The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers - Heavenly Fire (2015)

Will Wadsworth formed The Eagle Rock Gospel Singers in the winter of 2010 following a failed relationship, a band dissolution, and a scary airplane ride. In order to re-spark his interest in music, he and his roommate, Jeremy Horton, gathered friends together to sing old Gospel songs. Inspired by their love of Washington Phillips, The Staples Singers, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe; you know, the real classics, they held house parties just so they could perform. Soon enough, a large, shifting group of people came each week to join in on the weekly jams. There could be anything from eight to eighteen participants, depending upon the night. Wadsworth and Horton, realizing this might work in a club setting, pared down the group to core members, and they began performing around Los Angeles. In 2014, they recorded their first album with Matt Wignall (Cold War Kids, J. Roddy Walston and the Business). Heavenly Fire is an explosive barn-burner, taut with electricity and highlighting Kim Garcia's remarkable singing. It's an articulation of their sound, honed over those many group parties, into a band that has become a rousing celebration of traditional Gospel sounds with rock foundations.