New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Today, GRAMMY, Billboard Music, Stellar, and Dove Award-winning musician and songwriter
Tasha Cobbs Leonard unveils HYMNS - the biggest gospel album of the year - out today via Motown Gospel. There's something utterly timeless about Leonard's extraordinary new work; something at once both warmly familiar and breathtakingly fresh.
Captured in front of a live audience of more than 3,000 at The Greenwood
Oasis on the campus of New Life Southeast in Chicago, the record is a larger-than-life reimagining of classic hymns of love and grace, one that speaks to our modern world even as it reaches far beyond it. The arrangements are sweeping and cinematic, drawing on worship and gospel and even hints of country, pop, and R&B, radiating an undeniable sense of joy and fellowship at every turn. HYMNS touches all corners of gospel greatness, featuring extraordinary guests: Jennifer Hudson, Kierra Sheard, The
Walls Group, Ricky Dillard, and even Mary Mary, who haven't released music in over 5-years!
"I want there to be an overwhelming sense of God's love and kindness and grace towards us in these songs," says
Tasha Cobbs Leonard. "I want to remind people that even when we feel undeserving, He sees us and we're the apple of His eye. Through the highs and the lows, we have a consistent friend and father in God."
Ahead of HYMNS release,
Tasha Cobbs Leonard appeared on the Tamron Hall Show to showcase and discuss her new LP, giving a breathtaking performance of "The Church I Grew Up In" that made Tamron erupt in tears and praise. Cobbs Leonard was also joined by her husband, Kenneth, who sat down with Hall for a candid conversation about finding purpose and keeping faith. They also dive into a conversation about how they expanded their family via adoption after struggles with infertility, and balancing their work and home life.
Adding to a very exciting release, earlier this week,
Tasha Cobbs Leonard made her debut at the legendary Grand Ole Opry for an emotionally reverent three-song performance. The soul-stirring setlist included her 2017 hit "You Know My Name," 2013 global sensation "Break Every Chain," and "The Church I Grew Up In," an offering from the new LP out today.
Tasha Cobbs Leonard garnered two nominations at this year's Dove Awards - Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year for her strength and perseverance anthem "Gotta Believe" and Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year for "Lift Every Voice." She originally recorded "Gotta Believe" as part of NPR Morning Edition's Song Project, a series launched during lockdown to provide an outlet for artists to write and perform an original song as a way to reflect the times. In an interview about the song's origins, Tasha opened up about some of her personal struggles, including losing family and friends to the COVID pandemic. NPR has also dubbed Cobbs Leonard as a "Gospel Sensation."
A pastor's daughter born and raised in Georgia, Leonard first emerged to widespread acclaim with her breakout 2013 release, the RIAA-certified gold album Grace, which garnered a GRAMMY, three Doves, and three
Stellar Awards on the strength of its chart-topping, platinum-selling lead single, "Break Every Chain." In the years that followed, Leonard would go on to establish herself as one of her genre's most celebrated voices, racking up more than two billion streams across platforms, landing three more #1 singles and five #1 albums, three additional gold-selling singles, performing with everyone from
Common and
Nicki Minaj to
Ne-Yo and Ciara, and making national television appearances on Good Morning America, CNN's Fourth of July, BET's
Black Girls Rock, CBC's A Day Of Healing, and the Super Bowl Gospel Celebration. Billboard named Leonard the Top Gospel Artist of the Decade, while NPR declared her a "gospel sensation," and Forbes hailed her as "by far one of the most successful contemporary gospel artists of our time." A tireless advocate for empowerment and positivity, Leonard also broke new ground as an author, actress, entrepreneur, and executive pastor at The Purpose Place Church in her adopted home of South Carolina, where she co-pastors with her husband and producer, Kenneth Leonard, Jr.
Hymns Tracklisting:
The Moment
Burdens Down
Jesus Is Mine
Jesus Lover Of My Soul (feat. The
Walls Group)
Power (feat. Kierra Sheard Kelly)
At The Cross
Counting My Blessings (feat. Mary Mary)
The Church I Grew Up In
Jesus What A Friend (feat.
Natalie Grant)
Holy
Agnus Dei
I Surrender
It Is Well (feat.
Jennifer Hudson and Ricky Dillard)
