Libra Boyd, Author at Gospel Music Fever

"Don't You Give Up" – Christopher Terrell & The New Journey Project

“Don’t You Give Up”
Christopher Terrell & The New Journey Project
From the upcoming CD, It’s Cool to Love God (November 4, 2011)
http://www.christopherterrellnewjourneyproject.com/

Christopher Terrell is no stranger to the music scene. You’ve heard his music on Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls soundtrack (“Struggle No More”), and he’s collaborated with a number of producers and artists from the R&B and hip hop industries.

Just a few years ago, Terrell formed The New Journey Project, and on Friday, November 4, the ensemble will release a brand new CD, It’s Cool to Love God. He describes the project as “neither traditional nor contemporary gospel,” but versatile with something that he hopes will appeal to everyone. Take a listen to the current single, “Don’t You Give Up” for yourself. Its message is clear: hold on, be strong, don’t give up, and God will see you through.

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.

Blind Boys’ famed lead, Louis Dicks, passes from labor to reward

Dicks (standing, far left)

GMF thanks RuBena Cooper-Woods for informing us of the passing of Louis Dicks, longtime lead singer with both the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. Dicks died Monday in Durham, NC, where he resided more than 20 years.

The well-known tenor (who, incidentally, was not blind) joined the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi in the mid 1950’s and traveled with the group for several decades. When Clarence Fountain left the Five Blind Boys of Alabama for a few years in the late 1960’s, Dicks came aboard as the Alabama group’s featured lead for a time.

In addition to the acclaim he embraced as a member of both legendary aggregations, Dicks wowed crowds throughout NC with his own uniquely named group, World’s Greatest Gospel Singers.

Visitation will be Monday, October 24, at 11am, with the homegoing service following at noon. Services will be at New Metropolitan Faith Winners Baptist Church, 1509 Riddle Road, Durham, NC.

We extend our condolences to the family and friends. Another phenomenal singer has joined the Heavenly choir.

Libra Boyd

Help Is On The Way – New Creation

New Creation
Help Is On The Way
Woods Productions (2011)
[email protected]

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

While their debut 12-track project is entitled Help Is On The Way, RuBena Cooper-Woods, Tonya Woods, Karen Foust, and Devon Torain churn out their numbers knowing intuitively that their Help has arrived!

For New Creation, music is as much legacy as it is ministry. As the pedigree goes, group members are the products of three popular NC based singing aggregations: the Cooper Four, the Faithful Travelers, and the Torain Family.

Accordingly, Help Is On The Way is loaded with tasty, homegrown gospel tunes, starting in high gear with “Praise Him,” written by vocalist/keyboardist Tonya Woods. RuBena Cooper-Woods handles the lead on the brisk call to celebration. New Creation then forges ahead with a mix of slow as well as velocious original songs and hymn arrangements.

Throughout the album, Cooper-Woods and Woods exchange lead chores as well as the writer’s hat on most of the pieces. Easily among the project’s highlights are its tangy, pew-burning title track blazed by Cooper-Woods, followed by the slow yet simmering “God Specializes,” which is very appropriately suited to Woods’ velvety vocal texture. “I Made It” is another one with plenty of spice, and Cooper-Woods seizes every available second of this hammering groove to celebrate all that she has overcome and to acknowledge that “it was You, Lord, that brought me through!” Along with arrangement help from her brothers Thurman, Eric, and Derrick (New Creation’s producer, lead and bass guitarists, respectively), Woods shines again on a pop-soul flavored version of “Heir of the Kingdom,” from which she crafts an anthem for all who are in line to inherit. Her stylings hint to India.Arie and the background vocals are light, lively, and crisp–a refreshing departure from the quartet vibe that powers the rest of the project.

Pastor George Crews, III also makes a pair of appearances on album–first, offering a passionate prayer and exhortation in “Everything You Need” (penned by Thurman Woods, Sr.) and later, crooning a remake of the Temptations’ “Christmas Everyday” to round out the project, declaring that Jesus “make[s] it Christmas, even in the fall.”

