Word has it that Fred Hammond will be releasing a new album, Life In the Word, on July 27, 2010 through a new deal between his fHammond Family Entertainment and Universal Music Christian Group.
Folks have butchered this news to smithereens… “Fred Hammond has a new album coming out!” and “Fred is with Universal now!” Admittedly, I had to read through the press release several times to figure out what in the world was happening… but here’s the skinny:
Did Fred Hammond leave Verity? No. Not yet, anyway… Fred Hammond, the recording artist, is still signed to Verity. His fHammond Family Entertainment label is not. This deal (with the Universal distribution camp instead of the Sony distribution camp) likely signals an intent to hop over to Universal once he, himself, fulfills his recording obligations at Verity, but only time will tell… I’m not tryna be all up in his contractual commitments. 
Is Fred Hammond singing on it? No, not on the overwhelming majority of it. But, it does feature lead vocals from developing artists Michael Bethany, Candace Laster, Terry, Ericka Warren and Dynna Wells. It even has some tracks featuring Men of Standard’s Lowell Pye.
Should you still buy it? SURELY! At the end of the day, Fred is much more than a recording artist, he’s a gifted songwriter, producer and arranger– if that was his chief function on this album, you’re still gonna get “Fred Hammond music”… you just won’t hear HIM on all of it.
You can pre-order the digital version of it at WalMart.com NOW by clicking here.
Hopefully, this clears things up a bit… now, who’s grabbin’ it?
I got Life In The Word about a year and a half ago. I would really say it reminds me of In Case You Missed It...And Then Some which features a variety of his singers. the album is good and there's even a full version to Just To Be Close to you which was released on Pages of Life Chapter 1 & 2. I'm glad the album is finally being distributed nationally. However i think I'm gonna have to reorder it because it also comes with a DVD which I believe is from his series of Warehouse Worship which was broadcast last year off his website. This will definitely bless you. Go get it!
Sigh.... sometimes I wish we could be in the Wizard of Oz -or The Wiz ;-) - when we didn't know (or care) about all this behind the scenes stuff. We just enjoyed the wonderful stuff that was made. I know the gospel music industry is a business and that this is news to a segment of folk, but sometimes I just want to buy the CD at my local record store and sit in my car and take 30 minutes to open the CD case and pop the CD into my car CD player and thumb through the liner notes and just ENJOY.... I got "In Case You Missed It" when it came out.... It wasn't what I expected. I tried to give it a chance. It would have helped (me) to have an understanding as to why the singers/songs were selected to give the CD some continuity (beyond the basic fact that they're on/under his label).
Glad you cleared that one up EJ, I meant to look into that after Torrence posted about it...but I never got around to it....I figured that was the case...he wouldn't be the first artist to have a label somewhere else besides where he was releasing his projects....but like you said, he'll probably move onto his own label as soon as he can....
I am not sure about this Ej, if Fred is not singing on it than why purchase it? I want him to sing, but I might just support the production but I don`t see him getting over excited about this project. I do love Love Unstoppable cd, that is a great album. However with this one contract and everything, I have my doubts.
Imma pick it up.
u should pick it. Fred is on about 4 cuts.
Oh okay thanks that makes me happy.
Awesome album! Just to be close to you...Powerful!