The Letter Black has released their fourth full-length studio album in The Letter Black, a confident self-titled offering confirming that the band has fully come into their own. This is the band’s first release in partnership with Rockfest Records.
“It’s about confidence, not arrogance,” lead singer Sarah Anthony reflects. “We’re finally comfortable and know who we are. We’ve become better songwriters, we’re settled in the band, and in life in general.”
That confidence became a crucial asset for Sarah and Mark Anthony, the couple who leads The Letter Black. As they found themselves unexpectedly at home throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, they used it as an opportunity to launch into the most collaborative creative process they’ve ever attempted. “I think that’s what makes this the best record, because it was truly Mark and Sarah, in a room, figuring out what’s fun and not trying to worry about what we have to do to appease anyone else,” Mark Anthony remembers.
The result is a blistering set of rock anthems ranging from the empowering “Rise,” to the gut-wrenching suicide prevention centered “Kiss of Death,” to scorching Trevor McNevan collaboration “Born for This.” The band shows off their always riff-ready musical chops through cuts like “Throwing Darts,” the album also showcases experimental moments with an electronic flavor like “Let You Go.” Throughout all of it, confidence is at the core.
“Be strong, and confident,” Sarah concludes as she thinks about the album’s core message. “Put your shoulders up, lift your head up high, take a deep breath and go. Whatever that looks like in your personal life, I hope you have renewed strength, and maybe even a smile on your face.”
Capitol Christian Music Group’s newest singer-songwriter Anne Wilson is releasing her live EP featuring the Top 5 radio hit single, “My Jesus.” The EP, My Jesus (Live In Nashville), features five songs recorded live from White Dove Barn in Nashville, including a Little Big Town cover of “Boondocks” and a new song “No Place Like Home.” Celebrating today’s release, Wilson is also debuting the live video performance of “No Place Like Home,” click below to watch.
“We recorded my three songs that were released earlier this year as different versions than the studio tracks, and I love how they turned out,” shares Anne Wilson. “I’m also really excited to share the new song ‘No Place Like Home’ as it is about my brother Jacob and our memories together on my grandfather’s farm in Kentucky. I have been so surprised by everyone’s reaction to my songs this year and being able to reimagine them live with an amazing band was really fun.”
The overwhelming response to “My Jesus” has continued since it was released earlier this year, quickly becoming one of 2021’s breakout hits. The “My Jesus” music video has more than 4M YouTube views, 12.9M views, and 290k shares on Facebook. Her three-single EP, My Jesus, has become Capitol CMG’s largest debut single launch from a new artist in nearly 10 years. Wilson has also entered Spotify’s USA Viral 50 chart with her hit song for 10 days.
Although she has lived through the tragic season of losing her brother at a young age from a car accident, she is also in a new season of seeing God sustain her and her family during hard times. A story that so many can relate to and connect with her and her music.Fans will be able to connect in person this fall as she can be seen on the Big Daddy Weave “All Things New” tour. She will also make her Opry stage debut next month on September 4th. Wilson continues to write and record new music as she prepares for a full-length debut down the road.
Some albums are destined for a certain time. After several years of evolution and change in her life, Grammy Award-Winning Artist, NAACP Image Award-Winning Actress, Songwriter, and Producer, Tamela Mann, releases her new Tillymann Music album, Overcomer, through The Orchard Distribution today, Friday, August 6. There is a new sense of authority and urgency in Tamela’s music now; she has lived these songs and is ready to share the strength and purpose she has found.
Propelled by the singer’s strong, passionate vocals, and her newfound voice as a songwriter, each of the 12 tracks on Overcomer was conceived to bring healing and hope to a world resetting after a tumultuous chapter in its history. There is plenty to unpack from a lyrical standpoint, and Tamela is at the writing helm on most of the songs.
“I poured my experiences into the lyrics, putting my heart and soul into the words on this album,” Tamela says. “It’s me looking at my life and the things I was dealing with, trying to learn from those things, and doing what I can to overcome them.”
