The 41st annual Dove Awards were taped last night in Nashville, TN at the Grand Ole Opry House. The show, hosted by Natalie Grant and Bart Millard (of MercyMe), featured a who’s-who of artists and execs in Christian music, along with great collaborative performances.
Among the winners in gospel categories were Fred Hammond (Contemporary Gospel Album – Love Unstoppable), Smokie Norful (Traditional Gospel Recorded Song – “Justified”), and Israel Houghton(Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song – “The Power Of One”). There was also a tie between BeBe & CeCe Winans (“Grace”) and Israel Houghton (“I Just Wanna Say”) in the Urban Recorded Song category.
The night was great, featuring key performances by Donald Lawrence & Jason Crabb (in a special tribute to Andraé Crouch), Natalie Grant & Jordin Sparks, TobyMac, BeBe & CeCe Winans, MercyMe, Francesca Battistelli and more. As I mentioned yesterday, I was backstage for much of the preparation and the taping, itself, so I missed seeing a lot of the performances (I could hear ‘em though, and I loved it!).
I’ve also gotta say that I loved the vibe of the show. Everyone seemed like one big family and I didn’t see too many of those “gotta-hold-it-together-for-the-camera, but-I’m-really-mad-that-I-didn’t-win” faces.
All in all, the evening was great fun. Backstage, I got a chance to speak with Natalie Grant, Donald Lawrence & The Co., Wess Morgan, Brian Courtney Wilson, Calvin Nowell, B. Reith, Mandisa, Melinda Doolittle, TobyMac, Casting Crowns, Tony LeBron, Britt Nicole… I KNOW I’m forgetting folks. 
Sorrrrry…
If you don’t know who some of the above-noted folks are, tell me so I can feature them for you QUICKLY. And I think I’m gonna write an editorial soon, cuz I’ve got something else to say… stay tuned.
For a full list of winners, head over to gmc’s official website.
The show will air this Sunday, April 25th, at 8pm ET/7 CST exclusively on gmc.
Watchin’???
My man Fred does it again...the Grammys are next!
I have never heard Brandon Heath ...obviously he must be very good. To be male vocalist of the year.
Congrats to the winners! I haven't heard Wess Morgan, Calvin Nowell, B. Reith, Mandisa, Tony LeBron, and Britt Nicole. My issue with CCM is that I can't do that same acoustic sound for a whole hour, lol. About half way into to the CD, I'm losing my mind for a funky bass line! So, I download the songs I like but, for the most part, I never download the whole CD...
correction...I have heard of Mandisa! Loved her on idol. I miss her soulfulness from those days...
i think the true test is actually attending a CCM concert/event. It'll make you wanna support some of these artists. The lyrics alone will get you. But the atmosphere is just different than a Gospel concert. Not equating it to a good or bad thing... but if you haven't experienced a Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, etc event at least ONCE... ur missing out.
This will be taped from a earlier broadcast, which is a shame that GMC did not present it live. But I was kinda disappointed in some of the winners in the major categories because once again, the "Fish Format" artists dominated it again. This is why many of us need to join GMA and become members and be diversified just like NARAS. Black folk don't need to relgulate themselves to SAGMA only.
Britt Nicole's album The Lost Get Found is great. Her song Walk on Water is truly the bomb. It has a really good feel to it. Please feature that one!
Yay to Israel Houghton's DOVE wins! Wess Morgan: I saw him on TBN (I DO NOT watch TBN on a regular basis, I catch online clips if there's an interesting host/interview combo on). Wess was the guest musical artist and wow was he interesting and different from mainstream (Black) gospel and nice voice with a soulful gospel/CCM blend musical style.... I'm looking to get some of his CDs. I only found one CD on Amazon.com from 2005 or something like that....