The Harlem Gospel Travelers consists of Ifedayo Gatling, Dennis Bailey and George Marage. On their new album Rhapsody, the gospel singers explore the musical influences that shaped them. The album is a follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 album Look Up! and delves into a lesser-known but crucial period in gospel history: starting in the 1960s, local gospel groups began incorporating soul and funk elements into their music. Their inspiration was the compilation album Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal from 2006; together with mentor Eli Paperboy Reed, they reinterpreted gospel funk songs from that iconic catalogue.

The trio's musical journey began when Gatling and Marage met while studying under Reed. Their 2019 debut album He's On Time received rave reviews and earned them fans such as Elton John and appearances at festivals like Pilgrimage and Telluride Jazz. After restructuring the original quartet into a trio, they released Look Up!, their first album of all-original material.

With Rhapsody, they deliberately break with traditional genre boundaries. Gatling stresses that for them, gospel has always been more than one style: it is about the message, not the form. By drawing on the work of innovators from the past, they create an album that breathes gospel in content, but musically ranges from old-school soul to hip-hop influences. The Harlem Gospel Travelers thus stands at the centre of cultural current events and redefines what gospel can be today.