Overcomer may be Tamela’s best work to date. Each song stands on its own as a masterful production. The album was executive produced by Tamela and her husband, Music Producer and NAACP Image Award-Winning Actor/Comedian, David Mann, with production quarterbacked by a cadre of all-star producers and writers. Special guests include Kirk Franklin and Wyclef Jean on the stand-out track melding R&B, reggae, rap, and gospel, “Hello God;” Todd Dulaney on the worshipful “Finished Work;” Travis Green, the co-writer and producer of the anthemic “Finished;” and The Fellas, on her current single, “Help Me.” “Touch From You,” the debut single from the album, added to Tamela’s bank of personal bests; the track was her seventh No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart. “Source” and “He Did It For Me” are two other standouts. Says Tamela of the inspiration behind the lyrics for them both: “God is the source and my go-to when I’m lost. I can’t do anything without Him, and I never want to try to.”
Overcomer is the latest accomplishment and centerpiece in Tamela’s busy career. In Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living (BET+), she reprises her role as “Cora,” which she originated in Perry’s successful “Madea” plays, films, and hit television show, Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns. She and David released their first book and joint album, the NAACP Image Award-winning Us Against the World. She is starring in two upcoming films: the Tyler Perry “Madea” movie coming to Netflix and Soul Santa airing this Christmas on BET, which she executive produced with David. Tamela also launched her own successful athleisure apparel line, the Tamela Mann Collection (tamelamann.com). The line has become a popular staple in the athleisure apparel space.
Tamela has always created art that encourages people and draws them closer to their faith. Her hit-laden music career includes such memorable songs as “Change Me,” “God Provides,” and the unforgettable, No. 1 Platinum-selling classic, “Take Me to the King.” Tamela has earned numerous accolades. In addition to scoring a Grammy, she is a BET Award winner, Billboard Music Award winner, and multiple Gospel Music Stellar Award, NAACP Image Award, and GMA Dove Award winner. “I love butterflies. I feel like I’m coming out of the cocoon again, energized and on fire,” says Tamela, who underwent surgery to have both her knees replaced in the summer of 2019. After taking some time to work on her health and wellness, and a fresh creative mindset, she’s stepping forward a changed woman to express her heart and soul. “This is new music for a new time and a new me,” she says.
If someone were to ask the singer/songwriter what her greatest wish was for this album, says Tamela Mann: “My heart’s desire is to give people hope and let them know there’s still compassion in the world. It’s the opportunity for me again to show God’s love and His grace. That’s my purpose in life and for Overcomer.”
Production Credits: Executive Producers: Tamela Mann and David Mann, Sr. Produced by: Phillip Bryant, Jevon Hill, Kirk Franklin, Travis Green, Dontaniel Kimbrough, Todd Dulaney, Shaun Martin, Rickey “Slikk” Offord, Stanley Green, Tamela Mann
With a passion to encourage congregational worship, create resources for churches and draw listeners closer to God, Highlands Worship releases Prayers To The King Aug. 13 to digital retail and streaming outlets globally. The 10 songs on the LP were meticulously crafted to create a contemplative, peaceful and worshipful environment to encourage and inspire listeners to connect with God in prayer.
Produced and co-written by Highlands Worship’s Chris Griffin and mixed by Chris Greeley (Bethel Music), Prayers To The King also features nine songs co-written by legendary Hosanna! Music songwriter Lynn DeShazo (“Ancient Words, “More Precious Than Silver,” “Be Magnified,” etc.).
“Our goal with writing songs specifically for the prayer environment is to help create the moment where we can connect with God,” shares Griffin. “The Bible says, ‘Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise [Psalm 100:4].’ Worship can walk us into God’s presence.”
Uniquely written and recorded for the Pray First app created by Church of the Highlands, one of the largest churches in America, the new music is being shared with the world on the app at no cost. Churches and individuals are invited to download the app for free on their devices via the Apple App or Google Play stores. In fact, the open-source app is built so that if churches wish, they may reconfigure the app specifically for their congregations.
“Our prayer is that the playlist of songs in the app is way more than just music— we hope it helps people encounter God in a real way,” continues Griffin.
Along with the app, Highlands Worship has beautifully captured every Prayers To The King song on video. These videos will release in the coming weeks, with select video premieres to be announced soon.
Prayers To The King and the Pray First app are an extension of Church of the Highlands’ annual 21 Days of Prayer that begins Aug. 8 and invites congregants to pray over their church, communities and nation.
“Pray First is a saying that the people of Church of the Highlands use often to remind us that in every situation we should take our burdens to God,” shares Worship Pastor John Larson, who leads Highlands Worship’s team of 1,000+ members and 70+ full or part-time musicians. “Prayer is our first priority, not our last resort. The Bible says that God sees when each sparrow falls [Matthew 10:29]. So how much more does God love and care for us? Our hope is to pray without ceasing; that every moment of our lives is covered by a faith-filled habit of prayer.”
