Hahaha! North Carolina is part of the East Coast man.
Yeah, there’s one more style that I didn’t mention, and that’s Southern Gospel. I didn’t mention it because it seems to have its own style that Caucasians and Blacks have welcomed into their churches, separate from the other styles that I mentioned under the Black Gospel umbrella. I would describe it as churchy and a part of that Mid-West style also. However, I would say that it involves using more 1-4-5-1, 1-4-1, 1-5-1, 1-2-5-1 turnarounds, less tritones, but more major chords and 7th chords. The Carolinas, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana, and even Texas kind of fall under the Southern Gospel style (but of course they are not limited to that style). They pick up a little of all the styles……the last time I checked. The Canton Spirituals and John P. Kee’s old school songs come to mind for this style, but I don’t follow it that much, so someone can educate me on this.
I agree with you……the Carolinas have that churchy feel, so I would say that you all have Mid-West style going on. Pastor Stenneth Powell’s Abundant Life COGIC choir is down there, and they put out an album two years ago. Ivan Powell put his stamp on it, so you can tell that has that hand-clappin’, toe-tappin’ feel to a number of their songs. The album is hot to me. Of course John P. Kee is down there too.
Georgia has the Georgia Mass Choir down there of course. I read that Rev. Milton Biggham and Kenneth Paden run the music, and their style is churchy. Justin Gilbert is from the ATL, an awesome young musician. He produced LaShun Pace’s newest album, and it’s churchy all the way through. Bishop Eddie Long’s church and choir is in the ATL, but it was produced by Kevin Bond, who’s originally from Chicago. Derrick Starks used to play for his church for a little while, but he’s originally from Detroit, and is now back in Detroit playing for Marvin Winans’ church with Key Wiz. That’s all I’ve got on Georgia.
Florida has Eddie Howard down there somewhere, but I think that he is from Baltimore. Again, Martha Munizzi’s big church is in Lakeland, but Jason White from Cali produced her music. Of course they have the Florida Mass Choir, but I don’t know who plays for them. A hot musician named Rodriguez from Detroit moved down there a couple of weeks ago. About a month ago, someone put on You Tube a shout during a church service down there that was hot. I don’t know of any names originally from Florida who has produced albums, so someone from FL can enlighten us.
Of course there’s Mississippi Mass as well, so the southern states kinda have a Mid-West/Southern flavor with a little East Coast (especially in Florida). That’s just my two cents, so someone please correct me if I’m wrong somewhere……