Tim Dillinger

The Return of Birthright Records A pioneering West Coast gospel label steps into the digital age.

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is up! This week explores the newly digitally reissued catalog of Birthright Records whose catalog boasts classic titles by Edwin, Walter and Lynette Hawkins, The Caravans and more!

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/the-digita...

Thank you so much! Working on revisions on the book as we speak! I'm so happy Birthright is making these incredible albums available again! I would love to talk with you about the workshop!

The Return of Birthright Records A pioneering West Coast gospel label steps into the digital age.

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is up! This week explores the newly digitally reissued catalog of Birthright Records whose catalog boasts classic titles by Edwin, Walter and Lynette Hawkins, The Caravans and more!

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/the-digita...

Part 2 of “Once Familiar Friend” stripped down. This song is available now when you preorder the album RIPPLES OF THE PAST at raycurenton.bandcamp.com

The Year That Changed Everything. Friday 8/8. raycurenton.bandcamp.com/album/ripple...

Album cover for Ripples of the Past by Ray Curenton. Abstract blue and white symmetrical pattern resembling an inkblot, with textured and marbled background details.

CD of Ripples of the Past. A 4-panel CD wallet with crescent pocket cut plus 12-page booklet insert including full song lyrics.

Act 1: Age of Minority Of Framingham Ground Zero NFC Act 2: Age of Maturity Is That Alright? Once Familiar Friend Happiness Unreliable Narrator Act 3: Age of Majority Sandpaper The Year That Changed Everything Ripples of the Past For One, For All

Ripples of the Past. The album. Out Sept. 12

Available now for pre-order digitally and on a limited-edition CD.

raycurenton.bandcamp.com/album/ripple...

The first three singles ("NFC", "Ground Zero", and "Once Familiar Friend") are downloadable instantly with your purchase.”

Ground Zero Released: Jun 6, 2025 17,334 All-time streams

Ground Zero just became my 2nd most streamed song of all time www.submithub.com/link/ray-cur...

Thread.

It’s antiblackness.

I’d argue it’s part of a greater political project to pull Black congregations into the religious right. The extreme right, at that.

And that this guy is now like “yea, of course I voted for Trump” is just additional confirmation to all of us who’ve known this truth all along.

This started in earnest in the 90s & has only gotten worse over the past 30+ years.

This is about worship music replacing gospel. Gospel being seen as less than. Erasing a sound and a culture that has been a source of comfort, community, and spiritual connection for Black people for generations.

The issue isn’t that what they do is different than traditional (or even “urban contemporary”) gospel. It’s that THEY view the worship music that they make as SUPERIOR to gospel. And because of their popularity, they have furthered the rejection of gospel music traditions in the Black church.

So you had to be intentional about creating a space where a more diverse group of people could come together to write music. NAOMI: But can I say this? What I love is that is, yes, there's a level of intention behind it. But it's still low key. I feel like that's what helps it feel authentic. As much as this blesses people, it blessed us first because it was a place I could be myself. And just because I'm a black female singer, it doesn't mean I have to be sound like Mahalia Jackson. What people don't realize that even the gospel community there is a distinction made between the way you sing. Whether you sing gospel enough or if you have enough grit or growl in your voice. I have more of a pure, straight tone kind of voice. And then it's like, OK, well you sound like you belong like in the CCM world. There's a lot of that. But when we came on with Maverick, it was just us worshiping. We could be ourselves.

CHANDLER: To be a little controversial, the industry mindset is yo, we have to have categories because if we don't, people are not going to know what we want to present to them. So even one of the first records, [Billboard] tried to put it out as a Gospel record because I was black and I was on it. And we were like, why is this gospel? Why do you categorize this as gospel? And it's not even anywhere along gospel lines. So it's really having those hard conversations. I think the way we do is having those hard conversations with people, with the industry, like, yo, I know this is probably how you been doing it. This is what you feel, but this is not what this is. And the reason I love Maverick is because, the way I call it, it's so unmanicured. You don't know what to do with it. You can't put it in a box. It is what it is. I think what it's doing is challenging those lines. Like, hey, just because a black guy is leading a CCM song. What do we do? It sucks that we have to have that conversation, but it's just a real, real thing that I feel like the Lord is using Maverick to highlight: Is His music about color or is music about whats you're saying?

They’ve never tried to hide it. The explicit MAGA politics aren’t stated here, but they’ve always been clear about not wanting to be seen as a gospel act and resenting having to be categorized and marketed as gospel simply because they’re mostly Black. relevantmagazine.com/culture/musi...