The full Highlands Worship, Prayers To The King track listing follows:
SongLab releases their new EP, Simplicity. The 4-song EP was produced by co-founding member of UPPERROOM (music), Meredith Mauldin. The album features a worship collective of rising leaders. Seph Schlueter (Damascus Worship), David Porcheddu, Brittany Rivera and Meredith Mauldin (SongLab) all contributed new features to the album. The collection of songs will also feature new live videos that will debut on the group’s SongLabMSC YouTube channel along with lyric video releases in partnership with Music Meets Heaven.
“‘Simplicity EP’ is about simple worship songs and acoustic sounds with the intention to just get back to the heart of worship! We know life gets complicated but there is beauty in Simplicity. The idea that worship doesn’t have to be big and flashy, with fancy light shows and big screens (not that there’s anything wrong with that), to be pleasing to God; but that our hearts simply open and devoted to Jesus is enough! We pray that these songs reflect sincere hearts loving our God.” – Meredith Mauldin, SongLab
Sammie Wealth releases his much anticipated debut album titled “Sounds of Joy”.
The nine track album is filled with carefully selected and inspiring praise and worship songs meant to lift people’s spirit and usher them into the presence of God.
The album title as revealed by Sammie Wealth was inspired by his favourite verse Psalm 95:1-2.
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving: let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
The album Sounds of Joy will make you realize the need to praise God in all circumstances with all that he has given to you.
As you listen to the medleys in this album, may the sound of joy never depart from your household in Jesus name.
GRAMMY Award-nominated rock band NEEDTOBREATHE have released their anxiously awaited new studio album, Into The Mystery. The album is available physically and digitally via Elektra Records starting today HERE. Limited edition merch offerings are available exclusively through NEEDTOBREATHE’s online store HERE.
“For us to be in a band this long, still enjoy it, and make what we believe is the best record NEEDTOBREATHE has ever made, it comes down to resiliency,” the band shared. “We’re still hungry. We’re ready to take the next step. We also don’t have passive fans. They are living their lives to these songs. They’re resilient. We’re pretty honored and proud to carry these songs into a world that’s hurting right now. Maybe we could be a picture of hope that inspires someone else to keep going.”
Just as their critically acclaimed 2020 album Out of Body impacted audiences, NEEDTOBREATHE capitalized on a rush of creative inspiration. Without telling a soul, the band decamped to a historic house-turned-recording studio in Columbia, TN to begin working on new music. Over the course of three weeks, they resided under one roof, and recorded together with co-producer and engineer Konrad Snyder and special guests. Out of this “extended summer camp,” they handcrafted an album reflective of the moment, yet independent of all expectations—even their own.
For as intimate as the recording process was, the band filmed every minute of it for an upcoming documentary entitled, Into The Mystery. Last week, Deadline announced Greenwich Entertainment acquired the film’s North American distribution rights, and will release it this Fall following the band’s upcoming tour. Into The Mystery was directed by Chris Phelps and co-produced by Elektra Records and Foundations Music. Watch the film’s trailer below.
Into The Mystery is highlighted by current single “I Wanna Remember” featuring seven-time GRAMMY Award winner Carrie Underwood. Last month, the band and Underwood delivered the television debut performance of the song at the 2021 “CMT Music Awards”. Crowned as one of the most showstopping moments of the evening by both US Weekly, Vulture hailed it as a “powerful, predictably huge performance of their duet,” and E! called it, “something fans will want to remember.” Watch their unforgettable performance HERE.
Into The Mystery was announced this Spring alongside the release of the album’s lead single andtitle track. In recent weeks, the band has also unveiled “What I’m Here For”, “Sunshine”, “Chances”, and “Carry Me“ (feat. Jon Foreman of Switchfoot). Into The Mystery’s early releases have received praise from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Entertainment Tonight, People, American Songwriter, and more.
This Fall, NEEDTOBREATHE will embark on their massive Into The Mystery Tour with support from Switchfoot and The New Respects. The 38-city trek will visit iconic venues such as Denver, CO’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre (fifth consecutive sold out appearance) and Los Angeles, CA’s Greek Theatre, and see the band perform their first-ever headline show at Nashville, TN’s Bridgestone Arena. The Into The Mystery Tour will kick off on September 7 in St. Louis, MO, and wrap on October 30 in Atlanta, GA. Tickets for all dates are available now HERE
GRAMMY-nominated youth collective, Hillsong Young & Free, drops their latest musical project with the release of their live digital EP, Out Here On A Friday Where It Began. The seven-track EP is available.
