.com and shop there. I am [also] going to start a virtual book club on Facebook. So if you want to be notified about that when it starts, just subscribe to our mailing list on the website [I just mentioned], and you’ll be notified when that starts as well.

Libra Boyd

Clarence Fountain (1929-2018) and The Blind Boys of Alabama enjoyed commercial appeal

GMF joins countless others in extending condolences in the passing of Clarence Fountain. The co-founding member and lead singer of the Five Blind Boys of Alabama made his transition June 3, 2018, in Baton Rouge, LA, at the age of 88.

Fountain and the Blind Boys enjoyed success on the gospel highway and appeal with mainstream audiences, amassing a dedicated fanbase, numerous commendations, five Grammy Awards, and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award during the band’s seven-decade recording career. The legendary frontman last recorded with the group on the 2017 album, Almost Home, though he had not toured with them since 2007, due to health issues. The Blind Boys of Alabama remain active today with the last remaining leader from their classic lineup, Jimmy Carter.

The Gospel Music Fever Radio Show with Libra Boyd will celebrate Clarence Fountain’s life with music and tributes this Monday, June 11, at 12c/1e on KWAY digital broadcast.

Meanwhile, read more here about the life and music career of Fountain.

– Photo from Blind Boys of Alabama Facebook page

Libra Boyd

60 Seconds with Rapper Mike Teezy

By Jane M. White
GMF Special Contributor

Mike Teezy is a rapper, singer/songwriter, musician, and dancer whose music – inspired by everyone from Kirk Franklin and Michael Jackson to Kendrick Lamar and Busta Rhymes – is creating a buzz throughout the gospel and urban inspirational community. I recently caught up with him for a literal minute at the 2018 Rejoice Awards, just before he was announced as the winner in the Urban artist category.

Mike, how did you get started?

I started off with poetry. I was always behind the scenes playing the drums and stuff like that. Poetry was my outlet to relieve stress or whatever I was going through at the moment, and then I thought, why not put it to a beat? So that’s pretty much what God started doing with me.

What is your latest album called?

I actually just dropped my new EP, Szn (pronounced “season”). I dropped that on my birthday, April 7th.

And how can people purchase it?

It’s on Spotify, Amazon, Apple music – everything!

Where are you based?

I’m in Winston-Salem, NC at Faith Christian Outreach Center, where my father [Michael Tyree] is the pastor.

How can people contact Mike Teezy?

My website is www.miketeezymusic.com.

Libra Boyd

DunAmis Kids Gospel Awards to celebrate youths’ contributions to community, region

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

The DunAmis Gospel Awards is gearing up for its very first awards event to recognize and promote children in ministry.

Billed as “The Ultimate Kid Experience,” the DunAmis Kids Gospel Awards will honor youth from ages five through seventeen who spread the gospel throughout their community and region. Awards will be presented in thirteen categories. The nomination window is open until June 16 at www.dunamisgospelawards.org.

The celebration, which will include red carpet interviews and spirited live performances, is set to take place August 25, 2018, at Morning Star Baptist Church in Burlington, NC.

The DunAmis Kids Gospel Awards is founded by Bishop Terry L. Young.

Libra Boyd