Stellar Awards Nominees 2009

Good morning, all! Hope you had a great weekend, and that you were able to listen to some good music. :)

At the end of this month there's going to be a show for the 2009 Stellar Awards. They are the equivalent of the Grammy Awards, except it's strictly gospel music artists. Here are some of the categories & nominees. My choices for the winners are in bold.

Artist of the Year

Beverly Crawford; Live From Los Angeles; JDI Records
Dorinda Clark-Cole; Take It Back; Zomba Label Group
Kirk Franklin; The Fight of My Life; Fo Yo Soul/Gospocentric/Zomba Label Group
Marvin Sapp; Thirsty; Verity/Zomba Label Group
Ricky Dillard & New G; The 7th Episode: Live in Toronto; Nuspring Records/EMI Gospel

Song of the Year (Songwriter; Song; Label)

Canton Jones ; "My Day"; Arrow Records
Jonathan Nelson and Justin Savage; "My Name Is Victory"; Integrity Music
Marvin Sapp / Matthew Brownie; "Never Would Have Made It "; Zomba Label Group
Myron Butler and John Webb; "Stronger"; EMI Gospel
Percy Gray; "God Is My Everything"; New Haven Records

Male Vocalist of the Year

Byron Cage; Live at the Apollo: The Proclamation; Gospocentric/Zomba Label Group
Isaiah D. Thomas; The Greatest; Habakkuk Music
Marvin Sapp; Thirsty; Verity/Zomba Label Group
Marvin Winans; Alone But Not Alone; PureSprings Gospel
The John Tillery Project; The Next Level; Danbla Records

Female Vocalist of the Year

Beverly Crawford; Live From Los Angeles; JDI Records
CeCe Winans;Thy Kingdom Come; PureSprings Gospel
Dorinda Clark-Cole; Take It Back; Zomba Label Group
Jessica Greene; 4 The World; Habakkuk Music
Shirley Caesar; After 40 Years... Still Sweeping Through the City; ShuBel Records/Light Records
[I have a feeling that Shirley Caesar will actually win here, but Beverly Crawford's CD is great from beginning to end!]

Group Duo of the Year

Deitrick Haddon Presents Voices of Unity; Together in Worship; Tyscot Records
Israel & New Breed; Live: A Deeper Level; Integrity Music
Jonathan Nelson featuring Purpose; Right Now Praise; Integrity Music
The John Tillery Project; The Next Level; Danbla Records
Youthful Praise featuring JJ Hairston; Exalted ...Live in Baltimore; Evidence Gospel / Light Records

There you go. Check your local listings for show times. It's always more of a peek at a black church service than an awards show. :) Have a blessed day!

Kierra Sheard - Bold Right Life - Mini Review

Good afternoon, folks! After yesterday I thought I should share some more reviews of different artists I'm finding out about and enjoying. So here is one of the young up-and-coming "stars" in the urban gospel category, Kierra Sheard.

Those of us that listen to more contemporary gospel music are probably very familiar with her mother and aunts, the Clark Sisters, along with her cousin, J. Moss, who has a production company called PAJAM that also specializes in contemporary gospel music. While the Sisters are well loved in traditional circles, they have been known to take chances in contemporary gospel music, especially Kierra's mother, Karen Clark Sheard. Kierra's previous two albums were definitely geared towards her peer group, with a lot of music that was danceable but also kept the gospel message front and center. With this CD, Bold Right Life, she shows a completely different side to herself both artistically and physically. She's lost 86 pounds in the last year, and has done it in a natural way through diet & exercise. This is sure to please her fans, who have sometimes been concerned with how much weight she was carrying and have wanted to see her get healthy so she can have a long life and a long ministry.

The variety in the song selection also shows more maturity as she grows into adulthood and more independence in how she ministers in music. The best compliment I can give this CD is that you can play it during your private time of worship, but also play it in your car while you're hanging out with your non-Christian friends. The message is not compromised - when you have songs with titles like "Jesus" and "Oh Lord", you know you're not watering anything down - but neither is the hip-hop style of music that Kierra is known and loved for. You can view this clip from her CD and check a little bit of her gift out here.">

Have a blessed afternoon!

Gospel Music Channel - Mini-Review

Good evening! I'm getting in a little late today since I was celebrating my birthday with my family. But I wanted to share the website for Gospel Music Channel with you.

