hi-res-001The Relatives are releasing their debut album, The Electric Word, this month. The album comes some 40 years after the West Dallas-based gospel band formed in the 1970s. The band was rediscovered in 2009 by Austin-based Heavy Light Records, which released a shelved demo the band had recorded in Dallas in the ’70s.

Now the band, fronted by The Rev. Gean West, is releasing itsfirst ever album. And the album-release party is at the Kessler Theater Friday, March 22.

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The Relatives are getting a lot of media attention in advance of the album release. The band performed live on the World Cafe. (At 10:45 is the jam, “Your Love is Real.”) Texas Monthly gave them a spread in its March issue, and the whole album is streaming on the TM website.

Here is a video of the band, in all their platform-booted glory, from 1974:

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWfIvy1YCys[/youtube]

 

And here is a more recent video of them singing “We Need Love” at West’s tiny church on Galica Lane.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diUXnJOHySQ[/youtube]