♪How great though art♪ >>Pervis>> Albert Hall >>Albert>> Pervis Evans What's up, my brother?

- Um, I'm doing great, man.

It's good to see you again.

- Yes, sir.

You as well.

You as well.

- What's been going on.

- Dude.

Life has just been it's been great.

And I'm in a good season.

And I've been watching God just do some amazing things in my my family and in my church and all that.

And it's just it's going good.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- And speaking of life.

- Yeah.

- You know, talking about gospel music.

- Mmm - What about gospel music brings life to you.

- Man I can I can truly say that that gospel music has been a part of who I am for as long as I can remember.

Uh, you know, growing up it was no strange thing to walk in the house and there's music playing and it wasn't we weren't allowed to listen to secular music growing up.

- Yeah - I mean, it didn't matter what it was.

We were not allowed to to listen to secular music.

So Saturday mornings, hey, that was a big deal.

You know, Saturday mornings we would be sleep, but all of a sudden the record would start playing and we knew it was time to get up and get chores done.

Like, you could be sweeping along Shirley Caesar, you know?

- Yup - You know.

But gospel music has been a part of who I am since.

Shoot for as long as I can remember.

How about for you?

- Same thing.

Same thing.

I think we might have grown up in the sound household.

- [laughter] Right - It sounds like.

No.

But definitely.

Yeah.

Gospel music is something that, uh uh we grew up in church, and at that time, we didn't have a choice.

It's like you're going to sing in the choir.

- Oh, yeah.

- Oh, yeah.

Easter speech.

You're going to hear something, - Yeah - you know, to give praises to God.

And we didn't understand what we were singing.

I remember singing songs like, uh Jesus be a fence all around me all day long.

- Oh yeah, come on, come on - I won't need you to protect me - Yes sir as I travel along this way and so on.

We didn't know what we were singing, but as I grew up, I started to identify with some of the lyrics of those songs and it got inside my heart, - Absolutely - spirit, and changed my life.

- And and it's funny you say that, you know, with we didn't have a choice.

We didn't know.

We didn't understand.

I remember when, uh you know, people have asked me, how did I get started, you know, singing and playing the piano and stuff.

I remember, you know, my family, my uncle and aunt, they had this big piano - mmmm - in the living room, and I would go in there and I would play on it just, you know, just learning.

I taught myself how to play, play the piano.

But, um every now and again I would learn a song that we sang at church.

Well, I soon learned that it was a mistake to tell my mom that I learned the song.

Because the next Sunday, I'll be playing it in front of the church, you know.

- Oh, wow.

- So that's how I got started, is that I remember learning how to play Pass Me Not for the first.

The first time.

And I played this song and she said, oh, that was so great.

And Sunday morning she raises her hand.

Um, Albert wants to lead us in Pass Me Not this morning.

- Albert wants to lead us.

- Wants to lead us.

- Ok - Albert wants to lead us.

[Laughter] So, um that is really how, I even got started.

With that, with with gospel music.

And, uh since then, I feel like it has really shaped and molded, you know, um who I am, even, you know, part of a huge part of me is because of gospel music.

- Yeah.

- So if I could ask, like, who were some of your influences uh from gospel music?

- Yeah.

um Andre Crouch.

- Oh, come on.

- We're sure, we recently celebrated the life of Richard Smallwood.

- Yeah, yeah - You know, just a talented um musician, singer, uh songwriter, the Clark Sisters, - Staple.

Just so many others.

- Yeah.

- Um, I would be here forever if I name them all.

But I love music anyway.

- Yeah.

- So I enjoy, uh jazz and various types of music.

- Yes sir.

- But it's something about gospel music.

And within it, there's so many different styles.

- Yes - You do have gospel rap and you have gospel jazz, and you have different beats and rhythms and the, the, uh the way that music has changed over time.

But still, having that message of hope and life, I think is amazing.

So within the genre, there's just so many different styles that we can relate with.

That message stays the same.

- Amen.

And it's funny and cool that you say that as well, um.

This this past week, I had the opportunity to go to uh, to New York.

And in New York, man, you can find whatever you want.

