One of the beautiful things about discovering new music or a new artist is the experience of getting to know the artist through their sound, their passion, and their lyrics. Each song has a place of origin; a story, event, purpose, message, or obstacle that becomes a meaningful and relatable connection to those who listen.
The vision behind ‘Lord You are my song’, the debut full length album by People & Songs’ artist Charity Gayle, was to blend sounds of old time gospel and contemporary worship in order to unite all generations, denominations, and cultures. “My childhood is full of songs that anchored my heart to The Gospel,” Charity explains. “Gospel choirs and songs that proclaimed biblical truths and moved us to praise are a huge part of my heritage and I want to take the Church to CHURCH with this record.”
Three years of prayer, experiences and stories took form in rhyme, melody, and lyric that brought to life to each song. The song CLEANSED brings that deep rooted soulful feel to the sweet reality of sanctification. BENEDICTION (AS YOU GO) a prayer over the church, and the simple but powerful gospel ballad, PSALM 100 (ENTER IN) are all included on this record. AMEN, is an especially meaningful song to her community that she wrote with the students of The Emerging Sound, a ministry dear to her heart. It has made its way around the choral and church world, and even had an outing at Carnegie Hall featuring a stunning arrangement by Bradley Knight. The teaser release which included nine of the seventeen tracks debuted at #3 on itunes, and the Deluxe edition will released on January 12th of 2018.
“I knew I wanted a record that would speak to all people, joining them in worship and praise, and to do that, I brought in friends, that shared my vision for unity- Jennie Lee Riddle (executive producer / A&R), Will Yates (Producer), and Sean Carter (post production / mix engineer). My vision was to bring the voices of worship leaders from all over the US and Canada to help bring this album to life,” Charity says. “I wanted my worlds to collide, so I brought some of my very best friends, who also lead and are worship driven- my brothers and sisters, to meet each other for the first time and to create a rich blend of culture.”
“It was such an honor and a ton of fun to be a part of Charity Gayle’s album recording. What an anointed worship project this is , I believe it is going to touch the nations with God’s presence!”
-Corey Voss (Integrity Music)
‘Lord, You are My Song’ Deluxe Edition features guests artists such as Micah Tyler, Corey Voss, Kaden Slay, Joshua Sherman, and Kevin Jones. “The church is made up of so many wonderful and different sounds of worship and I’m honored to have these amazing artists a part of capturing those sounds on my record,” Charity says. ‘This project is a glimpse into what our ‘People & Songs’ Community is like- multiple voices, styles, and backgrounds, coming together to create a brand NEW sound!”
Micah Tyler (Fair Trade) comments- “I met Charity at an event in 2012 where she quickly became one of my favorite voices to ever hear; but even with that being said, the incredible talent she brings to the microphone still can’t be matched by her passion and love for Jesus. It’s been an honor to call Charity a friend and so special to watch her create songs and music in her pursuit of Christ and His church. I was so grateful to be asked to sing along with her and Kaden Slay on a song I wrote with Charity and our friend, Jeff Mathena, a few years ago at a People & Songs writer’s retreat. So proud of who she is and can’t wait for the people to hear a voice that has drawn me closer to the Lord for years.”
Charity continues- “One of my favorite things about this record is the spontaneous praise break that happened right in the middle of the recording. I love it because God keeps proving that when you give Him control to the plan, He takes it far beyond where we can! We kept everything rolling, and ended up with an amazing section of the record that came completely out of that pure time with Jesus! It was so refreshing and what was almost a half an hour of flat out praise, really only felt like a few minutes! It was so refreshing and ‘refreshing’ is exactly what this record is suppose to be!”