Maceo Woods

Settling officially into the Gospel Truth label, Reverend Maceo Woods and his Christian Tabernacle Concert Choir performed their first proprietary release on the label, “God Save Your People,” in 1972. The album’s opening selection picks up where Woods and the group’s previous LP left off, evangelizing to wayward souls with the cadence of “The Magnificient Sanctuary Band (Marching for the Man).” The group’s frequent male soloist Melvin Smothers sings an enthusiastic lead, encouraging all who can hear to drop everything and make a joyful noise about God’s grace. But the gleeful vocal is nearly overshadowed by the military-inspired taps of percussionist Billy Carson.

Craft Recordings honors the music of The Gospel Truth Records, a subsidiary of Stax Records, with the first-ever complete collection of all 34 singles issued by the imprint between 1972 and 1974. The compilation features in-depth liner notes by Jared Boyd, a Memphis-based journalist and NPR radio host, who captured new interviews with Stax Records executive Al Bell, trailblazing gospel artist Rance Allen, and Mary Peak Patterson, who helped establish the label. The Gospel Truth stands as an essential part of Stax’s enduring legacy and marks a landmark moment in gospel music history.

The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (1914–2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (1934–2013), Pervis (b. 1935), and Mavis (b. 1939). Yvonne (b. 1936) replaced her brother when he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and again in 1970. They are best known for their 1970s hits "Respect Yourself", "I'll Take You There", "If You're Ready (Come Go with Me)", and "Let's Do It Again", which with one exception ("I'll Take You There") peaked on the Hot 100 within a week from Christmas Day. While the family surname is "Staples", the group used the singular form for its name, "The Staple Singers".

The last album of De La Soul's creative prime, Buhloone Mindstate was also their last with producer Prince Paul. After the claustrophobic De La Soul Is Dead, Mindstate is a partial return to the upbeat positivity of 3 Feet High and Rising, though not its wildly colorful invention…

The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever. More than a half-century after her death, it's difficult to believe that prior to her emergence, jazz and pop singers were tied to the Tin Pan Alley tradition and rarely personalized their songs; only blues singers like Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey actually gave the impression they had lived through what they were singing.