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I Shall Wear A Crown Box Set Out Sept 24th, Featuring Reissues of the Classic Like A Ship… (Without A Sail), Do Not Pass Me By Volume 1 & Volume 2, I Found The Answer, Plus 24-Page Liner Notes, Previously Unpublished Photos & Bonus Collection of Singles & Sermons: PRE-ORDER
On September 24th, Numero Group will release I Shall Wear A Crown, an historic five-album box set delivering the definitive tribute to the long-overlooked impact of a living gospel legend: Pastor T.L. Barrett. From high school dropout to the source of samples for Kanye West, DJ Khaled, T.I. and more, the fifty-year career of the fabled artist, preacher and South Side Chicago civil rights activist is encompassed in I Shall Wear A Crown's four reissued LPs, 24 pages of liner notes and previously unpublished photographs, plus a bonus collection of singles and sermons - including two very special tracks newly unearthed today.
With September marking the start of Gospel Music Heritage Month, Numero Group has honored the occasion by uncovering the final, long out-of-print single of Pastor T.L. Barrett's musical output, "In The Old Time Way" b/w "My Country Tis Of Thee." Originally released in 1985 by Chicago's P.S. Records International, shortly before its closing, both songs are featured on I Shall Wear A Crown. While most of the box set sees Pastor T.L. Barrett backed by his 45-piece Youth For Christ Choir, "In The Old Time Way" and "My Country Tis Of Thee" enlist The Royal Voices of Life, a group he still sings with today, as he leads his same congregation at the Life Center COGIC (Church of God in Christ, known colloquially as Chicago's "Prayer Palace").
Listen to "In The Old Time Way" and "My Country Tis Of Thee," now available everywhere via Numero Group: http://smarturl.it/NUM5576digital
Pre-order I Shall Wear A Crown HERE, read more at Rolling Stone and preview the package in a new digital unboxing video: https://youtu.be/tS4lQLFUTKU
Both "In The Old Time Way" and "My Country Tis Of Thee" are prime examples of why Radiohead's Colin Greenwood credits Pastor T.L. Barrett with creating "the most euphoric celebratory music that makes you want to jump around the house and explode with joy." Throughout the dozens of lives lived by Pastor T.L. Barrett, his journey has unfolded as much in the streets as in the Church, a path paved by redemption and forgiveness. In his recent resurgence as "oft-sampled gospel icon" (Pitchfork), Barrett's music has appeared in the likes of Netflix's Barack Obama biopic Barry, the Obamas-produced, Oscar-nominated Crip Camp, ads for Apple, Facebook, Google, and Stephen Curry, episodes of HBO's Hacks and much more. But I Shall Wear A Crown shines a light on the decades of trailblazing change he's enacted, from inspiring generations of congregation members such as Donny Hathaway and Earth, Wind & Fire, to transforming the sound of gospel with synthesizers and sly allusions to pop, empowering Chicago's underserved youth, uplifting his community, and embracing the activist traditions of Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson.
"In The Old Time Way" b/w "My Country Tis Of Thee" Art
About Numero Group
In the growing noise of the so-called reissue field, The Numero Group remains distinct in its quality: deeply researched, expertly resuscitated and lavishly packaged box sets, playlists and ephemera of historic music from the 1950s-1990s. Founded in Chicago in 2003 by Rob Sevier and Ken Shipley, for more than 15 years Numero has committed to unearthing precious lost sounds for new audiences, with an unparalleled ear for potential and spirited eye for detail. With hundreds of titles in their diverse catalog of LPs, CDs, cassettes, 45s, 12-inch singles and playlists, each Numero production illuminates the often herculean efforts of individuals who sang, played, recorded and peddled their art to little fanfare in its day. Through intense research and wild ideas, these songs find new life in streaming, lovingly-packaged media and placement in film and television. By self-imposed law, everything assembled by Numero is a stunning new artifact of sound, image and word.
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