Glory to Glory to Gimme a Break Podcast Episode · Outlaw's Evidence of the Unseen · 12/07/2021 · 1h 28m

@timdillinger.bsky.social and I have known this was the underlying mission and vision for Maverick City, and honestly the entire infiltration of praise and worship in the Black church, since the beginning, which we talked about back in 2021. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/o...

#OnDemand #FreeToStream... How a Sunday should sound! @timdillinger.bsky.social delivers #18GoodReasons to #ListenUp in July's #essential edition of Church of the Good Groove 🎧 buff.ly/YxhWFHx #COTGG #Gospel ディスカバー

I am convinced the music industry as it currently exists is designed at the fundamental level to deteriorate the mental health of music artists.

Stream “Once Familiar Friend” and preorder the album Ripples of the Past at raycurenton.com

😬😬😬

This choir's gospel of inclusion caused an uproar when they took their message beyond the church and into the discos. Read more about the New York Community Choir here: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/dance-chil...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is UP! This week's focus is Sheila Walsh's Grammy-nominated 1985 release, "Don't Hide Your Heart," an overlooked release from this CCM artist who broke new ground for women in the genre.

Read here: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/sheila-wal...

Tata Vega's 1985 Breakout An exploration of the contributions of Táta Vega, an often-overlooked, powerhouse vocalist.

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is up, looking at the massive output that Táta Vega generated in the worlds of CCM and gospel music in 1985.

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/tata-vegas...

#OnDemand #FreeToStream... How a Sunday should sound! @timdillinger.bsky.social delivers #18GoodReasons to #ListenUp in July's #essential edition of Church of the Good Groove 🎧 buff.ly/Mt4DVZh #COTGG #Gospel Découvrir

"Dance, children, dance..." This choir's gospel of inclusion caused an uproar when they took their message beyond the church and into the discos.

This choir's gospel of inclusion caused an uproar when they took their message beyond the church and into the discos. Read more about the New York Community Choir here: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/dance-chil...

To donate to the book project: www.gofundme.com/f/help-fund-...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is UP! This week, I take a look at 5 albums by the 2ND CHAPTER OF ACTS, B.C.& S. the NEW YORK COMMUNITY CHOIR and its offshoot REVELATION, and the JOHN HASON SINGERS.

Read here: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/5-groups-w...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life is UP! This week celebrates the 50th anniversary of Evie's "Again" and The Downings "Praise Him!," albums that are more progressive than some expect from artists considered to be middle of the road.

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/the-interp...

This week's God's Music Is My Life is UP! In this edition, I examine three classic gospel albums that turn 60, 50 and 40 this year and the ways in which they negotiated with perceptions of traditional and contemporary gospel.

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/1965-1985-...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life is UP! It deep dives into new releases by Candi Staton & Russ Taff which find these purveyors of American music telling their stories w/a self-acceptance & clarity of mission that only time & introspection can bring. godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/cover-stor...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is UP--a deep look at movement defining albums that turn 50 this year: Jesus Music icon Honeytree's "Evergreen" and Women's Music icon Cris Williamson's "The Changer and the Changed"

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/song-of-th...

The brand new God's Music Is My Life newsletter is UP! This week, I look at albums by Inez Andrews and Millie Jackson that turn 50 this year and the ways they employ different, but related, methods of truth-telling in their music.
godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/believe-in...

1985’s "Black and White in a Grey World" is a complicated album to look back on, but as Christian music faces another reckoning, it's a good moment to revisit Leslie Phillips' critique of the business 40 years ago.

READ HERE: godsmusicismylife.substack.com/p/leslie-phi...

Single cover for “Once Familiar Friend” by Ray Curenton. A grayscale Rorschach inkblot is centered on a textured, light background of a rocky shore. The words "once familiar friend" appear at the bottom.

My once familiar friend Hatching songs, playing and laughing Forgathered overnight To begin pleasant and tame Oh come, familiar friend Would you know me as companion? I offer you this form Sacred flesh, vernal and plain Oh no, familiar friend I’ve misconstrued your affections And tainted what we share Baffled eyes fill me with shame My once familiar friend Eden scarred, chastened, and wretched To censure my mistake You extort, never the same

Written by Ray Curenton & Brandon Adams Produced, mixed and mastered by Brandon Adams Imagination Fury Arts ℗ © 2025 Ray Curenton. All Rights Reserved. Warning: Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

The third single from my forthcoming album! I cannot overstate my gratitude for the positive reception and support I've been getting for this new music. Thank you. 🙏🏾 #IndieFolk #SingerSongwriter www.submithub.com/link/ray-cur...