Sisters are already doing it for themselves.Stepping up to the platform not through bearing their gaudy clad bodies or through some salacious dance manoeuvrings but through their heartfelt singing is a growing sorority of Gospel novitiates. These young and confident ladies are here to prove that you dont have to sing about lust over the latest beats to be cool.And you dont have to be Miss Pole Dancer of the Year to be able heard.Rather, this is a new generation of young lasses who are all sold out for Jesus Christ singing out their hearts in worship through their fresh and innovative sounds.Over the last couple of years, we have seen graduates from such a class such as Tasha Cobbs, Jekaylyn Carr and Alexis Speight.Now we have 21 year-old Ruth LaOntra (pronounced la-con-tra) who has already been making splashes beyond the Gospel music realm.Way before the release of her debut record So Good, her song Im Love with the Man has already been included in the soundtrack for the movie Iniquity. And her current single Count It All Joy has been already a Gospel radio darling.

Hearing the birth story of Ruth LaOntra is like re-experiencing the Biblical story of the birth of Isaac all over again. Before Ruths birth, her parents Bishop Arvetra and Ruth Jones already had a son as well as daughter.Thinking that their family was already complete, Ruth Jones had her tubes tied.However, one Sunday morning during a worship service, there was a prophet by the name of Sylvester Walker who prophesied that they would have another baby. Just like Sarah in the Bible laughed when she was told she would bear a child in her old age, Ruth Jones laughed too in disbelief as her tubes were already tied.However, three weeks later, Ruth Jones was pregnant with her miracle daughter.And from a tender age of only 2 years, Ruth LaOntra had already been singing her heart out for the Lord.Now, we are finally blessed to hear her debut record So Good helmed by Bobby Fann for Tyscot Records.

For starters, the album titular So Good is by no means hyperbolic.Rather, these 11 songs here live up to its title in that many of them are birth right out of LaOntras own trials and tribulations. Speechless, for instance, came about after her aunt Lilly Chavis Durtch suffered an aneurysm and died whilst LaOntra was just in her final year of High School.Rather than raising her fist in defiance against God for her aunts death, Speechless finds LaOntra taking refuge in the praises of her Savior.And its in such a context of worship she has become speechless at the mercy of God.With frenzied drumming and ferocious sounding guitar blasts, LaOntra combines elements of hard rock to her brand of Gospel shout-outs on Thank You. Setting James 1:2 aflame with her multi-octave range, LaOntra takes us to church with her single Count It All Joy.Here we get to hear her at her vocal best roller coasting from those sky scraping highs diving into some of those richly textured lows.While on the title cut So Good LaOntra gets to slow dance with Jesus on this lush sweeping ballad with a sound that recalls Diana Ross in her 70s balladry best.

Nevertheless, the best song on this record is the must-hear Im in Love With This Man. With some jaunty jazzy leaps, a chorus of sopranos, some lounge piano swirls, Im in Love With this Man sounds like it could have been written in the time of Gershwin and Sinatra when melodies have an eternal air to them.And though the title sounds like a love song to a man; but if you listen closely the man LaOntra is crazy about is none other than Jesus Christ.Also, in the same league is the worshipful mid-tempo In This Place; a song that will definitely get us singing to no time.So Good is an album that is going to ground LaOntra on solid ground.Just like Tasha Cobbs, Tamela Mann and other Gospel ladies, LaOntra has proven once again that if music is to make an impact for the sake of Gods kingdom, its not in the way the artist dresses or moves, but its in being a sell-out for Jesus Christ.