Album Review: ‘BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Live 2013’
Artist: Various Artists
Album: BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Live 2013
Street Date: 10/22/13
Record Label: eOne Music
Genre: Gospel
iPod Pick: He Brought Me Feat. CeCe Winans & Yolanda Adams
Old songs in new ways, Classics we love by artist who have set the pace for decades; That’s the BMI trailblazer live record in just one sentence but there’s sure more.
Donald Lawrence and his band of amazing singers start it all by shaking things up with the well loved Kurt Carr’s ‘In The Sanctuary’. These are songs better preserved, the arrangement is left almost the same. But it’s fresh to hear this song again with the voices calling the shots in today’s gospel music industry.
Highlights on the BMI record include Anaysha Figueroa’s cover of Tramaine Hawkin’s Holy One. I love it in that Anaysha made it her own. If you’ve never heard the original, you would have thought Anaysha actually wrote the song with the passion in her voice on this track.
Sheri Jones Moffett (of Ted and Sheri, who has also made her own records. And I’ve heard that song Free by her? It’s so good!) doing Kurt Carr’s I Almost Let Go is precious. Sheri doesn’t just sing, she tells a story. Also it’s great hearing Bishop Morton and Mama Shirley on Oh Happy Day. You would definitely also love how Lisa Knowles can carry a song through (Oh My Soul Loves Jesus).
Kierra Sheard’s rendition of Edwin Hawkins’ This Day is spot on, a great way to wrap up the album.
What I love most about the whole record is the ‘live’ feel. In some way, the songs come across as organic, stripped and not too processed which makes the various artists’ voice shine through on each track. At various moments, the worship is palpable.
If this is their first, we would soon be asking for more tribute albums from BMI to more veterans in the gospel music industry. After you’ve listened, you would sure be saying along with me: More artistes, more songs, more records. Thank you BMI.
