https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtayhqPjz5Y
― bodacious ignoramus, Friday, 20 June 2014 22:57 (nine years ago) link
I need to see what Youtube videos have been added for The Original Soul Invaders, of Industry, Texas, since I raved about them upthread in 2008
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 21 June 2014 15:04 (nine years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/the-richard-smallwood-you-know-4-doves-10-stellars-8-grammy-noms/2015/07/22/553d5cfc-0a28-11e5-9e39-0db921c47b93_story.html
His song "Total Praise" that has been covered by Destiny's Child, other gospel singers, and synagogue choirs as well, continues to get covered. The article focusses on his rebound from depression.
Still, he has watched RCA Inspiration’s younger artists, such as Donnie McClurkin and Fred Hammond, register platinum sales, while he has yet to have a single album sell more than 500,000 copies to reach gold status. Smallwood says that before his diagnosis, he felt his depression was brought on by comparing his success to others’. “I have always been very insecure about my gift,” he says.
But longtime gospel publicist Bil Carpenter says: “Richard is not for the masses. He’s for a more sophisticated, smaller group of people. He’s a thinking man’s gospel. It’s the chitlin’ circuit versus the Kennedy Center. Richard is the Kennedy Center.”
...
Some gospel artists, such as multiplatinum Kirk Franklin, have achieved wider commercial success by mixing in hip-hop. But Smallwood has remained with his classical sound. Jacquie Gales Webb, who for more than 20 years has hosted a popular gospel segment on Washington’s WHUR radio, says Smallwood’s songs are distinctive because of the importance of the piano — not electric piano or keyboard playing, but a grand-piano style. “No matter what genre he’s playing, in his music the piano is the prominent feature,” Webb says. “That’s how you know it’s a Richard Smallwood song.” Valerie Simpson, who helped create the Motown sound as part of the husband-and-wife songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, likens Smallwood to Stevie Wonder, because his lyrics, she says, “transcend a moment” and capture a sound of a generation that lasts for decades.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 27 July 2015 13:11 (eight years ago) link
http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0002/782/MI0002782133.jpg?partner=allrovi.comThis Mahalia comp from '91 has some awesome songs on it, fuck me - such a voice.
― calzino, Friday, 22 January 2016 15:15 (eight years ago) link
Saw a 10 act classic gospel marathon show Saturday. Blind Boys of Mississippi and Swanee Quintet were great. Spencer Taylor and the Highway QCs were good, as were many of the other acts.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 4 December 2017 15:51 (six years ago) link
This 2017 Film doc “How I Got Over” about pioneering gospel acts including Highway QCs and others looks good.
https://vimeo.com/231140998
― curmudgeon, Friday, 9 February 2018 23:51 (six years ago) link
https://thedcline.org/2019/02/14/still-testifying-90-year-old-spencer-taylor-jr-and-the-highway-qcs-gospel-group-stay-busy-live-and-in-the-studio/
― curmudgeon, Friday, 15 February 2019 17:56 (five years ago) link
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9476603/rance-allen-dead-obit
Gospel star Rance Allen, whose Rance Allen Group drew upon contemporary sounds for such 1970s hits as “Ain’t No Need of Crying” and “I Belong To You” and anticipated such crossover gospel artists as The Winans and Amy Grant, has died at age 71.
Allen’s wife, Ellen Allen, and manager Toby Jackson announced in a joint statement that Allen died early Saturday (Oct. 31) while recovering from a “medical procedure” at Heartland ProMedica in Sylvania, Ohio. Allen was a longtime Toledo, Ohio resident and most recently bishop for Church of God in Christ for the Michigan Northwestern Harvest Jurisdiction.
I need to post some of the videos I saw on twitter. What a voice and range-- from deep lows to falsetto highs.
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 1 November 2020 18:11 (three years ago) link
I popped into the gospel tent to see him when I went to Jazzfest last year, he was raising the roof. Glad now that I did, RIP.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 1 November 2020 18:44 (three years ago) link
https://youtu.be/YJNIhA4-Ga4
His performance in Wattstax is so great. I assumed for years he was a Memphis/southern guy, didn’t discover until years later he was from Michigan.
― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Sunday, 1 November 2020 19:16 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCuvhbPbbty
various recent live gospel videos
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 7 April 2022 17:38 (two years ago) link
Oops, well subscribe to the right Christopher Klug youtube and you will find gospel
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 7 April 2022 17:40 (two years ago) link
I've started getting into the Pilgrim Travelers lately, just impeccable, electrifying music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhDsaOSCGZo
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 6 March 2023 03:21 (one year ago) link
that’s really cool. I’ve been getting into some Golden Gate Quartet, around the same time I think. the interplay of their voices is not infrequently astounding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh4NRX2O7O8
― not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Monday, 6 March 2023 03:32 (one year ago) link
yeah it looks like that's 1939 and the tune I posted is 1947. Def some stylistic similarities. And you can really hear a lot of boogie and pre-rock and roll in the rhythm
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Monday, 6 March 2023 03:38 (one year ago) link
RIP falsetto singer Paul Beasley who was in Mighty Clouds of Joy and other groups
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 03:15 (one year ago) link
Oops I think it was just the anniversary of his death recently
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 15 March 2023 03:21 (one year ago) link