A YEAR AFTER KATRINA TOPPLED HIS WORLD

BISHOP PAUL S. MORTON IS STILL STANDING WITH

 NEW LIVE CD/DVD THAT CELEBRATES

PEACE IN THE MIDST OF A STORM

On Friday, August 25, 2006, Bishop Paul S. Morton, Pastor of New Orleans’ Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church, returned to the scene of his greatest nightmare to record what is likely to go down in music history as one of the best and most inspirational live albums ever created.

That same time a year before, Hurricane Katrina had begun to sweep through the Gulf States with a hungry fury that eventually submerged New Orleans with waves of water and a high tide of death. Families were destroyed and in the wake of Katrina, Morton lost his current church building, his home, his cars and his 20,000-member congregation was scattered across the United States.

So, when Morton took to the pulpit of the church (it wasn’t touched by the storm) where he first pastored in 1972, he was sending a message. That message was that the people of New Orleans would not be defeated but would overcome their shared adversity through Christ. The new recording, “Still Standing,” releasing on November 7, 2006 (List Price $16.98 - Light Records/Tehillah Music Group), is a celebration that the worst has passed and the best is just up ahead. The project will also be released as a dual DVD set (List Price $14.98 DVD alone/ $24.98 CD/DVD combo) January 30, 2007. The first DVD contains the concert video and the second features interviews with Katrina survivors, Bishop Morton, Kurt Carr, and other behind-the-scenes footage.

 “Working with Kurt Carr has put me on another level musically,” says Bishop Morton of the Grammy-nominated choirmaster, known for tunes such as “Awesome Wonder” and “In the Sanctuary, who produced the collection.  “This project will surely be a blessing to many.”  Backed by the Greater St. Stephen Atlanta Choir (Morton set up a church there after Katrina) and his Greater St. Stephen New Orleans Choir (their first time uniting on one stage), the rousing concert opened with the vigorous lead single, “I’m Still Standing.” It’s a personal testimony of the experiences Bishop Morton has personally overcome, including: a nervous breakdown in 1998, the sudden death of his infant grandchild, Hurricane Katrina’s devastation on his congregation and himself and his victory over colon cancer. 

Morton commanded the audience with his trademark preacher’s squall and also displayed an old school soul singer’s charm worthy of the Rev. Al Green or Marvin Gaye. Each song touched on pain but in the end, Morton proclaimed that there’s no hurt that God can’t heal. He delivered “Not Me Lord, But You” as a love song to God.

Truly a family affair, Morton’s daughter, Jasmine, joined him on the up-tempo praise song, “Oh Hallelujah.” Then, Morton’s elder brother, Bishop James H. Morton of New Beginnings Baptist Church in Decatur, GA, sparred with his kid brother vocally on the inspiring “If It Wasn’t For Your Grace.”  On a musical tribute to the late gospel composer, Thomas “The Maestro” Whitfield, Morton and his sister, Gwen Morton (who was engaged to Whitfield at the time of his death in 1992), got together for  “Down At The Cross.”  

Among the luminaries on hand were singer Desmond Pringle, Bishop Albert Jamison and Bishop Sam Williams and gospel legend, Tramaine Hawkins, who joined Morton for the tune, “Holy One.” She was effusive in her praise of Morton. "Oh MY! Recording with Bishop Morton was a real thrill,” she exclaims. “I knew he could preach, and I knew he could sing too; but singing with him was just an awesome treat for me.  And having MY producer, Kurt Carr leading and producing us was just awesome and a lot of fun!  To God be the glory!"

Perhaps, the highlight of the evening was on Thomas Whitfield’s “Hold On (We Made It)” which completely embodied the spirit of New Orleans and the festive mood of the evening. Morton opened it as a churchy sing-a-long anthem before Kurt Carr let out a roar and the song morphed into a second-line dance tune with the choir and congregation waving white handkerchiefs (a New Orleans African-American parade tradition celebrating freedom and victory). In the midst of this celebration, a Born-Again Bourbon Street musician, Hack Bartholomew (who has played on sessions with the Neville Brothers), blew the trumpet in Zion and took the service to a new dimension of power and praise. Finally, the evening closed on the ballad, “You Can Depend on Me” which featured an exhortation by Bishop Jamison that summed up the survivalist theme of the evening.

 “We wanted to come back home to do this project,” Morton said that night to a packed church of people who risked venturing out at the dawn of a new hurricane season. “Because, I know God has been good to New Orleans. There are a lot of things that are not back, but I’m glad church is back!”

Bishop Paul Morton at the recent 22nd Annual Stellar Awards in Nashville, TN.