THE Place to Discover Great Gospel Songs
Another of my favorite songs! I don’t know exactly why this song grabs me, but it does…it is powerful without being over the top…I think it is the duets and the harmonies. Whatever it is, I hope you enjoy it too.
I believe this is the third version of this song I’ve posted because I love it so much. Maranatha Gospel is a group that sings primarily praise and worship songs, usually those that are popular in large evangelistic churches.
This version is incredibly good…the beginning is like most versions of the song (the song was composed by Donny Harper, Director of The New Jersey Mass Choir), but then at 2:40 the song breaks into a wonderful, almost endless (well, 2 minute long) vamp that is unique to this version, and it makes the song great!
Just when I fear I may be running low on great songs to post, I find I’ve overlooked yet another classic. I think I have a long way to go before I exhaust the supply of great gospel songs to share with you all.
This truly is a classic…and for good reason. It’s immensely singable and the ending, if you have never heard it, will REALLY grab you. I love this song. Kurt Carr really is a master at creating these kinds of easily singable praise and worship type songs. Actually he’s a master, period. His song “For Every Mountain” is one of the very best evah! (And, as I looked for the song to link to just now, I see I haven’t posted that song either. Tomorrow!!!)
Heard this song while driving in my car yesterday and it caught me in a way I didn’t recall. Maybe I was feeling humbled and grateful that Joyful Voices had been asked to sing with Barry Manilow this evening; maybe it was for all the other many wonderful ways my life has been blessed. Whatever it was, I found myself singing, “For everything, Lord I thank you. For Everything, Lord I give you the praise.” with renewed meaning and gratitude.
A great Praise and Worship song dating from 2000.
So, today finds me in update New York while I attend a 4 day gospel music workshop with my great niece who goes to St. Lawrence University here in Canton NY and who sings in the school’s gospel choir. Last night was the first of 4 rehearsals which will culminate in a concert Saturday evening in the performing arts center at St. Lawrence. There will be over 100 voices, a 7/8 piece band and the directors are remarkable. The school’s Asst. Chaplin directs the choir and the band leader and co-director and one of THREE keyboardists is one Mario Vaughn a musician with The Chicago Mass Choir.
At any rate, this is one of the songs from the repertoire, Hezekiah Walker’s latest, hugely popular song, “Better” (Think “Every Praise“). Like almost all Hezekiah songs, its remarkably simple and HIGHLY infectious…I’ll give you an earworm warning right now.
Something a little different today. A beautiful, simple vocal piece accompanied by only an acoustic guitar and claves. “Gospel” per se? Probably not. Lovely and soulful, yes. Very nice.
This song still brings a smile to my face every time I hear it…the opening chords are forever etched in my mind as the intro to “Bobby Jones Gospel” that run of Sunday nights on BET in the starting in the early 80’s. The 30 second intro clip of this song was accompanied by a fairly poor quality aerial video of Nashville as a helicopter turns and does a dive descent to follow the Cumberland River into the heart of town while a voice over said “From Nashville, the gospel capital of the world, it’s Bobby Jones Gospel”.
I was really addicted to “Bobby Jones Gospel” and after first seeing it, began taking notes on the artists that appeared so I could hunt down their music on cassette tape. I’d wait for the next show all week long and was finally rewarded when I heard the opening chords to “Worship and Adore”.
Bobby Jones had a super band that played live each week; Ralph Lofton on keyboards, Robert Lee “Pops” Popwell on bass, director Derrick Lee on keyboard, and a great white funky guitarist named Jim Long who attended Berklee before heading to Nashville to find his fame and fortune in the gospel music world. He also had a great group of singers…usually a quartet called “New Life” who are the singers on this track.
“Bobby Jones Gospel” in various forms, ran for 35 years on BET and aired its last episode last year in July 2016
Enjoy!!
A nice, simple Praise and Worship song for your Sunday morning. These songs are so simple, yet so effective and memorable. I love ’em.
Okay…all week long I have had a terrible, lasting, case of “ear worm” caused by editing the rehearsal tracks for a new song Joyful Voices is learning, Israel Houghton’s “All Around” from 2004.
So, I thought I’d post the song and try to find out from my listeners (all 20 of you!!!) if this song really is all that catchy, or whether my ear worm is just related to me listening to the song as much as I did while editing the rehearsal tracks.
Let me know if this song has any effect on you. I love it!