DALLAS --The Golden Girls of Gospel - the legendary Caravans - along with secular crossover newcomers Coko, Kelly Price and Dave Hollister will be among more than 15,000 delegates to the 39^th annual Gospel Music Workshop of America convention in Dallas this year.
The convention, at the Dallas Convention Center and Arena complex, will run from Saturday, August 12 through Friday, August 18.   Delegates can participate in college-level academic courses, rehearsals, worship services, musical performances and live recording sessions throughout the week.
The Caravans, known as the group that launched the stellar solo careers of such notables as Albertina Walker, Inez Andrews, Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Norwood and GMWA founder, the late Rev. James Cleveland, will introduce their first project in more than 40 years.
"The Caravans:  Paved the Way" on the Malaco label reunites Walker, Andrews, Norwood (all in their super 70's) and the group's "baby," 68-year-old Delores Washington to bring back some old favorites and introduce some new material to prove that all the finer things in life improve with age.
Returning to their gospel roots this year, Cheryl "Coko" Clemons, Price and Hollister join a long line of artists who have made the secular-gospel mix an industry standard.
Power soprano Clemons of the 90s R&B trio SWV (Sistuhs With Voices) makes it clear that she is not "returning" to gospel by signing with the Artemis label.  The truth is that she never left.
"I've always been active in my church," she said.  "Church was more than a breeding ground for me to sing.  It's where I nurture my soul.  It's a lifestyle for me."
The same is true for Price, whose "This Is Who I Am" gospel project will be released on GospoCentric in October, and for R&B session vocalist Hollister, also on GospoCentric.
For all three, the Gospel Music Workshop represents a touchstone and the old landmark as well as the launching pad where they will take off on new phases of their professional careers.  The talented trio are primed to join myriad GMWA veterans like Byron Cage, Yolanda Adams, Kirk Franklin and Kurt Carr at the top of the gospel charts.
GMWA, with some 75,000 members in approximately 200 chapters in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, was founded in Detroit in 1968 by the late Rev. James Cleveland. 
"The growth and success of this organization is a living tribute to the man whose vision gave it life," said GMWA chairman Bishop Albert L. Jamison. "We've been blessed to become the largest music organization in the world, but our mission and our motto has remained constant - in the Gospel Music Workshop of America, everybody is somebody."
The week's convention schedule includes live recording sessions featuring the 3,000-member National Mass Choir, the Women of Worship, the Men of Promise and the GMWA Youth Division choir.
Most of the convention's worship and musical services are open to the public.