With Thurman “Peanut” Woods at the helm of production on this all-around delicious debut, the only suggestion I’d make is that a couple of the songs’ reprises be reserved for live performances. Re-cranking a number tends to be most effective when the audience perceives it to be spontaneous rather than expected.

A CD launch like this makes one thing certain though: Help is just one of the many wonderful things on the way for New Creation.

Favorites
“Help is on the Way” – “God Specializes” – “Heir of the Kingdom”

Fever Meter
SMOKIN’ (4 of 5 Stars)

Libra Boyd

BeBe and CeCe Winans get Hollywood Walk of Fame star

Congratulations to BeBe and CeCe Winans, who received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today. They are now among the very short list of gospel artists (James Cleveland, Andrae Crouch, and Mahalia Jackson) who have been honored similarly.

BeBe and CeCe have consistently charted with their music, including hits “Addictive Love” and their cover of the Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There.” They have enjoyed massive mainstream success–gold and platinum albums and a host of Grammy, Dove, Soul Train, Stellar, and NAACP Image Awards–throughout their decades-long career as a duo.

Libra Boyd

Mahalia Jackson’s hometown commemorates her 100th birthday with several events

Keith Spera has written a nice piece remembering Mahalia Jackson, one whom former president Richard Nixon said was “an artist without peer.” The article also details events that her hometown of New Orleans has set to commemorate her 100th birthday, which is October 26th.

You can read it here.

Note (updated 10/25/11): It’s worth noting that Mahalia Jackson’s crypt gives her year of birth as 1912, rather than 1911. According to gospel historian Robert Marovich, the discrepancy is the result of an error on her birth certificate. Until Jackson applied for a passport for overseas travel, she was unaware that her birth certificate stated the incorrect birth year, 1911.

Libra Boyd

Maggie Ingram & the Ingramettes’ Final “Live” CD Recording – Nov. 5

Click flyer to enlarge

An appreciation celebration and final “live” CD recording for Maggie Ingram and the Ingramettes is set for November 5th. Evangelist Ingram is hailed as Virginia’s “Queen of Gospel.” Earlier this month, she was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Music degree from a Richmond theological seminary.

Admission to the live recording is free.

Editor’s Note: According to a bio provided to us by Evangelist Ingram’s daughter Almeta in May 2014, the Honorary Doctorate of Musical Arts degree was conferred by Virginia Triumphant College & Seminary.

Libra Boyd

The Sounds of Blackness releases 10th CD on 40th anniversary

Press Release from Malaco Records

Malaco Music Group recording artists The Sounds of Blackness featuring The Next Generation and Jamecia Bennett releases its CD, The Sounds of Blackness today, October 18. The Twin City natives will celebrate the CD release with a free 30 minute concert at the Mall of America’s Best Buy Rotunda, 365 North Garden, Bloomington, MN 55425 at 6:00 P.M. CST this evening.

The songs on this three-time Grammy-winning group’s latest set focus on the themes of reconciliation and healing.

“Music can be our primary method, mode and means of avoiding annihilation and achieving peace,” explains group’s founder, Gary Hines. “Music is God’s perfect form of communication, because what comes from the heart reaches the heart, what comes from the soul reaches the soul and what comes from the spirit reaches the spirit.”

As Sounds of Blackness celebrates 40 years of music and inspiration, the group offers a superb self-titled fifteen-track CD that is a dazzling showcase for its all-encompassing musicality.

Libra Boyd

The Nightingales celebrate 65th anniversary with musical on Nov. 6

Click flyer to enlarge for ticket information

Libra Boyd

AP Interview with Le’Andria Johnson

Jonathan Landrum, Jr. from the Associated Press conducted an insightful interview with gospel artist and Sunday Best 3 winner, Le’Andria Johnson, on her struggles and successes since winning the competition. You can read the story here.