And we went to a church there, and it was it started out as a black church.

And so, uh but when I went in, I mean, it was people from every race, - Mmm - you know, seated next to us was a was a family from Spain, you know, that they had come in to visit of went upstairs.

There's a big group from France that was there, - Wow!

- I mean, it was just people from all over the place that have just been impacted not just by gospel music, but the word gospel, you know, and which the gospel we understand is the good news.

And I believe in so wholeheartedly that within the music, there's so much good news within gospel music - Yes - that it naturally draws people together.

I I've yet to find one person that doesn't like music.

You know, - Mmm, right.

- music is something that unites man, everybody on every front.

It doesn't matter what the style is that you listen to or whatever, but there's something about music that draws people in.

And same thing with gospel music.

It just does something to me, you know, when I hear one of the throwbacks, you know, the ♪God me oh, the great Jehovah♪ man.

- Oh yeah - that's that just does something to me, - Yeah - you know.

Um but it's I can have that.

But then I could also go to the ♪Waymaker miracle worker♪ You know what I mean?

It just it does something, uh to the soul so - And you know, when you think about songwriters like Horatio Spafford.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Thomas Dorsey.

- Yeah.

- um who, Horatio Spafford wrote the lyrics to It Is Well, you know?

Yeah.

Thomas Dorsey wrote, uh Precious Lord.

- Yes, sir.

- And the gentleman, uh that wrote um, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Joseph um You know.

- Yeah.

- You think about these different songwriters.

Those songs were birthed out of suffering.

- Yes - out of grief, out of tragic events.

- Mmmm - And God used music to heal their hearts.

- Oh, yes.

- And those are such famous songs because they have the ability to connect people.

- Yes.

- People can relate to gospel music because we're it speaks to our humanity.

- Amen.

- We've all experienced some type of loss or suffering, but it tells us that in the midst of it, - Yes, - there is a God who cares about you.

That's bigger than your problem.

- Yeah - Bigger than your situation.

It connects us to a purpose.

- Yes - A God and a community much bigger than we are.

- Right And it just brings about a message of hope, you know, because in the midst of of tragedy, when Horatio Spafford wrote especially, you know, It Is Well With My Soul.

Whatever my lot you have taught me to say it is well with my soul.

And that just speaks so much about the hope that we have in even in our lives right now, that there's and there are there's so much going on in our world right now, um But there's always we can't lose hope, you know, we can't lose hope.

Um of the things that are to come right now, we may be filled with with a lot of sorrow and heartache and pain.

And there's so much bitterness going on in our world.

But there's a the glimmer of hope is that one day.

And I don't know if Mahalia Jackson saying ♪sooner will be done with the troubles of the world.♪ You know that one day all these troubles, it's going to end, it's going to be over, and we get to stand before the one that really matters the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

- Mmmm - We get to stand face to face with him, and it will be will with our souls.

It will be one of those.

- Yeah - Thats awesome.

- Do you think that's one reason God, in his supreme order, in his wisdom, gave us a tool like music?

- Absolutely.

Because there is and he said in the word that in this life you will have trouble.

You know, we're going to face troubles of all kinds.

But thanks be to God, who knows exactly what we need.

Have you ever been been going through anything and you'll all of a sudden a song or or come to your memory.

- Yeah - You know, it'll come to your mind.

Because you remember in that moment those lyrics meant something to you.

And those lyrics of precious Lord meant something to you.

And so we can, we can pull those things back out in those moments that we we need them, you know, that we need to hear.

And its songs like even I need you every hour.

Know that there are days and moments where life is hard, life is hard.

And we say the statement life is lifing, we be lifin [Laughter] sometimes.

and it doesn't.

And we can cry out I need you, oh, I need you every hour.

So like this gospel music has just been such a huge, um staple and just man.

So great, so great.

- Man.

I always love talking with you.

Enjoy it.

- Yeah.

Same.

Same here.

God bless me.

It's good to catch up.

[Music] - Likewise.

[Music] ♪ How great is our God?

Sing with me.

How great is our God?

And God will see how great.

How great is our God.

The splendor♪