Having garnered praise from Elton John for their debut album He’s On Time in 2019, The Harlem Gospel Travelers’ forthcoming third album Rhapsody finds them coming full circle and working with the man who discovered them. Eli “Paperboy” Reed was teaching a gospel class in Harlem NYC and saw the quality of the group and encouraged them to write and record.
On the new album slated for release on August 23rd, he produces a set of dazzling versions taken from the extensive catalogue of the Chicago based reissue label The Numero Group. The gospel trio put their unique spin on an array of gospel songs that blend funk and soul amongst explicit praise of the Lord. Proof, if proof were needed, that gospel music is central to the development of American music.
The new single “Searching For The Truth” encapsulates the fresh spin the group have conjured perfectly. A mid-tempo gem originally written and performed by Detroit’s Dwain Vinyard, it floats by on an elastic bassline with the impeccable falsetto of Idefayo Thomas Gatling leading the way to redemption—it is a sublime reworking that reaches heaven.
LISTEN:
