Album by Rev. Tony Spell Released, Jumps to No. 12 in Its 1st 16 Hours

The Tony Spell Trio released its first album Wednesday. It reached No. 12 on the chart of Christian music worldwide after only 16 hours. After 24 hours, it was at No. 10 and rising.

The trio includes Rev. Tony Spell, his wife Sister Shaye Spell, and Tony’s father, Rev. Timothy Spell.

The album includes eight songs, all of which are favorites of the congregaton of Life Tabernacle, the church the Spells pastor in Central.

The album has been eight months in the making and included a live recording session in the sanctuary of Life Tabernacle over the July 4 holiday. After that, the Spells had to lay down audio tracks in studio, followed by audio work in Nashville by some of the top people there.

The album is now available for purchase on 26 venues, including Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes.  The album can be purchased for $7.95 or an individual song for 99 cents.

Every time one of the songs is purchased or played it helps the album rise on the charts.

At this time of the year, many people are purchasing or listening to Christmas music, and five of the albums currently ahead of the Spells are Christmas albums.

The Spells’ music is filled with hope and joy.  It is uplifting, and people who attend Life Tabernacle often say the music alone is worth a sermon, helping them feel closer to God.

Beginning in March 2020, Life Tabernacle and the Spell Family began to get attention after Rev. Spell decided to keep his church open during Covid.  Gov. John Bel Edwards ordered the pastor arrested, and he was.  However, he never missed a church service and the church developed a large following across the nation and around the world.  Two years later, the Louisiana Supreme Court dismissed all charges against the Central pastor and said that everything done against him and other members of the church was illegal and unconstitutional.  They were simply exercising their rights under the First Amendment and should not have been disturbed.

The Central City News offered to broadcast live on the newspaper’s Facebook page any church that decided to stay open.  Two churches accepted the offer.  Under pressure from authorities, the other church soon decided not to stay open.  Life Tabernacle continued, and the viewing audience for church services skyrocketed, sometimes exceeding 500,000 viewers per service. As churches around the world closed, the viewing audience for Life Tabernacle on Central City News continued to grow.

The Spells’ singing and music are a big part of the appeal of the online broadcasts. Rev. Spell’s following could be expected to drive sales of the album much higher.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, Rev. Timothy Spell, his wife Sister Jeanie Spell, and the Spell children travelled the country singing at churches and national and regional events. They had at least 10 albums. This was in the time of cassettes before CD’s came along.

Today everything is digitized and in the cloud. While more people may listen to a singer’s music, the artist typically makes very little unless an album is a big hit.

Life Tabernacle offers church services at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sundays and at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.  They are broadcast live at Central City News and at Life Tabernacle on Facebook, also on Life Tabernacle on YouTube.

Life Tabernacle hosts Revolution: America’s National Youth Conference for five days around the July 4 holiday every year and a Health Freedom Conference

The church has many other events. 

The Life Tabernacle website is at www.ltcbr.com.