The Nashville Gospel Honors, First Choice and The Good Groove

Details inside...

My Soul Looks Back: Nashville Gospel Honors

This past Sunday, Nashville’s gospel community came together to celebrate its legends. I’m grateful to the Nashville Gospel and Sacred Music Coalition for including me in their tribute to Johnny Whittaker & The Twenty-First Century Singers. It was a true honor to talk about these incredible drivers of contemporary gospel and their importance to the gospel sound at large. The amazing Patrick Dailey paid homage to Johnny by singing his arrangement of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and all but channelled him. He was then joined by an ensemble and they transported us back in 1975 with the Twenty-First Century Singers’ Grammy-nominated signature song, “The Storm Is Passing Over.”

Johnny’s sister, Linda, gave words, as did Twenty-First Century alumni Robin Johnson (now Grace) and Everett Drake. Surviving original member Charles Miller was not able to travel in, but was invoked as was group member Frankie Henry who was also not able to attend.

You can hear audio of the entire Twenty-First Century Singers segment here.

L to R: Patrick Dailey, Everett Drake, Nathan Young (on behalf of Frankie Henry), Robin Johnson (Grace), Linda Whittaker, myself and Byron Harvey.

Church of the Good Groove—August & September Editions

I didn’t get to post about the August edition of Church of the Good Groove…and the September edition just dropped, so I wanted to make sure I shared both this week! August’s playlist was almost entirely comprised of tracks from the 50s and 60s and September’s is culled from the 70s, so get ready to time travel. I’ve embedded links for the artists I’ve written about here!

August»»»Listen here«««

The Gospel Chimes featuring Dorothy Norwood—My Jesus Love Just Bubbles Over—James Cleveland with the Gospel Chimes—1962
Marion Williams—Holy Ghost Don’t Leave Me—Somebody Bigger Than You and I—1959
The Gospel Wonders—That’s Good Enough—As Long As I’ve Got Jesus—1966
The Nathaniel Lewis Singers—I Can’t Turn Around—More From The Chariot Club 1963—1963
Professor Alex Bradford & The Bradford Specials—I Feel The Spirit—7″ Single  —1954
The Caravans—Make It In—The Caravans—1962
The Staple Singers—As An Eagle Stirreth Her Nest—Amen!—1965
The Radio Four—Jesus Never Left Me Alone—7″ Single—1961
The Sweet Inspirations—Why (Am I Treated So Bad)?—The Sweet Inspirations—1967
The Famous Ward Singers—Christian Race Track—In A Gospel Concert—1962
Original Gospel Harmonettes—He’s Calling Me—He’s Calling Me—1959
The Gospel Chords—I’m Yours—Introducing… The Gospel Chords—1965
Sandra Grimes Singers of N.Y.C.—I Complained—7″ Single—1961
The Famous Davis Sisters—Earnestly Praying—Earnestly Praying—1962
Victoria Hawkins—Home Going—7″ Single—1962
King Louis Narcisse—I Have a Friend—It’s So Nice to Be Nice—2003
Bessie Griffin—Too Close to Heaven—Even Me—2000
Travelers of Zion—I Will Fly Away—There Will Be Joy (Compilation)—2021

September»»»Listen here«««

Leon Patillo—Dance, Children, Dance—Dance, Children, Dance—1979
Reba Rambo—Child of the Music Maker—The Lady is a Child—1978
The Violinaires—Groovin’ With Jesus—Groovin’ With Jesus—1971
Reverend Eddie Holman—Holy Ghost—United—1985
Madeline Manning—Jesus Keeps Taking Me Higher—Running for Jesus—1976
The Devoted Souls—Keep On (Holding On)—12″ Single—1980
Milton Brunson & the Thompson Community Singers—God Will Take Care of You—To All Generations—1979
Fountain of Life Choir—I’m So Happy (Marc Davis & Sadar Bahar Edit)—Disco Gospel—2023
Rance Allen Group—You Can Take My Music (But You Can’t Take My Song)  —Straight From the Heart—1978
Turning Point—You—Here’s My Life, Here’s My Heart—1980
Sam Davis & the Twin Cities Gospel Ensemble—All Power—I’ve Been Changed—1979
Gwen Carter—You Can’t Make Me Doubt Him—If I Can Help Somebody—1978
Rubeinstein—Somehow (Make Way)—7″ Single—2020

First Choice—Love Having You Around: The Gold Mind Recordings (1976-1980)

It is mind boggling to me that I’ve been involved with eleven reissue projects that have either come out or are about to come out this year. The most recent to hit the market is this four disc collection of the legendary First Choice’s recordings for Gold Mind/Salsoul Records. The first three discs are comprised of their three Gold Mind albums, Delusions, Hold Your Horses and Breakaway with a fourth disc of rare remixes compiled by my friend

Craig Seymour, critic

who also wrote one of the four essays in the booklet. The Second Disc’s Joe Marchese, SoulMusic Records’ David Nathan and I also contribute essays to this box set.

Read more about the retrospective via The Second Disc here.

Order the collection here.