Numero Group Announces Pastor T.L. Barrett Box Set I Shall Wear a Crown

Numero Group has announced I Shall Wear a Crown, a career-spanning box set from Chicago gospel singer Pastor T.L. Barrett (who was famously sampled by Kanye West on the Life of Pablo cut “Father Stretch My Hands”). It’s due out September 24. The set includes four reissued albums and a bonus album of singles and sermons Barrett wrote and recorded between the 1960s and 1980s. In many instances, he was backed by his 45-piece Youth for Christ Choir.

The new box set was announced with two songs originally recorded in 1979: “Lord’s Prayer” and “Said It Long Time Ago” (which were long out-of-print prior to their new reissue). Listen to both below, and watch a trailer for the new box set.

“The work we have done with the music of Pastor T.L. Barrett is amongst Numero’s most rewarding achievements in our 18 year history,” Numero Group co-founder Rob Sevier said in a statement. “When we first met with Pastor Barrett in his church basement in 2008 on Chicago’s South Side, this music was a footnote in his storied career. Fifty years later, it’s rising to the front page.”