A lot of times when you mention the words "gospel music" you think of one thing: large choirs of mostly African-American women singing older spirituals and hymns from the sixties and seventies. But the gospel music world has expanded so much from the days of strictly being something kept in the four walls of the church to music that has something to offer every member of the family, no matter what ethnic group you're in or what kind of church you came up in. [Or if you didn't attend church at all.]

If you look at today's homepage you'll find links for artists as diverse as Hezekiah Walker and the Love Fellowship Choir from New York, Wynonna Judd, and the Newsboys, a predominantly pop/rock group. But the important thing about gospel music isn't the style of music, but the message behind is. Gospel literally means "good news", after all. So when you get a chance, check this website out to listen to some of the songs & see some of the videos. Then find out if your cable or satellite system carries them. If not, you might want to encourage them to add them to the channel line-up. It'd be worth it! Have a good evening!

Sunday Best Debut CDs - Take A Listen!

I'm happy that the debut albums from last season's Sunday Best winner Crystal Aiken & runner-up Shari Addison are finally out! BET.com has clips from both CDs at their website. Click here to hear tracks from Crystal, and here to hear from Shari. Crystal's tracks are more contemporary while Shari's are more traditional style, but as they say on the
Gospel Music Channel - it's all gospel! Enjoy!

Never Underestimate the Power of a Song...

...good afternoon, all! Just a quick blog to mention something that happened recently.

My husband & I have been going through a few things on the medical front, and we got a prognosis on my part that might have me not driving for a bit. Needless to say, it was NOT the news we were expecting or wanted to hear. After driving home and crying/yelling all the way, I happened to play a song by Yolanda Adams called "Somewone Watching Over Me". It's one of my favorite songs anyway, but you know how sometimes you don't really listen to the words until you're going through something? Well, this was one of those times, and I definitely heard the words loudly & clearly. To say the song was a relief and a comfort to me is an understatement. Just goes to show that gospel music does have the power to do more than move your body. It can also move your soul.

Have a blessed day!

A Little Gospel Background...

Good morning, all! Hope you've had a chance to check out some of the artists that we've featured so far on this blog.

Gospel music has seen a resurgence of popularity in the United States in the past few years. However, there are a lot of artists from the beginning of Gospel music that are not as well known. There are artists like the Dixie Hummingbirds and the Blind Boys of Alabama that have sung quartet style Gospel music for many decades. [You might be most familiar with the Dixie Humminbirds for their background vocals on Paul Simon's hit "Loves Me Like A Rock" that came out in 1973.] There's also some solo artists that started out in the format of ensambles. One of the most familiar groups was the Caravans, a female group that started in the 50's. However, a lot of the singers from that group are still active today, including Albertina Walker, Dorothy Norwood, and Shirley Ceasar. A little known fact is that the legendary singer/songwriter James Cleveland was also an instrumental part of this group as their musician.

A great resource to find out about both the pioneers as well as the current stars of gospel is Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia
by Bil Carpenter, an industry insider. Go ahead and check it out.

And have a blessed day!

Latest Gospel Music News

Good morning, all! Here's some of the latest news in the Gospel Music industry, compliments of www.gospelflava.com;

Yolanda Adams to Host Inauguration Ball — There will be a significant gospel music presence at the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. The American Music Inaugural Ball takes place on January 20, 2009 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C.. Hosted by Dionne Warwick and Yolanda Adams, performers at the Legends Ball include Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Smokie Norful, and The Caravans along with George Clinton, Chaka Khan, The Temptations, and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. Festivities kick off at 8pm.

The SuperBowl Gospel Celebration Returns — The Super Bowl Gospel Celebration makes its return to the Super Bowl festivities on January 30, 2009. Emanating from the Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida, this is the 10th year for the storied event and will include performances from Mary Mary, Hezekiah Walker & LFC, and Marvin Sapp. The celebration will also see the return of the NFL Players All-Star Choir and is the only gospel event sanctioned by the NFL. Go to http://www.superbowlgospelcelebration.com/10year/index.html for more info.

BET to Launch New Gospel Show — On the heels of its wildly successful countdown show 106 & Park, BET is ready to launch the show's spinoff, known as Generation Gospel. The weekly show will be hosted by 21:03's Jor'el Quinn and Trin-i-tee 5:7's Angel Taylor and will feature a live studio audience, music videos, celebrity guests, and much more. Guest correspondents include Tye Tribbett, Kierra Sheard, and Sunday Best finalist Jermaine Sellers. The premiere episode airs on January 11, 2009 at 12pm ET, with performances from Marvin Sapp and Kierra Sheard.

Have a good day!