The nominees for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards were announced tonight during a live telecast on CBS.

In the gospel categories, the nominees are–

Best Gospel/CCM Performance
“Do Everything”
Steven Curtis Chapman
Track from: re:Creation
[Sparrow Records]

“Alive (Mary Magdalene)”
Natalie Grant
Track from: Music Inspired By The Story
[WOW Joint Venture/EMI CMG]

“Your Love”
Brandon Heath
Track from: Leaving Eden
[Reunion Records]

“Jesus”
Le’Andria Johnson
Track from: The Awakening Of Le’Andria Johnson
[Music World Gospel]

“I Lift My Hands”
Chris Tomlin
Track from: And If Our God Is For Us…
[Sparrow Records / sixstepsrecords]

Best Gospel Song
“Hello Fear”
Kirk Franklin, songwriter (Kirk Franklin)
Track from: Hello Fear
[Verity Gospel Music Group/Fo Yo Soul Ent.; Publisher: Aunt Gertrude Music]

“Sitting With Me”
Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell, Gerald Haddon & Tammi Haddon, songwriters (Mary Mary)
Track from: Something Big
[Columbia Records; Publishers: Precious Baby Music/T Bella Music/EMI April Music, It's Tea Tyme, That's Plum Song]

“Spiritual”
Donald Lawrence, songwriter (Donald Lawrence & Co. Featuring Blanche McAllister-Dykes)
Track from: YRM (Your Righteous Mind)
[Verity Gospel Music Group; Publisher: Quiet Water Entertainment]

“Trust Me”
Richard Smallwood, songwriter (Richard Smallwood & Vision)
Track from: Promises
[Verity Gospel Music Group; Publishers: Universal-Z Tunes/T.Autumn Music]

“Window”
Canton Jones, songwriter (Canton Jones)
Track from: Dominionaire
[Cajo Records; Publisher: CAJO Music]

Best Gospel Album
The Love Album
Kim Burrell
[Shanachie Entertainment]

The Journey
Andraé Crouch
[Riverphlo Entertainment]

Hello Fear
Kirk Franklin
[Verity Gospel Music Group/ Fo Yo Soul Ent.]

Something Big
Mary Mary
[Columbia Records]

Angel & Chanelle Deluxe Edition
Trin-I-Tee 5:7
[Music World Gospel]

Best CCM Song
“Blessings”
Laura Story, songwriter (Laura Story)
Track from: Blessings
[Fair Trade Services; Publishers: New Spring/Gleaning Publishing]

“Hold Me”
Jamie Grace Harper, Toby McKeehan & Christopher Stevens, songwriters (Jamie Grace Featuring Tobymac)
[Gotee Records; Publishers: Universal Music, Brentwood Benson Tunes, Songs of Third Base/Chriscendo Music, Meaux Mercy/Achtober Songs]

“I Lift My Hands”
Louie Giglio, Matt Maher & Chris Tomlin, songwriters (Chris Tomlin)
Track from: And If Our God Is For Us…
[Sparrow Records/sixstepsrecords; Publishers: sixsteps Music/worshiptogether.com Songs/Vamos Publishing/Thankyou Music/spiritandsong.com Publishing]

“Strong Enough”
Matthew West, songwriter (Matthew West)
Track from: The Story Of Your Life
[Sparrow Records; Publishers: External Combustion Music/Songs For Delaney/Songs of Southside Independent Music]

“Your Love”
Brandon Heath & Jason Ingram, songwriters (Brandon Heath)
Track from: Leaving Eden
[Reunion Records; Publishers: Sony/ATV Cross Keys Publishing/Big Skwawka Music, Sony/ATV Timber Publishing/Windsor Hill Music]

Best CCM Album
Ghosts Upon The Earth
Gungor
[Brash Music]

Leaving Eden
Brandon Heath
[Reunion Records]

The Great Awakening
Leeland
[Essential Records]

What If We Were Real
Mandisa
[Sparrow Records]

Black & White
Royal Tailor
[Essential Records]

And If Our God Is For Us…
Chris Tomlin
[Sparrow Records / sixstepsrecords]

If you recall, NARAS significantly revamped the awards categories this year, chopping down 7 categories to 5, and crunching all of it into either “gospel” or “Christian contemporary music (CCM)”… it’s cleaner, though it may unfairly treat some very significant sub-genres (like Christian hip-hop).

