2014 Western Canadian Music Award winning Gospel superstars The Sojourners return for a thrilling concert guaranteed to bring the house down!
Date/Time: Jul 20 2017, 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
West Vancouver, Silk Purse Arts Centre | Event calendarCost: $22.00
Find tickets: here
The WVCAC presents the 17th annual Jazz Waves Festival this summer. Come down to the waterfront for some amazing jazz from the finest local talent. We've got everything from R&B, free jazz, blues, gospel, Dixieland and more!
The Sojourners:
When Canadian blues icon Jim Byrnes called Vancouver based gospel singer Marcus Mosely on the phone a few years ago to ask if he could round up a few friends to record some back up vocals for a new album, no one could have guessed what would happen next.
From the moment Mosely and his pals stepped up to the microphone and began singing, they realized that they had something very special going on. When Byrnes dubbed the trio The Sojourners the name stuck and – as they say – the rest is history.
Formative years spent singing in the churches of Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Khari McClelland, (from Ralls, Texas, Alexandria, Louisiana and Detroit, Michigan respectively) give The Sojourners' sound an authentic edge that only comes with experience. This is real gospel - blessed with a soul that can't be faked.
Hot on the tail of their session with Byrnes, the Sojourners went into the studio with roots music whiz Steve Dawson to record Hold On, their first solo album in 2007. Three years and many sessions later, they took all they had learned in between and returned to record a second CD simply entitled The Sojourners. No longer the new kids on the block, the trio had definite ideas of how they wanted their follow up record to sound, and one listen through the songs they've captured here shows that they've succeeded beyond their wildest expectations.
This is not music that strives to be polite. In The Sojourners' universe, echoes of doo wop, R&B, country and blues weave together to create a unique sound that has all but vanished from today's world. This is gospel music that can take a punch and remain standing. Singing praise music with their own special 'stank', the Vancouver based Sojourners sound just as at home in a road house bar as they do in a revival tent.
Highlights of the group's time together include a definitive show with the Dixie Hummingbirds, opening spots with Jim Byrnes at the Vancouver Jazz Festival for both Dr. John and the Blind Boys of Alabama and featured stages at most of the major Canadian folk and roots festivals.
'Eyes on the Prize' from Hold On was selected for inclusion in Let Freedom Sing, a Time-Life compilation box set celebrating the music of the American civil rights era. The Sojourners were also pleased to participate in both the CD and DVD of the award-winning Things About Coming My Way: A Tribute to the Music of the Mississippi Sheiks.
They receive a steady stream of invitations to contribute to the recordings and live performances of a diverse range of artists, spanning several genres, from the outer reaches of jazz to beat box / street poetry.
Marcus and Will became Canadian citizens in the summer of 2008. The band was invited to perform on Parliament Hill on Canada Day that year, where they sang the national anthem.
The Sojourners are a rock solid unit and proof positive that faith can move mountains. But, don't let that scare you away. Sinner or saved - wherever you are on your own personal journey, you should listen to The Sojourners. You'll feel better for it.
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