Angela Jollivette Talks Greenleaf To GOSPELflava – Part 1

GOSPELflava had a chance to catch up with Angela Jollivette, music supervisor for the OWN TV drama Greenleaf starring Keith David, Lynn Whitfield and Merle Dandridge. Greenleaf is the top series debut for the Oprah Winfrey network drawing over 3 million viewers with its series premiere.   The Season 2 Soundtrack was released on September 8th and features music from Kirk Franklin, Mary Mary and others.

GOSPELflava: Angela, you’ve been around Gospel music for quite a while now.  Tell us a little about your background.

Jollivette: Gospel music and I have some real history going back to my days with the Recording Academy (the Grammys).   I have a very long history with the Academy, for a decade, I was there as pretty much the gatekeeper for Gospel music, over the last ten years, I was responsible for the whole field across the board;  CCM,  Gospel, Roots, you name it, I was pretty much responsible for the process from start to finish; I saw every entry that came in for consideration, every committee that was organized, every nomination that was given out,  until the very end when the winner was announced I held the baby’s hand through the whole process.   During my time with the academy,   I also oversaw television/film which lead to my new assignment as music supervisor for the Greenleaf series.

GOSPELflava: Greenleaf has kept audiences captivated with its riveting story lines and great Gospel music.  The Season 1 soundtrack gave us music from Shirley Caesar and Deborah Joy Winans.  What is new in the Season 2 soundtrack?

Jollivette: This soundtrack features a lot more original music with brand new artists that we are breaking in such as Koryn Hawthorne.  Won’t He Do It is her first single as a major artist on the RCA Inspiration label since being on The Voice Season 8. The song was written and produced by Makeba Riddick and was released as a single back in July.   I’m really excited about her project.   I did A & R for that record and she is a phenomenal talent.  You get to see Koryn perform on camera with Roshon this season.  Je’Kalyn Carr makes an appearance on the show.  She has a song on the soundtrack and you’ll also get to hear LeAndria do Better Days.  I think it is such an amazing song and I wanted to make sure that we were able to use it this season.  Its gonna be featured on the final episode.

Catch a clip of Greenleaf Music Producer Matthew Head talking about the making of Judgement Day