 NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Spring House/ EMI) - Funnyman, Mark Lowry, turns out an elegant, serious album of favorite hymns and winds up with a Dove Award nomination in the "Inspirational Album of the Year" category. With I Love To Tell The Story-A Hymns Collection (Spring House/Gaither Gospel Series), Lowry is front and center, surrounded by the kind of orchestrations that would make Tony Bennett smile. Veteran gospel producer/arranger Paul Johnson brings his 35 years of experience in records/TV/movies & theater into producing an album that takes Lowry seriously as a vocalist and not just as a "comic who sings." Says Johnson, "I've always loved Mark's voice and I wanted to showcase him like a pop singer interpreting old standards. That's what he listens to in the car and I knew he could pull this off-and, boy, he made me so proud!" "Blessed Assurance" has a touch of Ray Charles, and "Count Your Blessings" swings like a World War II track. "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" has a subtle Brazilian backbeat with soaring strings. And all the old songs about Heaven are collected together in a big production Broadway-style medley that Lowry now uses when closing his live shows. "But my very favorite is 'Does Jesus Care' with string choir and harp," says Johnson. "When we recorded Mark's vocal on that track, all of us in the booth were speechless and in tears. Mark knows how to deliver a lyric like you're hearing it for the very first time. That's remarkable! And I'm so very glad to see him finally recognized as the gifted singer that he is!" Bill Gaither sums it up best: "Mark has never sounded better. I have always loved the believability in his voice because it's one thing to sing a lyric...it's an entirely different thing to believe it...Paul Johnson's orchestra arrangements remind me of the feeling I get when I throw open a window on the first really warm day of spring and feel the room fill up with fresh, clean air after being closed up all winter. He just knows how to delight the senses with music." The 39th Annual GMA Dove Awards will be handed out at Nashville's famed Grand Ole Opry House on April 23, 2008 at 7:00pm CST. The event will air live on Gospel Music Channel. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.
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