Let me try to re-do this…last night as I edited my story, the whole thing got erased. I must’ve been too excited. Maybe my computer froze in excitement and erased the work itself! Either way, Tye Tribbett and this G.A. (Greater Anointing) reunion is too dope to let slip through the cracks!!! Yo, do you know what this means? Do you know what gospel music is gonna sound like for the next year and a half?
Ponder with me if you will…think back on “Everything“. Who wasn’t singing that song? Oh yeah, it was gospel music written by an organist in a guitar friendly key, don’t forget that either. Tye Tribbett and G.A. helped musicians learn the hard keys! (LOL) They also challenged the sound of gospel music. When most people wrote him off as a renegade and outsider musically, he showed traditional versatility by teaming up with Pastor John P. Kee on “You Are My Joy” and melded avant garde with traditional music with “Sinking“. There was literally nothing Tye couldn’t do!
The “Victory” album pushed gospel music performance way beyond even the bounds of pop music. The sprightly “Hallelujah to Your Name” featured a piccolo on the motif in the intro. A piccolo…you’d have to study some of Richard Smallwood’s arrangements to find a piccolo feature or even see one named in the instrumentation.
As if the music didn’t blow your mind, the G.A. concepts were astounding. The classroom setting and private school uniforms accompanied the music. You’d be hard pressed to find a group like G.A. anywhere in the gospel music industry, then just like that…it all ended!
We learned their names and followed their careers since, but there’s nothing like the supernatural chemistry that existed with the first iteration of GA. They were the standard and in their absence, they’ve been missed!
Tye re-emerged with Greater Than and before you could even fix your mind to miss G.A. you heard: “If he did it before, he can do it again…” and just like that, Tye was back! Yeah, I remember “FRESH” and I’m really glad the world got to meet Pastor Tim Rogers! But he’s back with G.A. and the second edition goes down this Saturday at the Fillmore in Philly! It’s about time, because we could all use a new shout track! “He Turned It” was and still is lit but yeah, we could use some fresh heat from those guys.
The first part was recorded in May to a jam packed house in Greensboro, South Carolina. For the finale Tye’s coming home, and to the Fillmore no less! For ticket info, click here.