Tag: Easter

GMF asks, ‘What’s your favorite song of the Easter season?’

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

This week, I took to social media to ask for your favorite songs of the Easter season. Your responses encompassed old school and new school gospel across several subgenres. Here’s what you said:

“Alive”
Vanessa Bell Armstrong cover artNatalie Grant

“For God So Loved the World”
Vanessa Bell Armstrong

“He Was Hung Up for My Hangups”
Twinkie Clark

“In His Name”
John Thorpe and Family

“Jesus”
Shekinah Glory Ministries

“Jesus is Alive”
Ron Kenoly

“Jesus Paid It All”
Mississippi Mass Choir ft. Rev. James Moore

“Jesus Rose with All Power in His Hands”
The New Gospel Keynotes

“Nobody Greater”
VaShawn Mitchell

“Rise Again”
The Gospel Keynotes

“So Glad (He Did Not Leave Me Like He Found Me)”
The Yanceys

“The Blood Still Works”
Malcolm Williams and Great Faith

“Were You There”
Juan Santiago & Uninhibited Praise

Compare your picks to mine by checking out Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season and More of the Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season.  Then, keep adding your favorites in the comment box below!

More of the Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

I’ve done it again.  I’ve compiled more of my favorite songs of the season—new tunes and old tunes, familiar and not so familiar.  The one thing they all have in common is the message and miracle of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  Jesus is alive!

You Did It All
Shirley Caesar
From Stand Still (1993)

The Blood Song
The music of Ricky Dillard is among my picks for this Easter season.Kirk Franklin
From The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin (2002)

The Blood Still Works
Malcolm Williams and Great Faith
From In Your Glory (2009)

Fountain Filled with Blood
Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark
From Praise Belongs to God (1979)

Jesus Dropped the Charges
The O’Neal Twins and the Interfaith Choir
From Saved By His Love (1981)

Because of the Blood
Ricky Dillard & New G
From Keep Living (2011)

The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Famous Caravans
From Let’s Break Bread Together (1969)

Hymns – The Blood Medley
Tamela Mann
From Best Days (2012)

Will the Lord Remember Me?
The Sensational Nightingales
From Let Us Encourage You (2005)

Calvary
Richard Smallwood with Vision
From Persuaded: Live in DC (2001)

See more of my favorites here: Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season

Happy Easter from GMF!

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Luke 24:5-7 NIV

Happy Resurrection Sunday from GMF!  Here’s a video of one of my favorite songs of this sacred season.  I’ve listed my other favorites here: Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season.

Editor’s Picks of the (Easter) Season

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Easter is, by many, one of the most celebrated seasons in the Christian liturgical year.  Consequently, it is no surprise that there is an abundance of glorious gospel music to match.

It was excruciating, but I did it: I limited my picks to ten classic (or destined to be classic) gospel recordings.  In random order, here are my favorites for one of the most wonderful times of the year:

He Was Hung Up for My Hangups
Twinkie Clark
From Home Once Again: Live in Detroit (2004)
 
No Fault
Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s
From Good Time (2000)
 
Albertina Walker CD artOh Lord Remember Me
Albertina Walker
From Songs of the Church (1997)
 
The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power
Andrae Crouch
From Take the Message Everywhere (1969)
 
Jesus Paid It All
Margaret Allison & The Angelic Gospel Singers
From Lord You Gave Me Another Chance (1989)
 
The Blood Still Has Miraculous Power
Kurt Carr & The Kurt Carr Singers
From Awesome Wonder (2001)
 
Medley: There’s A Fountain/Room at the Cross for You/The Old Rugged Cross
Shirley Caesar
From Hymns (2001)
 
O The Blood
New Jersey Mass Choir
From Hold Up the Light (1987)
 
Marvelous 
Walter Hawkins & The Love Center Choir
From Love Alive V – 25th Anniversary Reunion (1998)
 
Blood Medley
Donnie McClurkin
From Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs (2005)

 

Sizzlin' This Week (4/18/11) – "I Know It Was the Blood"

“I Know It Was the Blood”
Smokie Norful feat. Joe Ligon & the 12th District AME Mass Choir
From the CD, How I Got Over…Songs That Carried Us (2011)
EMI Gospel

Regardless of whose project he’s featured on, it’s safe to say that if Joe Ligon is singing, it’s going to be churchy.

Well, this time the quartet legend teams up with the phenomenal Smokie Norful, and just right for the Lenten season is their rendering of “I Know It Was the Blood,” on Norful’s How I Got Over…Songs That Carried Us.  Church is exactly where they take you, singing about the blood of Jesus with such conviction that you have the impression that they were eyewitnesses to that dark hour at Calvary.

Sizzlin' This Week (4/11/11) – "Covered By the Blood"

“Covered By the Blood”
Southern Harmoneers
From the CD, Covered By the Blood (2011)
Available at CDBaby

Over an instrumental blend accented mainly by organ, piano, and the distinct twang of a pedal steel guitar, the Southern Harmoneers tell the blessed story of being “Covered By the Blood.”  This mid-tempo southern gospel song has nuances of the hymn, “Will The Lord Remember Me?” and will work beautifully for both male choir and quartet voicings.

The Southern Harmoneers, whose arrangements are somewhat similar to the Jackson Southernaires and the Dixie Hummingbirds, earned top honors this year in Ruston, LA’s Dixie Horizon Entertainer Search.  Current group members are carrying on the legacy of family and friends who began singing in 1940’s as the Golden Jubilees Quartet.

Sizzlin’ This Week is the GMF editor’s gospel music pick of the week from her personal playlist.  Every style. Every era.

Sizzlin' This Week (4/4/11) – "In His Name"

“In His Name”
John K. Thorpe
From the CD, In His Name (2007)
Available at Apple Music

Simple musical accompaniment and the opening lyric, “Let us take this bread together in His name,” introduce this worshipful Communion selection.  By the time John Thorpe arrives at the second verse, “Lord, they drove nails in Your hands; they drove a nail in Your feet, but Lord you knew that wasn’t enough to save me,” it is apparent that this is a beautifully written song of reflection and gratitude fitting for the Easter season too.
 
Thorpe provokes us to remembrance of the sacrifices of Jesus and the power of His name.  By the song’s end, the listener’s heart is filled with thanksgiving and the atmosphere is filled with worship.
 

Sizzlin’ This Week is the GMF editor’s gospel music pick of the week from her personal playlist.  Every style. Every era.