Northern Gospel
Question: What does Northern Gospel sound like?
Answer:
- The Cathedrals (Ohio)
- Gaither Vocal Band (Indiana)
- Signature Sound (Ohio)
- Collingsworth Family (Ohio) (sort of—Greater Cincinnati is more South than not)
- Joseph Habedank and Matthew Holt of the Perrys (Ohio)
- Jacob Kitson of Greater Vision (Michigan when with Kitsons)
- Mercy’s Mark (Ohio)
- Ball Brothers (Illinois natives)
- The Spencers (Ohio—in fact, my hometown)
- Couriers (Pennsylvania)
Comment by Brandon Coomer (October 6, 2008, 9:30 am)
Loren Harris is from Elizabethton, TN, where he still lives. I don’t know if he was born in the area, but he and his family have been in Elizabethton for a long, long time. If I remember correctly from when I was very young, our dads worked together.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 9:30 am)
Neat. I’ll edit my post and remove him from the list. I wasn’t sure (and still am not).
Comment by Samuel (October 6, 2008, 10:36 am)
Steve Green is from Portland, OR. My group will be from Albany, OR. More Northern Gospel.
Comment by Samuel (October 6, 2008, 10:37 am)
You’re also forgetting Lorne Matthews. He’s from Toronto, if that’s considered the North.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 10:37 am)
Sure is!
Comment by DJPhil (October 6, 2008, 12:24 pm)
A few others include…
Soul’d Out Quartet
Georgetown, OH
THE PFEIFERS
Washington Court House, Ohio
Liberty Quartet
BOISE, Idaho
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 12:36 pm)
Duh! I’d forgotten about Liberty Quartet. I had been thinking northern as in east-of-the-Mississippi northern, but Liberty is definitely toward the northmost full-time SG groups in the U.S.
Comment by Jodi Hosteman (October 6, 2008, 1:22 pm)
I’ll go ahead and throw my name in the ring…I’m from PA!!
Comment by Jodi Hosterman (October 6, 2008, 1:23 pm)
It seems that I can’t spell my own name. Sorry!!
Comment by Jodi Hosterman (October 6, 2008, 1:23 pm)
I’ll go ahead and throw my name in the ring..I’m from PA!!
Comment by Samuel (October 6, 2008, 1:53 pm)
I think Albany and Portland are actually further north of Boise. I know Idaho and Oregon are both in the Pac Northwest.
Comment by Samuel (October 6, 2008, 1:54 pm)
I forgot about the Birdsong Family and the Cunningham Sisters.
I’m not sure about DayBreak. Their baritone and bass singers are from Oak Harbor, WA.
Comment by Kyle Boreing (October 6, 2008, 2:30 pm)
I’m from Cincinnati, born and raised. Steve Ladd (Gold City) is from Dayton, OH, a “secret headquarters” of Northern Gospel.
Comment by Meagan Williams (October 6, 2008, 3:41 pm)
Good point!
Comment by Meagan Williams (October 6, 2008, 3:41 pm)
Wasn’t the Collingsworth family originally from Kentucky though?
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 3:43 pm)
They lived there for a while. Phil and Kim met in Cincinnati and, I believe, began their music ministry there (long before anyone heard of them). Then they moved across the river to Kentucky, but they moved back across to Ohio a year or two ago.
Comment by natesings (October 6, 2008, 4:10 pm)
I would guess the only reason Mercy’s Mark was from Ohio was because Garry Jones was there when Signature Sound was formed. Not sure where he lived before but I would assume he lived in Alabama or Georgia when he was with Gold City. The original Mercy’s Mark members were all from Alabama with the exception of Facello who was probably in KY (The Journeymen) or GA. I don’t know if any of them relocated or not.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 4:11 pm)
True…but as of the last time his website was updated, and it’s updated fairly regularly, Garry had still chosen to stay in Ohio:
http://www.garryjonesmusic.com/contact.shtml
Comment by natesings (October 6, 2008, 4:37 pm)
Not denying that but Garry is originally from FL. That’s about as far south USA as you can get without being in Puerto Rico. lol
So are we going by current location and not hometown then? If so then you need to remove the members of The Perrys and Greater Vision from your list since both groups are based out of Morristown, TN.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 4:38 pm)
Oh, I wasn’t really going by any formal rules.
