Dedicated Men of Zion

Greenville, North Carolina's Dedicated Men of Zion are a sacred soul gospel quartet. The group, composed of vocalists/siblings Anthony "Amp" and Antwan Daniels, Marcus Sugg, and Dexter Weaver, are friends and church congregants; they are also related by marriage. Though rooted in the harmony-rich tradition of Black gospel, their dynamic style weds that legacy to electric blues, R&B, soul, and funk in a sound that evokes the four a.m. juncture where Saturday night bleeds into Sunday morning. Can't Turn Me Around, their 2020 debut album for Bruce Watson's Bible & Tire Recording Co., won international accolades. Largely unable to tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they did play a virtual version of N.Y.C.'s globalFEST in early 2021, which brought them to the attention of an international audience. The Devil Don't Like It, their sophomore album, appeared in April 2022. Anthony Daniels, the eldest of the group, made a career in R&B down in Atlanta. He's backed up artists from Bebe Winans and Toni Braxton to Elton John, to name a few. Dexter Weaver had been singing with various gospel quartets for years; he often ran into Anthony on the sacred soul circuit. Antwan Daniels, the youngest member and Anthony's son, played organ and keyboards in church and infused the gospel tradition into his own experiments in hip-hop production. While between groups in 2014, Weaver and Daniels, with Antwan on keys, made a conscious decision to form the first incarnation of Dedicated Men of Zion with singers Trevoris Newton and Darren Cannon. After nearly a year of rehearsals, the group won popular notice appearing at various churches and gospel and sacred soul music festivals across eastern North Carolina. Newton passed away suddenly in 2018 and Cannon left the group soon after. The elder Daniels and Weaver recruited Marcus Sugg. He had grown up singing in church choirs -- as well as on the side during a stint in the military -- and was Anthony Daniels' son-in-law. The second incarnation of Dedicated Men of Zion caught the attention of the Music Maker Relief Foundation while opening a church concert for the Glorifying Vines Sisters, the longstanding Farmville gospel group composed of Anthony's mother and aunts. The male group ultimately signed to Music Maker's artist management roster. Through Music Maker, the group connected with Bruce Watson's (Fat Possum) newly founded record label Bible & Tire Recording Company In 2019, Dedicated Men of Zion recorded their debut album, Can't Turn Me Around, in Memphis at Watson's Delta-Sonic Sound studio backed by a star-studded band of studio aces. The album's songs were covers of tunes drawn from the D-Vine Spirituals label's catalog of obscure sacred soul recordings from Memphis. The 2020 release won national notice resulting in many invitations to perform and tour. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the globe that March, making travel impossible. Critical attention from the release spawned an NPR Tiny Desk Concert, a virtual set at the year's globalFEST, and Fresh Grass Fest. In late 2021, Dedicated Men of Zion returned to Memphis to record with Watson and his all-star studio group, the Sacred Soul Sound Section. The quartet issued the single "Lord Hold My Hand" in January 2022. The ten-song full-length The Devil Don't Like It appeared in March.
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