The Sojourners

Clark’s, Lindsay Street, Dundee Tuesday

CANADIAN GOSPEL band The Sojourners are on a journey – both spiritually and literally. A Christian band with real soul, they trio are on tour at the moment and are dropping in to Clark’s on Lindsay Street in Dundee on Tuesday.

Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Khari McClelland, aka The Sojourners, came about after Canadian blues icon Jim Byrnes called gospel singer Marcus Mosely on the phone a few years ago to ask if he could round up a few friends to record some back-up vocals for a new album.

No one could have guessed what would happen next. From the moment Mosely and his pals stepped up to the microphone and began singing, they realized that they had something very special going on. When Byrnes dubbed the trio The Sojourners the name stuck and the rest – as they say – is history.

Formative years spent singing in the churches of Ralls, Texas, Alexandria, Louisiana and Detroit, Michigan give The Sojourners’ sound an authentic edge that only comes with experience. This is real gospel-blessed with a soul that can’t be faked.

Hot on the tail of their session with Byrnes, the Sojourners went into the studio with roots music whiz Steve Dawson to record Hold On, their first solo album in 2007.

Three years and many sessions later, they took all they had learned in between and returned to record a second CD simply entitled The Sojourners.

No longer the new kids on the block, the trio had definite ideas of how they wanted their follow up record to sound and one listen through the songs they’ve captured shows that they’ve succeeded beyond their wildest expectations.

This is not music that strives to be polite. In The Sojourners’ universe, echoes of doo wop, R&B, country and blues weave together to create a unique sound that has all but vanished from today’s world.

This is gospel music that can take a punch and remain standing. Singing praise music with their own special “stank”, the Vancouver based Sojourners sound just as at home in a roadhouse bar as they do in a revival tent.

They’ve shared stages with Dr John and the Blind Boys of Alabama and featured at most of the major Canadian folk and roots festivals.

Marcus and Will became Canadian citizens in the summer of 2008. The band was invited to perform on Parliament Hill on Canada Day that year, where they sang the national anthem.

The Sojourners are a rock solid unit and proof positive that faith can move mountains.

But don’t let that scare you away. Sinner or saved – wherever you are on your own personal journey, you should listen to The Sojourners. You’ll feel better for it.

The show starts around 8pm. Tickets costing £5 are available now from Clark’s on Lindsay Street.

The Sojourners.