As Madonna once sang, “I’m not religious, but I feel so moved,” which sums up my feelings about gospel house.

Candi Staton, whose oft-remixed (and covered) “You Got The Love” is one of the genre’s classics, has returned to the dance floor with the righteous “Hallelujah Anyway.” Written by one of her fellow churchgoing friends, Staton first recorded and released the song in 2010. Adding it to her live performances, “Hallelujah Anyway” took off.

“We were looking for an encore song that would fit right into ‘You Got the Love,'” Staton explains. “It’s really the same beat, when you’ve got a group of people out there howling ‘More! More! More!’ and you’ve just finished ‘You Got the Love,’ so you can’t keep singing it over and over again so we were looking for something that would be the same kind of song and the same kind of musical genre. So I played ‘Hallelujah Anyway’ to the band and they just loved it and so we picked it up and we started doing it as an encore and it worked very well and people started asking how could they find it, how could they get it, where would they find it, and we just decided to put it out.”

Defected Records threw their support behind “Hallelujah Anyway,” calling in Larse and Frankie Knuckles, the Godfather of House Music, to remix Staton’s original track. I was turned on to the release by Freemasons, who featured Larse’s remix on their Autumn 2012 Deep House Mixcast. The German producer’s smoothed-out vibe is a thing of beauty, allowing Staton’s reassuring words to guide the way:

Knuckles, the Godfather of House Music, ushers “Hallelujah Anyway” to the clubs with the classic sound with which he’s associated. Listen to a snippet of his Director’s Cut Signature Praise Remix:

Knuckles’ remix marks something of a reunion with Staton. The legendary DJ’s 1987 single, “Your Love,” served as the basis for The Source’s original 1991 release of “You Got The Love,” featuring Staton. Knuckles’ track was also covered by Friendly Fires on their 2006 debut EP, Photobooth.

Purchase Candi Staton – “Hallelujah Anyway” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.