The Rance Allen Group To Perform On “Tavis Smiley” Tv Program

The legendary trio, The Rance Allen Group, will perform songs from its 25th album, Live From San Francisco (Tyscot Records), on the Friday, October 6th edition of PBS’ “Tavis Smiley” television program. The show airs at 11:30 PM PT in Los Angeles and 12:00 AM ET in New York City. All other cites and times, are listed on the PBS website at www.pbs.org/tv_schedules.  The segment will also appear on the http://tavistalks.com website within 24 hours of broadcast.

The brothers performed their classic hit “Something About The Name Jesus” and “Like A Good Neighbor,” another chestnut from their vast catalogue, on the show. “It’s a kind of depressed time,” says Rance Allen who sees parallels between today’s social climate and that of when his group was formed during the Civil Rights Movement. “It’s a time of unusual stress with all of the killings going on, the political mess that’s going on and there’s just so many people who have just moved away from believing in Jesus Christ. Our job of encouraging and uplifting will never be done. We’ll have to keep working on this until the Lord comes to take us home.”

The Rance Allen Group was formed in 1965 in Monroe, MI as a self-contained band. In 1972, they signed to Stax Records’ Gospel Truth subsidiary where they recorded a series of gritty gospel songs that won them main-stage tours with R&B headliners such as Isaac Hayes and Barry White in the 1970s. The group has recorded a dozen gospel gems such as “Miracle Worker,”  “I Belong To You,” “Closest Friend” and “You That I Trust,” among others.  Their fusion of R&B and Gospel has won them fans as diverse as American Idol’s Randy Jackson and Huey Lewis of Huey Lewis & The News. The group was honored with the BMI Trailblazers Award in 2008.