Inspirations / A Pioneer Legacy CD

If, as they say, timing is everything, then The Inspirations’ choice of the springtime and the week following Easter — a time of renewal, rebirth, and the promise of eternal life offered in the Resurrection — to issue A Pioneer Legacy (Horizon Records) was surely an inspired one. For like the time of year, this release signifies a step forward that is new, and yet seamlessly bound to the past.

The project’s title embodies this new step to perfection, serving both as a reminder of the storied quartet’s origins — their very first album, released in 1966, was titled Our Pioneer Heritage — and as an acknowledgment that the group’s history and deep catalog constitute a rich legacy to be carried on by a new generation. Following the release of last spring’s What A Wonderful Time Live, which first saw Roland Kesterson, Isaac Moore, Wyatt Austin, and Luke Vaught promoted to leading roles when the pandemic’s dangers led senior members to retire from the road, A Pioneer Legacy—the new singers’ first studio recordings—marks the end of a transition, with Kesterson, Moore, Austin and Vaught ushering in a new era for the fabled quartet.