The Harlem Gospel Travelers released “Hold Your Head Up,” the second single from their upcoming album Look Up! (Colemine Records), out September 16, 2022. Produced by acclaimed soul singer-songwriter Eli Paperboy Reed, Look Up! marks the group’s first full-length release as a trio, as well as their first collection of totally original material. The music draws deeply on the gospel quartet tradition of the ’50s and ’60s, but there’s a distinctly modern edge to the record, an unmistakable reflection of the tumultuous past few years of pandemic anxiety, political chaos, and social unrest.

Born out of a non-profit music education program led by Reed, The Harlem Gospel Travelers—singers Thomas Gatling, George Marage, and Dennis Bailey—released their debut LP, He’s On Time, to rave reviews in 2019 landing them festival slots everywhere from Pilgrimage to Telluride Jazz.

It’d be easy to classify Look Up! as “retro” or “vintage,” but the truth is that the young men of The Harlem Gospel Travelers aren’t just reviving sounds from the past, they’re revitalizing them for the present and reminding us just how relevant this music is (and always has been) in times of hardship and uncertainty. “Gospel’s at the root of everything,” says Gatling. “Country, folk, rock, soul, blues; we love it all, and it’s all in there.”