The Green Room, Crosstown Arts

Doors open at 7pm | Show begins at 7:30pm

Tickets: $15 in advance | $20 at the door

Purchase tickets here

Elizabeth King recorded her first single in 1970, and if all had gone as planned, she would have made her first album a few years later. Instead, it took another half century for King to release her 2021 album Living In The Last Days, which captured King at the height of her powers, with the intervening decades only serving to stoke the flames of one of the most memorable voices in modern gospel music. Now Elizabeth is back with yet another collection of offerings, each more fiery than the last. I Got a Love is a testament to her dedication to God, her family and to her craft.

Most of the material on I Got a Love was drawn from pioneering 70s gospel DJ/producer Juan D. Shipp’s D-Vine Spirituals Records catalog. Elizabeth was the flagship artist on the label and her early recordings are part of Bible & Tire’s ongoing D-Vine Spirituals reissue series including their latest compilations Sacred Soul: The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story Volume 1 and 2.

Shipp, an 83 year old producer, DJ and longtime manager of Elizabeth, didn’t miss the chance to be back in the studio with Elizabeth, egging her on. This 60 year old relationship has flourished as the recordings indicate. Once the album was thought to have been completed, Watson had one more trick up his sleeve. He enlisted Mississippi rhythm & blues shaman Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Buddy Guy, Andrew Bird) to produce one more cut for the record.

I Got A Love shows a different side of King. A more raw and vibrant side. The songs have more energy, more stamina and drive harder than her previous release without compromising the integrity of King’s glorious voice and personality. It’s as if Elizabeth was just getting warmed up with her 2021 album Living In the Last Days and now the stage is set with this new offering.

The true concept of sacred soul can be found in earnest on tracks like “I Need The Lord” and “My Robe,” which find King and company weaving that historic Memphis Soul Sound within the gospel framework, always keen on delivering the sacred message. The real gem however, can be found within the two and a half minute acapella performance of “Give Me Wings.”

King, accompanied by her daughters in the round sing the words “As I go from door to door, loved ones gone, I won’t see ‘em down here no more. That makes me feel like flying away, to be at rest.” Elizabeth’s delivery is personal. Not only does she sing for the love and loss of her late husband years ago, but for all of the many who have gone on before her. I Got a Love is a testament to the many years Elizabeth has spent honing her craft and patiently waiting for her moment.