Tag: Traditional

“Making A Way” – The New McShaws

“Making A Way”
The New McShaws (2022)
Available on digital outlets
Facebook: TheNewMcShaws

The New McShaws Making A Way

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

In the gospel music world of husband-wife duos, a few names readily come to mind like Angelo and Veronica, Phil and Brenda Nicholas, Sullivan and Iola Pugh, and Mom and Pop Winans. Insert Pastors David and Jacqueline McShaw. The pair, known as The New McShaws, have most recently brought us the single, “Making A Way.” 

“Making A Way” is The New McShaws’ personal expression of God’s provision during the COVID-19 pandemic and in their daily lives. Together, they sing as a couple who has, in fact, experienced enough adversity to know God as their waymaker. With their sentiments elevated by upbeat musical support, Pastor David leads the way through this moderately-paced, celebratory tune, tagging Pastor Jacqueline in the verses and vamp. 

All the things I need in my life
I have faith in You Lord, you’ll provide
You give me everything that I need
And You have never forsaken me

The McShaws have been singing nearly all their lives. Pastor David has traveled, sung, and recorded with the late Rev. Timothy Wright’s Concert Choir, Pastor John P. Kee, The O’Neal Twins, and as part of Dr. Juan Santiago and Uninhibited Praise. Pastor Jacqueline grew up singing in and directing the church choir from a child until adulthood. She has sung in various workshop choirs with Pastor John P. Kee, LaShun Pace, Bishop Donnie Graves, and Twinkie Clark, and has traveled extensively with Dr. Juan Santiago and Remnant.

Currently, the McShaws have a Facebook ministry that streams live on Saturdays. 

“He’ll Make It Alright” – Julius Pearson and The Gospel Chorale of Chicago

“He’ll Make It Alright”
Julius Pearson and The Gospel Chorale of Chicago (2022)
Enchanted Media Group
Available on Apple Music

Julius Pearson and the Gospel Chorale of Chicago art work - He'll Make It Alright

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Julius Pearson and The Gospel Chorale of Chicago give me exactly what I love about choir music in the Windy City: the sound of church. It’s the hand-clapping, foot-stomping, high energy that makes “He’ll Make It Alright” a great addition to the Sunday morning catalog. Maryta Powell blazes the lead vocal. The single is the first from the choir’s forthcoming album, Black Church Music, Vol. 1, set to be released this summer.

Pearson is originally from Louisiana and now resides in Chicago. He is the Gospel Chorale of Chicago’s founder and director.

“Jesus I’ll Never Forget” – Zak Williams & 1/Akord

“Jesus I’ll Never Forget”
Zak Williams & 1/Akord (October 7, 2022)
Enon Music Group

Zak Williams & 1/Akord art work

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Pretty much any song with the words, “Jesus I’ll never forget” will charge a church atmosphere. Zak Williams & 1/Akord’s “Jesus I’ll Never Forget” featuring Lowell Pye is a banger in both message and delivery.

The song itself, written by Gabriel Sharpe, is reminiscent of the great choir music from the ’90s; and Stellar Award-winning vocalist Lowell Pye is just the powerhouse to take “Jesus I’ll Never Forget” to church, sharing his personal testimony along the way. The high energy of the choir is captured excellently as their enthusiastic, dynamic vocals leap through the speakers.

Zak Williams & 1/Akord, torchbearers of the “Philly choir” sound, are planning to release an album in 2023, from which “Jesus I’ll Never Forget” is the single.

“Your Blessing’s On The Way” – Mary P. Coston

“Your Blessing’s On The Way”
Mary P. Coston (2022)
Available at iTunes

Mary P. Coston Your Blessing's on the Way cover art

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

“Your Blessing’s On The Way” is a hand-clapper of a declaration from Mary P. Coston. “No matter what the devil says, your blessing’s still on the way!”

Coston shines in the verses of this number, where her staccato notes rhythmically punctuate the fast pace of the song. Though entirely tuneful, Coston also sounds undeniably preachy at times, particularly as the track ascends to its peak. Listen intently and her vocal becomes a mash-up of Dorinda Clark Cole and Cosmopolitan’s Dianne Williams – and I like it.

Coston is a native of Michigan and started singing at age three. She released her first single (“Jesus is the Best Thing”) in 2008. “Your Blessing’s On The Way” is Coston’s current single, written by Andre Cranford and produced by Gregory Pearson.

