Sunday Song: errr...music - GOSPEL

This past week I had a spiritual experience.

It all started when I was talking to my mom a few weeks ago and she mentioned she was organizing a trip to a gospel concert at Joe Louis with some of her church choir friends.

Knowing her choir is an older crowd of white folk, I was quick to say, "Hm...mom, I don't think you're really going to fit in there."

She was then quick to reply, "I don't care. I think it will be a great experience."

Curious, I agreed to go as well...after all, I've never heard gospel live and thought it might be a cool experience outside my typical musical box.

Wow, she was right...it was quite the experience. I had no expectations, but was pumped to see some of the region's best church choirs after reading up on them. The concert was part of the How Sweet The Sound gospel series, presented by Verizon, which seeks to find the "Best church choir in America."

Dang, these choirs have got to be good then, right? Ummm yeah! The word "good" doesn't even do the music I heard justice.

I am a fairly religious person, but spirituality aside, hearing these choirs raised the hairs on my arms and the giant sound produced was nothing short of AMAZING. The vocals, harmony and instrumentation were gorgeous...but more than anything, these people were singing with their hearts and it showed by hand motions and facial expressions. It touched me to see how passionate these people were about the music and about singing for the big man upstairs.

We all left the concert inspired and now I have a new appreciation for gospel music.

Check out the top two choirs from Detroit here. I enjoyed all of the choirs that performed, but I have to say that the Calvary Church was my favorite and the folks of Detroit agreed when they won the people's choice award. It's one thing to watch the video on here, but it was a whole different experience seeing it live.

If there's one thing "outside your box" you should do this year, it's to go see the finals of all the regions across the U.S. perform on Nov. 7 (in Detroit, woot woot!). Check out additional information and purchase tickets here.

Major props to Verizon for putting this together. I know a good event when I see one and this one was flawless and I am already looking forward to next year's show.