The Harlem Gospel Travelers announce European tour in support of "Rhapsody"

With their latest album Rhapsody, The Harlem Gospel Travelers, the extraordinary vocalists Ifedayo Gatling, Dennis Bailey, and George Marage are able to fully explore the entire range of music that influenced them. The follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 release Look Up!, the record is a dive into a lesser-known but hugely important era in the evolution of gospel music.

Starting in the mid-1960s, local gospel groups and singers began incorporating elements of popular soul and funk styles and in 2006, Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group released Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. Harlem Gospel Travellers longtime friend and mentor Eli Paperboy Reed approached the group with the idea of digging through the Numero catalog and recording some of the gospel funk material, reinterpreted in their own way—from the high-energy, old-school soul of “God’s Been Good to Me” to the hip-hop-inflected “Get Involved.” 

The Harlem Gospel Travelers story began when Gatling and Marage met while studying under Reed's tutelage. The group put out their debut LP, He’s On Time, to rave reviews in 2019, earning them high profile fans like Elton John and landing them festival slots everywhere from Pilgrimage to Telluride Jazz. Originally a quartet, they brought in Bailey and reconfigured as a trio prior to recording Look Up!, their first album of all original material.

At a moment when the world is reconsidering the concepts of genre and category and who’s allowed to participate in which traditions, HGT are squarely on the cultural pulse. “We always found it difficult to stay in this one lane of what people think gospel is supposed to be,” says Gatling. “This record allowed us to hear people that were innovators in their own time, pushing how gospel music sounded, and now we've created this project that is message-wise gospel, but the feeling and the sound can be whatever you want it to be.”

In support of the record Harlem Gospel Travelers will be touring all over Europe in 2026:

30/01: Bordeaux, FR - Rocher de Palmer
31/01: Albi, FR - Albi Jazz Festival
02/02: Paris, FR - La Maroquinerie
03/02: Orléans, FR - L’Astrolabe
04/02: La Roche Sur Yon, FR - Le Quai M
05/02: Lorient, FR - L’Hydrophone
06/02: Rouen, FR -  Le 106
07/02: Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix
08/02: Antwerpen, BE - De Roma
09/02: Groningen, NL - Oosterpoort
11/02: Massy, FR - Paul B
12/02: Dijon, FR - L’Ecrin / Jagoblues
14/02: Oviedo, ESP - Kuivi Almacenes
15/02: Segovia, ESP - Winter Indie City
16/02: Sevilla, ESP - Sala Malandar
18/02: Girona, ESP - Auditori de Girona
19/02: Zaragoza, ESP -  Rock & Blues
20/02: Santiago De Compostela, ESP - Sala Capitol
21/02: Madrid, ESP - El Sol
22/02: Valencia, ESP - Loco Club
06/03: Den Haag, NL - New Tide Festival