Hello all,
I hope everyone had a safe and restful extended weekend!
Last Week
First of all, thanks to all of you for your engagement around the last feature, “Downright Secular: Maria Muldaur’s road to transcendental Christianity.” Some of you had never heard of Maria, some had no idea she’d ever done gospel and some of you were very aware of her work. I am so grateful for your curiosity and engagement about both music and theology.
Up Next
The next round of features is in the works. I’m incredibly excited about the artists and albums coming up! The majority of the upcoming features will also include video companions which I filmed last fall with the intention of them comprising the second season of my Have You Ever Heard…? series. The first of these will be an in-depth look at Nashville’s Twenty-First Century Singers, founded by Johnny Whittaker, and their 1978 album Sunday Night Fever. The next newsletter will include an essay on the album and a video interview with the surviving members Charles Miller, Frankie Henry, Everett Drake and Robin (Johnson) Grace.
Podcast
There’s an underlying theme to the things that I’m involved with: the arts, theology and the ways those things are connected to, and not separate from, our lives. So, my spouse, Ray Curenton, and I have launched a podcast to talk about all of that. Outlaw’s Evidence of the Unseen is uncensored, unfiltered, and unraveled conversations that weave together history, faith, arts, and social politics into the fabric of our greater cultural narrative. There's always an exception to the rule. Our first episode went live this week. You can find it on your preferred podcasting platform here.
Archbishop Carl Bean
This week also brought the sad news of Archbishop Carl Bean’s death. Archbishop Bean’s life in gospel as part of Bishop William Morris O’Neil’s Christian Tabernacle in Harlem in the early 1960’s led to him becoming a member of Calvin White’s Gospel Wonders and then the Alex Bradford Singers. He would record the historic “I Was Born This Way” for Motown Records in 1977 which was an international disco smash. He would go on to form the Unity Fellowship Church and the Minority AIDS Project, working “tirelessly for the liberation of the underserved and for LGBTQ people of faith.” For more on Carl Bean, read this official press release from the Unity Fellowship Church. Thank you for your life, Archbishop Bean, and for the safe haven you provided for so many of us.