Remember on Tuesday, when I told you big news was coming about the Dove Awards?  Well, it came…

Word has it that the GMA’s Dove Awards will take place in Atlanta, GA in 2011, leaving its home of Nashville for the first time in the award program’s history.  The event will take place at the Fox Theater on April 20, 2011.

In its press release, the GMA mentioned that Atlanta is home to many of the industry’s biggest names– and it included SEVERAL gospel artists, like Byron Cage, Canton Jones… even Dottie Peoples.  And Bishop Paul Morton was quoted in the press release.

I hear inclusion and diversity comin’ on the horizon.

Now, the question is– will the gospel community RECIPROCATE it?  The GMA has, historically, had extremely low membership among the “black gospel” community.  They’re clearly putting a good foot forward, I think… what will our response be?  Will we see their effort and raise ‘em a few, or will we say “y’all never include us”?  I dunno…

What do you guys think about the move???

It’s time for our weekly addition to The Prayer List.  For a recap of what we’re doing and why, click here.  Otherwise, let’s get it going!

This week, I’m cheating a little bit and I’m adding two folks to The Prayer List– Melonie Daniels to Canton Jones.  Both are grappling with the bittersweetness of each of their father’s passing (Canton’s last Thursday and Melonie’s today).  So, let’s hold them up as their brothers and sisters in Christ.

God, thank You for being the Divine Orchestrator of all things in Heaven and Earth.  Thank You for being a sovereign and loving God– a God who is infinitely greater than our finite understanding, but a God who is willing to reveal Yourself to us through nature, through Your word and by Your Spirit.

Lord, I lift up to you this week Canton Jones and Melonie Daniels, two of Your precious children who both experienced the passing of their respective Earthly fathers in the past week.  I pray that You would wrap them in Your comfort and peace.  Where the enemy would prompt them to challenge how good You are, I pray that the Spirit of the Living God, that dwells within them, would speak louder than him.  Where society, even the Church, would suggest that they need to hurry up and heal, I pray that You would do a thorough and perfect work, so that their peace about this situation would be complete, lacking nothing.

I pray that nothing would deter the music ministries of Canton and Melonie, but that they would have an even greater conviction of who You are, and how awesome You are.  I pray that these trials would cause them to serve You even more, love You even more, and live for You even more.

God, I pray that the respective families of Melonie and Canton would be strong even in the passing of the patriarchs of those families.  I pray that their respective memorial services and celebrations of life would be covered by Your grace and that souls would be won to Your Kingdom by the testimonies of the lives that Pastor Clarence Jones and Reverend Rufus Daniels lived.

I pray that their natural “absences” would be viewed as Heavenly “presences,” and that Your Church’s view of eternity, and the glory that surrounds it, would be Biblical and void of the finality that we often cast upon it.  Be glorified and allow us, Your children, to see how beautiful Your plan of redemption, and the promise of eternity with You, truly is.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Family, this is serious business.  Let’s lift up our brother, Canton, and our sister, Melonie, in prayer.

Post your prayers here and let’s get started on what we do!

Family, let’s keep Canton Jones and his family in prayer– his father, Pastor Clarence Jones, passed yesterday.

Canton featured his father on “Fix It,” a song from his 2005 album, Love Jones.

Let’s lift them up, folks!

Heads-up, good folks… Popular radio personality and host of BET’s Lift Every Voice CoCo Brother is releasing a compilation album on Tyscot Records, entitled CoCo Brother Live presents Stand 2010.

The project features tracks from Israel Houghton, Joann Rosario Condrey, Tye Tribbett, James Fortune, BeBe Winans, Canton Jones, Smokie Norful and more!

The project hits stores on May 25th, but is available for pre-order starting NOW.  Click here to purchase!

Anybody gonna grab it? Sounds like it could be really great.

I’ve gotta be honest– when I heard that 21:03 was putting out a remix for their viral single “Favor,” I kinda thought “how different could it possibly be?!”  But ummm… it’s different.  And it’s REALLY dope.

In fact, I may like it more than the original.  Dunno why I expected anything else, especially on the heels of the awesome “Rebuild” REmix that PAJAM just did for J Moss… that camp has been on a creative roll lately (props to PDA!).

Soooooo, I’m adding the new remix from 21:03, titled “All I Do Is Win (Favor Remix),” to the PunditPlayer.  It features 21:03, J Moss, Canton Jones, Chris Clark, and T-Pain.  I said it.

Click here to listen!

And, if you love it (I think you will), click here to download it FOR FREE.

Tell me what you think of the track!

I want you guys to check out this video.  I think it’s a great idea– powerful and rather innovative for the gospel community.

The video features the newest single from J Moss, “Rebuild,” behind a bunch of artists and industry peeps talking about what “rebuild” means to them.

You’ll see J and his wife Melanie, PDA, 21:03, Tye Tribbett, Hezekiah Walker, Monica, Fred Hammond, Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Kierra Sheard, Donald Lawrence, Canton Jones, Warryn Campbell and more…

I think it’s pretty powerful and inspiring.  And I love to see all the artists that got on board to help him out with it.

Whatdy’a think???

