In Chicago, Jeral and Percy Gray Jr. grew up in "a solid churchgoing God fearing home", and were enveloped in traditional Gospel music at both home and church.

Being musically curious, Percy and Jeral would enjoy jazz and popular R & B albums as well, which were covertly slipped into the house. R & B Artists such as the GAP Band, Earth, Wind & Fire, and James Brown and a number of modern Gospel's pioneering acts such as Andrae Crouch, Commissioned and the Winans all became major influences,
enriching the musical development of Jeral and Percy, who displayed their musical talent at an early age.

Jeral became proficient in playing the drums, organ and keyboards, and Percy became a talented singer, arranger and song writer. However, though they had the ability to perform in any style of music, they always focused their talent and energy in creating Gospel music, their first love, in their own unique way.

So, it's not surprising that the musical programs performed by New Direction can be described as "Old School using New School Singing." Under the leadership and guidance of Jeral and his brother Percy, New Direction specializes in "taking Gospel traditions in truly new directions, crossing lines not only of musical tastes, but even more importantly, race, religion and creed."

Jeral Gray explains, "You wouldn't hear New Direction and think 'Traditional Gospel' at all, but there are roots that go deeper than just what you hear in the grooves. I'm the oldest one in this bunch, so while I've caught the contemporary side of things, I also go back with the old-school Gospel, and it touches everything I do in some way or another. That was music that was straight from the heart and soul, and the Gospel message was always front and center in the lyrics. There was no mistaking what they were talking about. And I would like to think the same is true in everything New Direction does as well. Plus, Gospel music is the foundation of so much of all contemporary music. If it hadn't been for that, we wouldn't have had anything to build from."

New Direction has traditionally always strived to bring the Gospel to youth and young adults in a musical form they can relate to.

Their eponymously-titled debut was released to critical acclaim, and opened up the doors for New Direction to minister and share the stage with a vertiable list of industry players. They followed that up with the ultra-funky Get Your Praise On.

Now having released their junior project, Rain, they have a goal of reaching a wide audience of listeners, appealing to fans of other genres in order to bring the Gospel to a wider group of people. Jeral Gray explains, "We're trying to take everyone along on this album."

This Album, RAIN, in the spirit of their mission statement, offers something for everyone's taste in Gospel music. A variety of songs are created using fresh combinations of the elements found in musical genres such as funky hip-hop, "Latin-flavored grooves", Traditional & Urban Gospel, R&B pop ballads, or reverential prayer hymns of praise and worship," all of which are transformed into The New Direction's own brand of Gospel music, making the songs their own creations.

A variety of vocal presentations add spice and variety. Full Gospel choir sound, ensemble work, heartfelt soulful vocals, sung in a variety of styles by talented people complement the musical compositions, bringing the spiritual message of each unique song clearly to the listener, in a most enjoyable way.

The songs on RAIN were contributed by a talented group of song writers. Besides the the talents of the Jeral and Percy Gray Jr., Charles Miller, Anthony and Tony Tidewell, Percy Bady and Kirk Franklin all are represented on RAIN. Jeral and Percy Gray arranged and produced all of RAIN's songs for New Direction, except for Percy Bady's above mentioned song contributions, A SONG and I CAN MAKE IT, which he personally arranged and produced for this CD, for the New Direction Choir.
 
Equally entertaining is the professional Gospel band that really cooks on the variety of high energy, contagious Praise songs or expresses well played, sometimes flowing, always dynamic musical support of the melody in the ballads and worship songs. They also excel at bringing zing and clarity to the many interesting counter melodies, found in songs throughout the CD, making sure the rhythm and spirit of each song is brought to life in ways it was envisioned, and inspiring the talented chorus. Also noted that the band has mastered the art of crisp syncopation, which is a very important part in New Direction's musical style found on this CD.

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