Written over the course of just one week, Young & Free enlisted collaboration from several of their very own youth ministry members to help produce the compilation. “We couldn’t wait to introduce the new songs to our youth, so we recorded them LIVE on a Friday night barely three weeks later,” says Young & Free’s Laura Toggs.
Adds Toggs, “‘Out Here On A Friday Where It Began’ is our youth gathered together and declaring the name of Jesus and making a statement that the church is alive and we’re here.”
The EP releases on the heels of Young & Free’s newest single “Phenomena (DA DA).” Out alongside an accompanying lyric visual and live performance video, the high-energy track is already resonating with fans globally since its July 16 debut. The song has amassed more than 1 MILLION global streams and is quickly approaching a half million YouTube views.
Since forming in 2013, Hillsong Young & Free has released a number of highly successful albums and more than 20 singles, acquiring over 545 MILLION YouTube channel views and 1.4 BILLION global career streams(with a 1.1 M global unit career consumption). The group’s full-length hit album, ALL OF MY BEST FRIENDSearned Young & Free a 2021 GRAMMY nomination for “Best Contemporary Christian Album” and marked their second career nomination. Since its debut, ALL OF MY BEST FRIENDS has garnered more than 45M global streams and over 13M combined YouTube views.
With a combined social following of 3 MILLION plus fans, Young & Free has seen eight No. 1 career singles and ten Top 10 singles at Hot AC radio. Their debut album We Are Young & Free landed in the Top 25 on Billboard 200 while Youth Revival garnered the group its first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album (2017). Their recent single “Every Little Thing” hit #1 at Hot AC radio for eight weeks, making it the longest-running #1 for the band.
Arguably Nigeria’s most versatile Christian music rapper. Gamie is poised to spread the gospel through his blend of Hip-hop and afrobeats sounds.
Since the start of 2021, Gamie has consistently released songs every week for months and shot videos for each song. Amazing yeah!!!
He charged himself to make a song that summarises the message he hears from the pulpit every week. This he calls Sermon Notes. In April, he compiled some of these tracks into a body of work titled Sermon Notes, Vol.1. A 13 track album available on all digital stores.
After releasing several tracks, he was featured on Clout Gospel on the 30th of May, 2021 where he did a mashup of So Da Mo & Colours.
He is set to end July on a high note with the release of Sermon Notes Vol.2 which comprises of 11 tracks with songs such as Adupe, Colours, Cover Me, Gidigba and more household tunes.
Stream Sermon Notes Vol.2 which is now available on all digital stores and don’t forget to check out Sermon Notes Vol.1The videos to these tracks are available on his YouTube channel.
Expect more tracks from GAMiE as he’s set to release 2 more albums this year.
Written and recorded during the incredibly tough pandemic season that began right after their main downtown Nashville church campus was largely destroyed by a tornado, Never Going Back is the result of the Cross Point Music team realizing that God has been moving them forward even as the world seemed to stop.
“We have learned so much about worship and who God is that we never want to go back,” affirms Grayson. “We all learned how to worship again from a place of ‘I’ve got nothing but me and my room.’ No stage, no lights, no people even. You’re singing to a phone and it’s like, ‘Lord, I trust that you are going to use it.’”
“I’m so pumped for people to experience what came from these songs and these recordings,” continues Grayson. “The fact that this recording all happened in the last year is only a God thing. That we were able to write, record and videotape songs….it is a celebration of what God did and what He is continuing to do.”
“My prayer is that our church and the people of God would see that His faithfulness has gotten them to where they are,” adds Stark, calling attention to Psalm 126. “…and the prayers that they prayed in their darkest moments, they will return back home with armfuls of laughter and blessing.”
Along with the title track, Never Going Back features lead single, “Oh The Wonder,” which is led by Grayson and co-written by Grayson, Stark, Heath Balltzglier (North Point Worship) and Matt Armstrong. The song was written last August as members of the Cross Point Music worship team were prayerfully asking God, “Where are we and where do we need to go? What’s next? Lord give us a song for where you are taking us.”
Like the single, every song on the new album was organically birthed from the worship emanating from Cross Point Church, which serves about 10,000 people across six campuses in and around Music City.