Probably half the list could have some legitimate claim by some Southern state.
Comment by natesings (October 6, 2008, 5:05 pm)
No thanks, we aren’t claiming The Spencers.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 6, 2008, 5:39 pm)
Also, I think Bill & Gloria Gaither have never (at least since their marriage) lived anywhere but Indiana, but some of the members of their groups have.
Comment by JEB (October 6, 2008, 8:53 pm)
George Younce often said the Cathedrals were from the Ohio - but that he was the only one actually from the North… That is “North” Carolina…
JEB
Comment by CDB (October 7, 2008, 1:32 am)
How about the Isaacs? They live in TN now, but the kids were raised in Ohio and Lily is from New York City.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 7, 2008, 7:15 am)
I knew they lived in Ohio for a while; I just hadn’t remembered for how long.
Comment by Samuel (October 7, 2008, 10:46 am)
the Weatherfords made their home in Californy for a while.
Is Oklahoma considered the South? If it’s considered Yankeeland, then GloryBound, Witness, and Assurance Trio are from there. The Brothers (quintet) are also from Ohio methinks.
Comment by Cliff Cerce (October 7, 2008, 6:21 pm)
The LeFevres were from Philadelphia for a while - and my roots are from my native New Jersey. I cut my teeth with The Forerunners in Maine and New Hampshire (and then later in New Jersey) and then with The Gabriels from Pennsylvania, who worked closely with The Couriers. Then, I was Courier-tenor Duane Nicholson’s piano player when The Couriers temporarily quit in the early 80’s.
As a result, our group has a definite distinctive Northeast leaning and influence, and I have learned that people from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, New Jersey and parts north of there understand what we do musically and why we do it - while some in the South do not “get it”. We can do a recreation of a well-known style of music or stylistic song from the northeast, and that crowd recognizes it immediately, but other regions of the country sometimes do not even know it is a recreation or homage to a bygone style of the northeast.
Nick Bruno from New York City (Staten Island) is a great example of one who has thrived anywhere he has gone.
Cliff Cerce
The Cerces
Comment by Inquirer (October 7, 2008, 6:59 pm)
Actually, Portland, OR is north of Portland, ME(fwiw). Check it out!
Comment by Samuel (October 8, 2008, 3:17 pm)
It is? I though Maine was the northernmost state next to Alaska.
Comment by Jim Gerdes (October 8, 2008, 9:00 pm)
you southerners need a little geography lesson. Northern US is NOT Ohio. Look at your map. We do sing the Southern style” in the real north, ie, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, and yes we have real quartets up here as well.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 8, 2008, 9:01 pm)
Northern US is not Ohio. It’s a much bigger space than Ohio.
(whispers: But it does include Ohio!
)
Comment by yankee (October 9, 2008, 1:15 am)
Micah Schweinsberg, drummer for Crabb Family and Crabb Revival is from Ohio. I see someone beat me in saying Steve Ladd of Gold City. Of course when you talk about Southern Ohio, it’s right by KY and WV. That is not even Yankee territory!
Comment by DJPhil (October 9, 2008, 1:23 am)
Good grief! How could I forget the Calvarymen from Michigan! A great quartet!
And that Jodi Hosterman from PA is a great singer(very average golfer though….sorry Jodi lol!!! ok, I wasn’t any better…) and I guess the Skyline boys could be considered north. They are Northwest of Washington DC. (farther north than southern IN or OH)
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 9, 2008, 5:16 am)
#32 - Well…that’s almost as logical as saying that Southern TX is not US territory since it’s so close to Mexico!
Comment by Chris Freeman (October 12, 2008, 10:23 pm)
The Freemans are also from Ohio. Darrell and Joe Freeman, were both born in South Amherst Ohio. Darrell was raised in Sandusky, and Joe in Kansas, Ohio. All their Family’s are still there.
Comment by Daniel J. Mount (October 13, 2008, 7:45 am)
#35 - I totally should have remembered that.