“Satan Is Defeated” – Jonathan Willis & Zion City

“Satan Is Defeated”
Jonathan Willis & Zion City (2022)
https://www.poftzc.com

Jonathan Willis Satan is Defeated cover art

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Jonathan Willis & Zion City are giving Sunday morning pentecostal congregational praise with “Satan Is Defeated,” and it sounds to me like that’s exactly what Willis and the song’s co-writer and producer Patrick Shorts intended. “Satan Is Defeated” offers foot-stomping, hand-clapping, call-and-response, led by Willis. Zion City begins in unison before branching into three-part harmony in time for the vamp, making it a number that even non-singers will find enjoyably easy to sing.

The message is as simple as the melody: Satan loses and Christ’s followers win, for God’s Word declares it to be so. “I’ve got it – the victory!” the aggregation proclaims.

Willis is the senior pastor of Prayer of Faith Temple Zion City Church of God in Christ in Lynchburg, VA.

“Take Your Knee Off My Neck” – Shirley Caesar

“Take Your Knee Off My Neck”
Shirley Caesar (September 11, 2020)
Shu-Bel Records/Red Alliance Media
http://smarturl.it/shirleycaesar

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

“Take Your Knee Off My Neck” is one of the most direct and impassioned calls to action for social and racial justice that Pastor Shirley Caesar has issued in song. That speaks volumes for a gospel legend whose nearly seven decades of recording stretch across many of our nation’s darkest days of bigotry, segregation, and injustice.

In the riveting single co-written with Michael Mathis, Pastor Caesar speaks frankly about George Floyd’s May 2020 “lynching in broad daylight,” during which Minneapolis police officers held him in place with a knee to his neck until he lost consciousness. Floyd’s death was followed by days of demonstrations around the country. The track opens with crowd chants of “I can’t breathe!” – the last words of too many who have died in officer-involved encounters. Caesar minces no words addressing this and related acts of police brutality.

“Take your knee off my neck!”

“Enough is enough!”

“Stop killing our sons and daughters!”

“Leave us alone!”

She speaks the names of several other victims as well: Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Oscar Grant, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland. The roll call of Black lives taken senselessly never ceases to stir deep emotions for me, and this context is no different. “You’re gonna reap what you’ve sowed,” Caesar warns the evildoers.

The straightforward message of “Take Your Knee Off My Neck” is driven by the song’s pulsating rhythm section. It’s an auditory evocation of trifold symbolism. Caesar’s finger is on the pulse of the times, singing pointedly about defenseless hearts that have stopped beating at the hands of their cold-hearted murderers.

Despite the circumstances that make “Take Your Knee Off My Neck” a necessary and urgent call to action, Caesar doesn’t confront the oppressors without lifting up the oppressed. “Beautiful Black people,” she sings, “hold your head up high. Don’t be ashamed of who you are. Black lives matter!”

“I’ll Never Stop Praising the Lord” – Northern Delaware Chapter GMWA Recording Choir

“I’ll Never Stop Praising the Lord”
Northern Delaware Chapter GMWA Recording Choir
From the album, God Be Glorified (2019)
Enon Music Group

By Janie Sheeley-Torain
GMF Special Contributor

The vibrant voices of the Northern Delaware Chapter GMWA Recording Choir declare, “I’ll Never Stop Praising the Lord.”  The uptempo O’Landa Draper-esque track is featured on the aggregation’s project, God Be Glorified.

Let the spirited declaration inspire you to do the same: never stop praising the Lord.  You know you may have missed a few church services and choir anniversaries, but let this choir – led by Minister Wayne Carter, Sr. – take you to church.  And definitely let the lively band energize you to pick ’em up and put ’em down.  The joy of the Lord is your strength! 

Get ready!  Get ready!  Get ready!  Praise God like the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order is over! 

______________________
Janie Sheeley-Torain, Ed.D, is a gospel music enthusiast, author, National Board Certified Teacher, and life-long educator. She is an advocate of invigorating gospel music that inspires, elevates, and encourages the listener. She has published and is currently working on manuscripts that embolden the musicians of gospel music.

 

Clark Sisters movie soundtrack highlights talent of cast, genius of Donald Lawrence

 
Various Artists
The First Ladies of Gospel: The Clark Sisters Biopic
Soundtrack (2020)
Releve Entertainment
Available on Amazon
 
By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever
 
Clark Sisters fans’ prayers were answered when The First Ladies of Gospel: The Clark Sisters Biopic Soundtrack dropped Friday, just a day ahead of Lifetime’s movie premiere of The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel.  According to Donald Lawrence, producer extraordinaire and the movie’s music director, the decision to release the accompanying soundtrack was made only the week prior.
 
