Smokie Norful Presents Victory Cathedral Choir

Our Sunday Morning Music series centers around specialized custom playlists that are carefully curated to inspire you, whether you're headed to church or planning a laid-back Sunday at home.

Urban gospel, that full-out contemporary worship that requires you to wear your Sunday best and brings you to your knees, happens in cities across the U.S. every week. It's delivered by impassioned choirs and effusive music directors that understand the term "take me to church" in a way that Hozier never will.

In New York City, it comes from the likes of Hezekiah Walker, a bishop and pastor of Brooklyn's Love Fellowship Tabernacle. In Detroit, Karen Clark-Sheard, her daughter Kiki and the Clark Sisters bring it each Sunday. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Smokie Norful is belting it out at Victory Cathedral Worship Center, and newer gospel voices like Brian Courtney Wilson can trace their talent back to Rock of Ages Baptist Church. Don't count out Grand Rapids, Mich., either, with Marvin Sapp's Lighthouse Full Life Center.

The songs and sounds are just as powerful when you head south. Tasha Cobbs and others are praising God at Atlanta's dReam Center, while the likes of Kirk Franklin and Tamela Mann hold down the spiritual fort in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Over in Houston, Israel Houghton is bringing it at the super-sized Lakewood Church. And don't forget Mandisa, who headed to Nashville for college and continues to show the Volunteer State how gospel and pop can blend in perfect harmony.

The West Coast is represented as well, with Mary Mary's Erica Campbell singing loud and proud at the California Worship Center in North Hollywood.

You can visit one of these churches or take in a gospel concert, and we guarantee it will be an experience. But you can also tune in to our Sunday Morning Music Series: Urban Gospel playlist and let us bring the music straight to you.