It’s been sixteen years in the making but things are finally getting better for Charles Butler & Trinity. Over the years, the twelve-member contemporary gospel chorale has backed dozens of gospel’s biggest artists ranging from Kirk Franklin to Karen Clark Sheard. Now, the Washington, D.C. based ensemble is releasing its debut digital CD, “Better” via Earnest Pugh’s EPM Music Group label on February 26, 2013.
“It feels great to hit the main stage after so many years,” says the group’s founder and leader Butler. “My group has done background for just about everyone in the Gospel Music industry and I feel like I waited my turn. I’m grateful that Earnest Pugh gave us a platform to share our ministry with the masses.”
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The first radio single is “Better,” an up-tempo, retro pop-soul groove. “The inspiration behind `Better’ came from me trying to find another song to put on the project and I came across a song entitled, `Better.’ The song ministered to me at a time when I really didn’t feel like things would get better. After having the song on repeat for days, I truly wanted people to feel what I felt when I first heard the song.”
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Music has been in Butler’s soul since his youth. “I first realized I was musically inclined when I picked up a keyboard around the age of 12 and played the Clark Sisters’ song `Hallelujah.’ Most people don’t know that I can play piano and that I started playing at a church at the age of 13. I listened to The Clark Sisters, John P. Kee, the Mississippi Mass Choir, and the Winans to name a few. Those were my influences.”
Butler formed Trinity in 1997 and they’ve been on a roll ever since. They’ve appeared on scores of concerts and appearances backing other artists. However, they got their first taste of national acclaim when they backed gospel star Earnest Pugh on his classic 2009 recording of “Rain on Us.” The song shot to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and has been a radio staple ever since. In 2011, Trinity’s song “You Can Live” was included on the EMI Gospel CD, “Jawn Murray Presents: Untapped,” which featured talented independent gospel artists. Then, Pugh, whom had taken them on a concert tour of Italy with him, decided to sign them to EPM and the rest is history.
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“I want people to be encouraged by my music,” Butler says. “We will all one day have a valley experience. Psalms 23:4 reads, `Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ You will walk through your valley; not crawl through it, so keep living and know that things will get better.” For more information on EPM Music Group artists, log on at www.epmmusicgroup.com.
