I've been getting into different gospel artists; Aretha Franklin is someone I've been listening to a lot of.
I love listening to gospel records.
I remember vividly, as a kid, my mother had 'Jesus Was a Capricorn' and used to listen to it over and over and over.
Women are a key part of the sound of the groups that accompany male singers like Kirk Franklin, Israel Houghton, and myself.
I grew up listening to gospel. That was the only thing that I had reference to because that was what my family was involved with.
I grew up with a heavy diet of gospel, folk, and blues because those are kind of the cornerstones of traditional American music.
Gospel music was very prevalent in my house. My mother also loved Nat King Cole. That was some of the first music that I heard. Mahalia Jackson, Nat King Cole and the Mississippi Mass Choir.
I've grown up on gospel and blues music, and now it's a huge part of who I am.
Plantation gospel music was the stuff I fell in love with when I was a kid - these beautiful melodies and these hard, hard stories.
Country music is so related to gospel. It seems I could go down that road pretty easily.
