Keep Living

Personnel: Isaiah Sharkey (guitars); The Nashville String Machine (strings); Floyd Thomas, Quadrius Salters (piano, keyboards); Michael Taylor (organ); Brent Easton, DeShaughn Boyd (drums).
Audio Mixer: Paul Salvo .
Recording information: Second Ebenezer Church, Detroit.
Photographers: Timothy Paule; T'rah Holliday.
Like many traditional gospel recordings, Keep Living, credited to Ricky Dillard & New G, combines its old-style trappings with some of the R&B flavor of the 1970s; in this case, Dillard's horn section sometimes shows the influence of Earth, Wind & Fire. The most unusual track, however, is the appropriately named "Strange," a Walter Hawkins composition, which has the vocalese jazz sound of the Manhattan Transfer. But much of the disc is standard-issue black gospel. The gruff-voiced Dillard frequently hands off vocal duties to one of several female vocalists, including Jermia Cannon, Karen Clark-Sheard, Renee Crutchins, and Lavarnga Hubbard. They lead the choir in a series of statements of faith, often to thrilling effect. But except for "Strange," there's nothing unusual about the performance. ~ William Ruhlmann