The 40th anniversary of Tami Gunden's 'Celebration'

A look back at the 1983 Light Records release that produced two of CCM's first music videos.

Hello friends,

It’s hard to fathom that we’re nearing the end of 2023. I hope that everyone’s holiday was safe, peaceful, and filled with good food!

I’m working steadily on the last chapter of the book, but wanted to share a few things with you. I promise we’ll get back to the full-length features at the top of the year!

Radio Show Premiere

When I was growing up in St. Petersburg, every Saturday evening the TV got turned off and we would listen to Sister Pat Houser’s “Classic Gospel Hour” on WMNF, who prepared us for church on Sunday morning with the best in traditional gospel music.

Well, thirty-some odd years later, I'm getting to do the same thing. Starting this Saturday (December 2), I'll be on the air on DAF Gospel Radio from 6:00 to 8:00 PM CST hosting a show dedicated to the best in traditional gospel music. You can listen at dafentertainment.com OR download the DAF Gospel Radio app to your phone! (Thank you Pastor Darin Freeman for the opportunity!)

AND!!! *Drumroll* Evangelist Nuana Dunlap will be joining me with a word of encouragement. TRUST ME! You don't want to miss this!

Sponsorship opportunities are available for your business(es), so if you're interested, just drop me a line!

Have You Heard Beverly Crawford’s New Single?

This fall, gospel legend Beverly Crawford released her new single, “Lord, You Are Good,” by way of MNRK Music Group. If you haven’t heard it, run…don’t walk! It’s a re-working of Todd Galberth’s 2016 hit with production by the Grammy-nominated producer David “DLo” Outing—but Beverly’s Holy Ghost fire remains front and center. You can find Bob Marovich’s review of the single here. To download or stream, click here.

40th Anniversary of Tami Gunden’s ‘Celebration’

It hit me a few weeks ago that one of the most important albums of my childhood turned 40 this year and I wanted to make sure I, at the very least, mentioned it here before the year ended.

Tami Gunden had been a child star who was introduced to the public at large as Tami Cheré via Jim and Tammy Bakker’s PTL Club in the seventies. She was signed to Ralph Carmichael’s Light Records at thirteen years old and recorded two albums there that were a combination of popular CCM songs like Reba Rambo’s “Sweet Jesus Peace” and Andraé Crouch’s “Just Like He Said He Would” and original compositions by her uncle, Danny Lee, a CCM artist in his own right. (Here’s a video of her in 1979 singing “Father Me,” a song also recorded by Jessy Dixon two years prior.)

When the eighties dawned, however, she was in her late teens and seeking to make music that more reflected her reality as a young adult and an artist. Drawing on Linda Ronstadt, Amy Grant and Patti Austin as influences, she re-emerged with 1983’s Celebration, rebranded as Tami Gunden. With a cohort of some of Nashville’s best musicians like Shane Keister, Mark Hammond, Jon Goin and a young Michael W. Smith, Celebration presented Tami as a serious contender for the CCM market. While the album bore a stylistic resemblance to Amy Grant’s adult contemporary opus, Age to Age (released the year prior and soon to be her first platinum album,) Christian radio never made Tami’s singles into the massive hits that artists like Grant and Kathy Troccoli were having—even with four Michael W. Smith compositions on the album (including her own recording of “Friends,” which would become a definite composition in his solo career).

Tami, wisely, made music videos for two of the songs from the album which got put into rotation on Christian music video programs on the major Christian television networks. She put a band together and hit the road, performing at juvenile halls, rehabilitation clinics and churches (as well as Amway Conventions). “The main point is the public wants to know the people who are singing these things [about faith]—they practice it in their lives. That’s the bottom line,” she explained to a reporter from The Daily Independent in 1984.

It was through these videos that I was introduced to her music as a child. When I saw an advertisement that she was coming to town for an upcoming concert at a local church, I begged my mother to take me and, thankfully, she did. After the concert, we bought Celebration and approached Tami who was talking with young people in the lobby. We exchanged pleasantries and she said, “Write me! My address is on the back of the album.” I did exactly that and she wrote me back! It began an exchange that changed the possibilities for a ten-year-old misfit (In fact, I was present at the television performance you see below!). Those letters were my first meaningful exchange with an artist and if they hadn’t happened, I don’t know if I’d be doing the work that I’m doing today. I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to say thank you, so this is the moment. Thank you, Tami, for being one of the real ones.

While Celebration is not streaming, you can listen to it here via YouTube.

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