*shrug*

A full list of nominees in all categories can be viewed here.

What do you think of the nominees???

The 42nd Annual Dove Awards were held this week in Atlanta, GA and will be broadcast on this Sunday, April 24th, at 7pm ET, exclusively on gmc.

For a full list of winners, click here.

I attended the live taping and there were a few performances you will NOT want to miss– Mary Mary… the Singing Pastors (featuring Deitrick Haddon, Darrell Hines, Paul Morton, Smokie Norful and Marvin Sapp)… Kirk Franklin… Lecrae (with Natalie Grant)… Chris Tomlin… and more.

Tune in!

A preliminary list of participants has been released by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) in connection with this year’s 42nd GMA Dove Awards, to be held in Atlanta, GA on Wednesday, April 20th at the Fabulous Fox Theatre.

Among the list are Mary Mary and Marvin Sapp, as well as powerhouse vocalist Natalie Grant and singer/songwriter Chris Tomlin.  Other appearances are expected from Francesca Battistelli, Jason Crabb and Chonda Pierce.

The awards show will be hosted by actress/comedian Sherri Shepherd, and will air exclusively on gmc on Easter Sunday, April 24th, at 8pm ET/7pm CST.

Mary Mary has released the album cover for their new project, Something Big, in stores on March 29th.

I love it.  I think it’s a departure from the standard “face-on-album” deal in gospel music, and I love the true artwork component of it.  I also love the throwback 70′s kind of vibe it’s got to it…

Check it out–

Also, after hinting at it via Twitter for weeks now, the sisters have announced that they have signed with Maximum Artist Group (management company for Donald Lawrence, Natalie Grant and others, run by Mitchell Solarek) to represent them.

Mary Mary will be co-headlining the ‘Still Something Big’ tour with BeBe & CeCe Winans in select markets beginning in April.

Congrats to Damion P. of Sanford, Florida, whose name was drawn at random from among the correct entries is GospelPundit.com’s Mystery Vocalist Giveaway!

As I mentioned yesterday, the mystery vocalist singing the “Star Spangled Banner” is the incomparable Natalie Grant!

As the winner, Damion will receive EVERY CD from Natalie Grant’s catalogue.  Don’t forget– learn more about Natalie and her upcoming album, Love Revolution, at NatalieGrant.com.

The Mystery Vocalist GiveAway has ended– the name of the artist singing the “Star Spangled Banner” on the PunditPlayer is NATALIE GRANT.

Click here to take another listen, and visit http://www.nataliegrant.com to learn more about her!

Her new album, Love Revolution, hits stores on August 24th, but is available for pre-order now right here.

Who’s already down with Natalie Grant’s music?  Who’s gonna check her out now?

 Talk to me!

This is such a beautiful worship song to me… it’s the new single from CCM artist Natalie Grant, “Greatness of our God.”

If you recall, Evin Martin of 21:03 put us on to Natalie Grant in his Across the Aisle series (more coming soon!).  Her new album, Love Revolution, hits stores on August 24th…

In the meantime, I came across this video of Natalie singing “Greatness of our God” at a church a couple of weeks ago–

Whatd’ya think??

Hey folks– just a heads-up… the 41st Annual Dove Awards, which were taped live on Wednesday, will air on gmc this Sunday, April 25th, at 8pm ET/7pm CST.

The awards show will feature incredible performances from BeBe & CeCe Winans, Natalie Grant, Jordin Sparks, Donald Lawrence, Jason Crabb and a special Haiti relief song with Michael W. Smith.

Clearly, that conflicts with the broadcast of BET’s Sunday Best, and I wouldn’t dream of telling you which program is more worth your time…

But when you see me tweetin’ about Francesca Battistelli instead of Bootsey Jenkins, you’ll know what I’m doing.

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’???

Hey fam– I’m going to the 41st Annual Dove Awards tonight, so I’ll try to recap some of it for you here tomorow or Friday.

I’ve already been to some of the rehearsals and it’s gonna be a GREAT show.  Donald Lawrence is performing with Jason Crabb (awesome), Natalie Grant is performing with Jordin Sparks (incredible), BeBe & CeCe Winans (you already KNOW)… and there will be many more great performances.

I’ll fill you guys in later… gotta run!