W. Clifford Petty
Touch Jesus is a wonderful CD of traditional African-American gospel music designed to be used by both Catholic and Protestant congregations. Petty describes it as a reflective of his dual spiritualities “in the merging of my traditional Pentecostal roots with a traditional European Catholic musical style”.
Besides being the lead vocal, Petty has also arranged and written some of the songs on Touch Jesus. In fact, the title song was composed for his brother Roderick just before he died.
Petty shows a strong interest in psalms as well. The songs he wrote include: “The Lord Hears the Cry of the Poor: Psalm 34”, “I Will Praise Your Name Forever: Psalm 145”, “Let All the Nations Praise You: Psalm 67” and “Why Have You Abandoned Me: Psalm 22”.
Petty has wonderful vocal control and the musicians are top notch, particularly the drummers, pianists and the saxophonist. There is a lovely Jazz feel to some of the songs.
Petty has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Vocal Music Performance and a Master of Music Education. He currently works as a pastoral musician and a music teacher and a composer, producer and recording artist for World Library Publications.
Katy Gerner
