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Shirley Caesar
A City Called Heaven (Light Records)
Released November 2009
Andrew Greer

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Style: Straight-up black gospel; compare to Juanita Bynum, BeBe Winans

Top tracks: "Celebration," "Favor," "Nobody" (w/ J. Moss)

With a ministry that spans over fifty years and has collected eleven Grammy Awards, not to mention shelves of Dove and Stellar awards and a mile-high best-selling discography, Shirley Caesar is still a relevant presence in today's gospel music scene. Whether singing over the bellows of a pump organ or dueting with J. Moss's digitized vocal adlibs, the First Lady of Gospel exerts her traditional musical stance and embraces a new wave of modern gospel—and does so capably. Especially interesting is the swaying story song, "Playground in Heaven," with its country/southern gospel tendencies. No matter that she's 71; Caesar is still gospel music royalty.

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