"After 50 Years, a Gospel-Soul Legend (Finally) Gets His Due…[I Shall Wear A Crown] Helps Spread the Chicago Pastor's Message to the Masses" - Rolling Stone

Pastor T.L. Barrett Brings NPR Music to Church in Tiny Desk (Home) Concert: WATCH

Today, Numero Group fills a long-overlooked hole in gospel music history with the release of I Shall Wear A Crown. As the most comprehensive tribute ever assembled to the work of Pastor T.L. Barrett, the five-album box set captures the complete musical output of South Side Chicago's living legend and his 45-piece Youth For Christ Choir. Across 49 glorious tracks, the collection includes reissues of all four LPs Barrett released throughout his 1970s recording career - Like A Ship… (Without A Sail), Do Not Pass Me By Volume 1 & Volume 2, and I Found The Answer - plus a bonus set of singles and sermons, 24-page liner notes, previously unpublished photos and personal archives that document the pastor's largely unsung impact as an artist, civil rights activist, spiritual advisor and so much more. While recently rediscovered gems such as "Like A Ship" have helped turn Barrett into an "oft-sampled gospel icon" (Pitchfork), Numero Group's "lavishly assembled box proves Like A Ship was no fluke," says MOJO in a perfect 5-star review. "Barrett has an authentic desperation to his preaching, veering into wild, abstract sermonising. It's a blend of sweet and rough, innocent and guilty that has a redemptive, euphoric potency."

Experience I Shall Wear A Crown on blessed black and gold vinyl, CD and digital formats HERE, and stream the collection here: https://smarturl.it/NUM077

Read more about the project in an expansive feature from Rolling Stone, where Pastor T.L. Barrett discusses his reaction to Kanye West using "Father I Stretch My Hands" on The Life of Pablo, his formative years spent preaching with Aretha Franklin's father and his own distant cousin C.L. Franklin, the decision to bring political activism into his theological circle, and the epiphany he had after a guidance counselor pushed him out of high school and told him he'd never amount to anything. Now, he's featured alongside Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole on the school's Wall of Fame, and he's still leading his same congregation at his Life Center COGIC, colloquially known as Chicago's Prayer Palace. 

Watch Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Royal Voices of Life deliver a tremendous performance of "I Shall Wear A Crown," "Like A Ship" and "Nobody Knows" for NPR's Tiny Desk (Home) Concerts, and tune into NPR's All Things Considered next week for a conversation between Barrett and host Mary Louise Kelly. 

"The work we have done with the music of Pastor T.L. Barrett is amongst Numero's most rewarding achievements in our 18 year history," says Numero Co-Founder Rob Sevier. "When we first met with Pastor Barrett in his church basement in 2008 on Chicago's South Side, this music was a footnote in his storied career. Fifty years later, it's rising to the front page."