Heads-up, folks!  I’ve got another great way for you to donate to the Haiti relief efforts while getting some great music in the process… it’s a compilation album called Healing 4 Haiti, distributed by Integrity Music., available DIGITALLY this coming Tuesday, February 23, 2010, with a full retail release in March.

The 21-track project features great music from Israel Houghton, Michael W. Smith, Canton Jones, Kari Jobe, Amy Grant, Lecrae, Carlos Whitaker and more.  It also features the newly recorded collaborative track, “Come Together Now,” featuring various artists.

All proceeds will be donated to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association/Samaritan’s Purse for their work on the ground in Haiti.  Plus, the artists are donating their royalties from sales of this album to the same charity.  That’s BIG and awesome.

In the gospel music industry, collaborations are BIG.  You wanna create a crazy buzz about your project before it hits the stores?  Tell folks you’ve got an exciting collabo on it.  You wanna kick up your television performance a notch?  Perform a collabo.

This year was a great year for collaborative work.  But I’ve decided to narrow the list down to my 5 favorite collabos.  In order, they are:

5.  “You Bring Out The Best In Me” – Vanessa Bell Armstrong feat. Rance Allen (from Vanessa Bell Armstrong’s The Experience)

When Vanessa Bell Armstrong decided to remake her own 80′s hit on her latest album, she prolly could’ve just done it herself and knocked it out of the ballpark.  But she’s a kind and gracious woman, apparently, because she gave us the gift of some classic Rance Allen moaning and groaning that took this live performance to a whole… ‘notha… level.  Their two voices grooving over some Donald Lawrence-produced background vocals– you kinda don’t want the track to end.

4.  “The Joy Of The Lord” – Coko feat. Israel Houghton (from Coko’s The Winner In Me)

Coko is a masterful collaborator in gospel.  It’s like she reads our minds and gives the mic to the VERY folks we’re aching to hear.  On her debut album, she featured everyone from Faith Evans to her mama (Lady Tibba).  This time around, she kept her mama, plus grabbed Kelly Price and Canton Jones.  My fave collabo on the album, though (and, thus, one of my faves of the entire year), was with Israel.  It’s a feel-good track with great vocal performances from both of ‘em… a true treat.

3.  “Available To You” – Melinda Watts feat. J Moss (from Melinda Watts’ People Get Ready)

After a much buzzed-about debut album, Melinda Watts entered the gospel scene with a project that had a little something for everyone.  Perhaps one of her strongest tracks was this duet with J Moss.  Kudos for taking a song that is performed too much at midnight musicals and making it fresh for us again, and double kudos for enlisting the vocal assistance (not that Melinda was at all in need) of one of the best male vocalists in the game.

2.  ”Every Prayer” – Israel Houghton feat. Mary Mary (from Israel Houghton’s The Power Of One)

When I saw that the Marys did a song with Israel, the last thing I thought I’d hear was a jazzy contemporary gospel track.  But they mastered the performance like the pros that they are and it quickly became one of my favorite songs on his album, if not of the entire year.  And there’s a GRAMMY nod to show for it.

1.  “Wait On The Lord” Donnie McClurkin feat. Karen Clark Sheard (from Donnie McClurkin’s We All Are One)

I hear that Karen Clark Sheard wasn’t actually the original choice for this song– it was gonna be Tramaine Hawkins.  That, too, would’ve been an incredible performance, but God does all things well and He knew that this duet was gonna dominate the charts and our iPods.  On this song, Donnie stays true to his strengths– his a classic vocalist who can render a soaring ballad like few others– while Karen gives, arguably, one of her greatest performances in years.

Which collabos were among YOUR faves this year???

About a month ago, I blogged about the popular Urban Soul Cafe two-day event that is taking place during Stellar Awards weekend, ON January 14th and 16th.  Just wanted to throw out another reminder– if you’re going to be in the area, buy your tickets now!  They’re only $10 in advance.

The events (hosted by Lexi, Canton Jones, DeWayne Woods and Sheilah Belle) will feature performances from J Moss, Melinda Watts, Y’Anna Crawley, Myron Butler, Sean Simmonds, Lisa McClendon and many more.

Plus, it was recently announced that Dr. Bobby Jones will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

I think it’ll be a good time of great performances that you don’t wanna miss.  Anyone planning to go?  Anyone been to one before?

If you’ve ever attended the Stellar Awards weekend or GMA week, you’ve probably noticed (and perhaps attended) the highly popular performance event, Urban Soul Cafe.

Quickly becoming one of the largest and most successful grassroots performance opps in the industry, the event features performances from major and indie artists at reasonable prices in an intimate setting.

This year, Urban Soul Cafe presents its Stellar Awards weekend event, “Access Granted,” and it promises to be just as good as past events, with performances expected from J Moss, Melinda Watts, 21:03, Adrianne Archie and many more urban gospel artists.

There will be two events– one on Thursday, January 14th and one following the Stellars taping on Saturday, January 16th– and will be hosted by DeWayne Woods, Canton Jones, Lexi and Sheilah Belle.

Click here to view the full flyers for the event and to purchase tickets!