This content is brought to you by Audiocourses dot com
Acclaimed New Project Further Establishes Carr as an Industry Force
Off the heels of his gold-selling 2001 “Awesome Wonder” CD, the
classically-trained gospel choir conductor Kurt Carr has returned to the gospel
scene with the smash CD “One Church” which debuted at #1 on the
Billboard gospel sales chart in March 2005. Carr’s latest success caps
off a decade of steady growth for him as a recording artist, church leader and
anthem composer.
Having trained under the late Rev. James Cleveland and touring with gospel
legend Andre Crouch early in his career, Kurt Carr has come into his own over
the last few years. He’s become one of the most sought-after and gifted
composers of his generation with a litany of hits for himself and others. His
tune “Every Mountain” earned the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir a Grammy
in 2003. He wrote and produced “The Presence of the Lord” and “There
is A Name” which transformed Byron Cage from a Sunday morning music minister
into a gospel superstar in 2003 when Cage’s CD “Prince of Peace”
sold 250,000 copies. The former won a Stellar Award for Song of the Year.
Carr did not shortchange his own group, the Kurt Carr Singers, though. After
years of making solid, embraceable hits such as “Grateful” and “For
Every Mountain”, Carr took his ensemble’s fame to another level
with 2001’s “Awesome Wonder” CD. That album featured smash
radio hits such as “In the Sanctuary” and “I Almost Let Go”
which were soon being sung in Sunday morning worship services worldwide. The
former has now been recorded by more than 20 other artists and translated into
9 languages. It also won the Stellar Award for Song of the Year and earned the
group appearances on the CNN, BET and TBN television networks.
However, Carr’s ambitious new album “One Church” promises
to eclipse all of his prior works. “I've felt God impressing on me that
it was time to really reach out to the world with our music,” says Carr,
“so it was very important to me to draw on the talents of people of different
races, ages, nationalities, and doctrinal backgrounds—all to solidify
the theme and the truth that we really are one church in Christ. I think there's
something on this album that all believers will be touched by.” Billboard
magazine scribe Gordon Ely agrees. On reviewing the new project (hailed as a
masterpiece by many music critics), he wrote that it boasts “dazzling
displays of imagination and vision that transport the venerable traditions of
gospel to new, uncharted and thoroughly mesmerizing terrain.”
After many years of sacrifice and labor, Carr’s life has come full circle.
Aside from his professional success, he has achieved personal contentment. After
a dozen years as Creative Music Director for the influential West Angeles Church
of God in Christ (COGIC) in Los Angeles, Carr pulled up stakes and re-planted
himself in Houston, Texas, a central location that makes it easier for him to
travel nationally to fulfill his rigorous concert schedule. Less time on the
road, has allowed Carr to spend more time with relatives, friends and church
family. It all ties into the message of the new project, one church which stresses
the concept that we’re all one family of believers under God.
Kurt feels that his new CD is the most important project of his career. "I'm
totally clear of Gods purpose for my life and ministry, which is to make music
that serves as a tool to promote God’s vision and plan for One Body and
One Church." He plans to share this vision with the world as he is in the
process of developing outreach campaigns for the Armed Services, youth and the
church at large on a global level. "We don't have time for a black/white
church mentality, too many souls are being lost and wounded daily. Worship isn't
black or white, worship is universal,” Carr says. “It's time for
the Church to be ONE CHURCH and worship the one and only God who is our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ! I'm ready and willing to fulfill my mission to go wherever
the Lord would have me to go to bridge the gap!"
