With the growing popularity of urban gospel music, some might be tempted to think that traditional gospel music is on the wane. Bishop Ronald E. Brown and his Faith Tabernacle Deliverance Temple congregation single-handedly silence that notion with this, the third release from the church-based SUM Music Group.

Live: Having Good Old Fashioned Church, Part II is a more-than-worthy follow-up to their 1996 chart-topping debut project in the series. Few can walk in the footsteps of this Bishop, both vocally and in song-arranging talent. In every single cut of this 20-track album, the old songs of Zion radiate with an energy and a force that simply has to be heard to be understood. Perhaps the most striking element of this project is the inclusion of the steel guitar expertise of Rev. Aubrey Ghent and Rev. Tyrone Davis in the band. (Arhoolie Records issued a gospel steel guitar CD series in 1998, with an entire album devoted to the little-recognized masterwork of Ghent). With fierce congregational cuts such as “The Truth” and “Highway 35:8”, and the with the driving traditional band groove of “Yes My Lord” and “Come Over Here”, this album will no doubt find its way to the top of many a chart.