Celebrant Singers

We Praise Thy Name Tempo 1977

The Celebrant Singers were founded in 1977 by Jon Stemkoski, a former director with the Continentals, with a vision to take the Gospel where "God's light is dim and His voice is heard small." Still active today, the Celebrants ministry has grown from one group to four fulltime touring groups along with three summer teams, and has proclaimed the gospel in over 70 countries worldwide.

The album came first. With arrangements by Paul Johnson, who also wrote four of the album's ten songs, the record opens with 'Celebrant', the ministry theme song that still opens every Celebrant concert to this very day. There's a nice blue-eyed soul version of Danny Taylor's 'Tell My People' and a treatment of the 18th century hymn 'Holy God We Praise Thy Name' featuring a cheesy recitation. "Cheesy" might be a good description of much of this album: slick easy listening with strings, brass, and 'Day of Discovery'-type ensemble vocals. Love that 'Starsky and Hutch' guitar on 'Celebrant', though.

This is available on CD at www.celebrants.com.

Kyle Lundy