On film, Angela Birchett, Raven Goodwin, Christina Bell, Sheléa Frazier, and Kierra Sheard captivate viewers with their portrayals of Jacky, Denise, Twinkie, Dorinda, and Karen, respectively.  On the soundtrack, they amaze with their abilities to recreate the nuances of the sisters’ phrasing, tone, riffs, trills, growls, close harmonies, and the “one voice” (unison singing) that matriarch Dr. Mattie Moss Clark (magnificently portrayed in the movie by Aunjanue Ellis) helped her girls to perfect.  “I Can Do All Things Thru Christ That Strengthens Me,” “Name It Claim It,” and “Nothing to Lose” showcase the real-life vocal talent of the cast, thanks to Lawrence who made sure no element of “The Clark Sound” was overlooked.  Individually, the ladies’ lead vocals are impeccable, resulting in “Name It Claim It” and “What He’s Done for Me” sounding uncannily like the vintage recordings and “You Brought the Sunshine” sounding as if Twinkie herself stepped behind the mic to remake the group’s massive hit.
 
A fan and student of The Clark Sisters, Lawrence was meticulous about recreating “The Clark Sound” since the movie’s actors would be doing their own singing.  His thoughtful approach even included recapturing the distinctive character of Twinkie’s organ style and sound, which was a dominant musical component of The Clark Sisters’ recordings, especially throughout the 70s and 80s.  Lawrence was particularly intent on recreating the organ’s robust, big room feel for “What He’s Done for Me.” To do this, he and organist Andre Morris tracked the organ at a large church in Memphis with three Leslie speakers.
 
The First Ladies of Gospel: The Clark Sisters Biopic Soundtrack features thirteen tracks, six of which are spoken-word segments from the movie.  The final spoken-word track is Sheléa Frazier’s spot-on reenactment of Dorinda Clark Cole’s memorable sermonette from the 1982 motion picture Gospel.  
 
In all honesty, the entire project feels like a tease, running at just 27 minutes.  Nevertheless, both emerging and longstanding Clark Sisters fans will appreciate that The First Ladies of Gospel: The Clark Sisters Biopic Soundtrack is a superb salute to the highest-selling female gospel group in history whose story debuted as the highest-rated original movie of the year on all of television.
 
Favorites
“What He’s Done for Me” – “You Brought the Sunshine”
 
Fever Meter
SWELTERIN’ (5 of 5 Stars)
 

“I Can’t Make It Without You” – Beloved St. John Evangelistic Church

“I Can’t Make It Without You”
Beloved St. John Evangelistic Church
From the album, The Praise Worship Experience (2019)
belovedstjohn.org

By Janie Sheeley-Torain
GMF Special Contributor

“I Can’t Make It Without You” is the single from Beloved St. John Evangelistic Church Music and Arts Ministry’s full-length project, The Praise Worship Experience.  The upbeat praise track is fueled by a punchy bassline that showcases the bass player’s chops and manages to stay out of the way of the singers and other musicians.  Meanwhile, the vertical lyrics, penned by Scot Stevens and driven by enthusiastic vocals of Beloved St. John Evangelistic Church, underscore our dependence on God and remind us perhaps now more than ever in our nation’s dark and divided days that we can rely on Christ to bring us through any situation. 


______________________

Janie Sheeley-Torain, Ed.D, is a gospel music enthusiast, author, National Board Certified Teacher, and life-long educator. She is an advocate of invigorating gospel music that inspires, elevates, and encourages the listener. She has published and is currently working on manuscripts that embolden the musicians of gospel music.

"Not Yet" – Donnie McClurkin

“Not Yet”
Donnie McClurkin (2019)
RCA Inspiration/Camdon Music
www.donniemcclurkin.com

By Libra Boyd
Gospel Music Fever

Donnie McClurkin‘s life could‘ve ended in the early morning hours of Wednesday, December 12, 2018. Many of us learned what happened hours later.  The miracle is that the survivor told us himself.

“Lost consciousness driving…but two human angels followed my swerving car with their emergency blinkers onto [sic] stop traffic ….drove behind me until my car crashed into the middle concrete island. I remember none of it except those two angels pulling me out of the passengers [sic] side of the crumbled TOTALED car..airbags deployed…crushed metal and Fiberglas [sic]!!”
 
“I AM ALIVE!!!!” (via Facebook @DonnieMcClurkin)
 
Not surprisingly, the Grammy-winning singer went on to pen the reflective single, “Not Yet.“
 
Thought it was the end this time
God said, “Not yet”
I thought that I would lose my mind
God said, “Not yet”
Thinkin’ ’bout my yesterday
Wondering how I got away
But death heard Jesus say
He said, “Not yet”

“Not Yet“ is a lyrical sentiment of God‘s grace and intent toward McClurkin. The beauty of the single from his forthcoming solo project is that like many a good song, the message is widely applicable to all who can testify of their own “not yet“ encounters with the Almighty.