"This smartly curated collection is essential for anyone interested in gospel."
- BILLBOARD

NYC's Tompkins Square label has released 'Fire In My Bones : Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007'.

This is an essential purchase for anyone with even a passing interest in the roots of contemporary gospel music, and a great gift item for loved ones and friends who love gospel music.

The 3CD set contains 80 songs, almost 4 hours of music on 3 discs.

The majority of this music has never been reissued on CD, or in any other form. Most tracks were originally released on regional independent labels. Most post-WWII compilations of African-American gospel music naturally concentrate on the astounding quartet and solo vocalist sounds made during the music's Golden Age. Fire In My Bones attempts to address and collect more neglected sounds from that era (and on to the present day). Dozens of traditions are represented. Some go back hundreds of years while others seem to have been arrived at as soon as the tape began to roll. Field recordings and studio tracks are all mashed together, with solo performances next to congregational recordings, hellfire sermons next to afterlife laments. Leon Pinson, Elder & Sister Brinson & the Brinson Brothers, Grant & Ella, Straight Street Holiness Group, Theotis Taylor, Brother & Sister W B Grate -- these artists will now be just a little less obscure.

Fire In My Bones provides a small peek at the incredible diversity and power of post-war black gospel. This is gospel - which we must always remember translates as "the good news" - as it has been sung and performed in tiny churches and large programs, from rural Georgia to urban Los Angeles. It is clearly among the most vibrant, playful, beautiful and emotionally charged music in the world.

Produced by Mike McGonigal. Package by Grammy winner Susan Archie.

Distributed by Fontana/Universal in the U.S. (TSQ2271).