Sunday Best-They Were All Great, But Somebody Had To Go

Gospel Music Competition Sunday Best Eliminates One Contestant

How you choose one Sunday Best winner from the talent that has been taking the stage lately, I don’t know. All four of the contestants were awesome! Too bad they can’t just stop the show right now and declare everybody a winner. But……….there can only be one Sunday Best!

The show started off on a great note…………Fred Hammond!! It was great to see him, and he looked nice with his new hair cut. He started the show off with “No Weapon” and “This is the Day”.

The first contestant up was Latice Crawford and she was unfortunately given “Soon I Will Be Done With The Troubles of This World” to sing. Now I absolutely love Latice, but she wasn’t connecting with the song or something.

Her vocals were on point as usual, but something just didn’t click. She looked amazing! Very pretty and great stage presence.

Y’Anna Crawley sung “I Don’t Feel Noways Tired”. She always gives one hundred percent, and her talent is amazing. She said she was a single parent of two boys and all she does is with them in mind.

Tina said she gave the song just what it needed and I agree. I love to hear her sing, she delivers everytime.

Jessica Reedy sung one of my all-time favorite gospel music songs, “God Has Smiled on Me”. Of course she gave it the Jessica Reedy jazzy treatment.  I kind of felt like I was in a gospel jazz club (if there is such a thing!). In fact Kirk Franklin said he felt like he should be holding a drink. lol

I like that she brings something new and fresh to gospel music.

Zebulon Ellis sung the classic gospel music song “Precious Lord” and stayed true to the song’s melody. Erica said he did a great job and Tina said his vocals were dead on. I liked his rendition, but I keep thinking about him singing Donny Hathaway last week. lol

Wynonna Judd sung “How Great Thou Art”. Kinda got a sad vibe from her singing the song, and then after she sung she shared with Kirk Franklin that she had just lost her grandmother the day before.

Then they made the cut and it was Zebulon. I think he kind of knew it because he said before his performance that if he got cut he just wanted his performance to touch somebody for Christ.

The three remaining are:

1. Jessica Reedy

2. Latice Crawford

3. Y’Anna Crawley

Ooh, next week is going to be so good……………………Be sure to twitter your thoughts during the show on Twitter. You can find me at twitter.com/gospelmusic. Lots of people twittering about Sunday Best, so be sure to join us!

Veteran Gospel Music Singer Willa Mae Dorsey Has Passed

The Gospel music family has lost another trailblazer.  Willa Mae Dorsey died January 5th in Portland after a series of strokes. Dorsey, who is a distant cousin of the great Thomas Dorse, had a career that lasted 56 years. She recorded five albums and was Grammy nominated.

In an interview in 2002 in The Oregonian, she recalled singing at Lincoln Center, performing with Mahalia Jackson and sharing the stage with the Rev. Billy Graham. Dorsey sang in almost 40 countries for presidents, princes and ordinary people of faith.

“Gospel music is for everybody,” she said in 2002. “The Creator is like the manufacturer who makes automobiles. If something is wrong with a car, you take it back to the manufacturer. … That’s where humanity has let itself down, by not going back to the manufacturer who made us.” Source

I love this part of the article where she explained to Lawrence Welk’s musical director why she only sang Gospel and patriotic songs:

“I don’t want to lose my anointing with God. So I have to stay on the straight and narrow,” she told George Cates, Welk’s musical director. “We’re trying to make a star out of you,” he replied, “and you’re trying to reach souls.”