I would consider the Kingdom Heirs, the Perrys (and more/less, the Booth Brothers) to be examples for a term I call “Modern.” (”Modern” is basically, the 21st century’s version of what was “standard” SG in the days of the Statesman, Cathedrals, and Happy Goodmans, for examples).

I would consider Crabb Revival, the Gaither Vocal Band, and Gold City’s recent material to be examples for “Progressive.”

Some groups that are hard to place are groups like Brian Free & Assurance and Karen Peck & New River. I think both of those sort of walk the line between Modern and Progressive.

Triumphant is another group hard to place; I think they walk the line between Traditional and Modern.

Groups like the Hoppers, Legacy V, and most of the mainstream SN Fan Awards winners are “Modern” SG artists. A new spin on the same type of songs that people love.

Traditional artists tend to rely on great songs of the past, and make a distinct effort to preserve and reminisce what “used to be.”

Progressive artists push and expand the envelope of how SG is defined.

To me – when someone says “Middle of the Road” – my mind immediately jumps to even further out there – somewhere between Progressive and Pop (perhaps today’s inspirational) – a good example of “Middle of the Road” artists to me are Aaron & Amanda Crabb, the now defunct Everyday Driven and Russ Taff.

You have to understand just HOW hard it is getting every year to differentiate between the three sub-genre categories. We had long discussions of where to put albums like the Dove Brother’s Life (was it Trad. or Country?), Gold City’s Moment of Truth (same question), Mike & Kelly’s Faith to Believe (Country or Prog?), Crabb Revival’s Runaway Train (country or prog?). When those recordings cover so much different kinds of music over only 10 songs – we don’t know where to put it.

Also – it’s funny to me to see how we view things so differently. To me, about half of the artists on the road are doing what I would consider Traditional Southern Gospel – while the other half are a cross section between progressive and country. You probably view a very small percentage who are doing traditional.

Traditional – when an artist relies on tried-and-true methods to keep an audience. They stick in their comfort zone and use what has traditionally worked for them.

Progressive – when an artist experiments, evolves, and grows over time. While they may still remember their heritage, they are not afraid to expand and try new things to grow their audience.

Given the above definitions, I’d place groups like Legacy Five, Greater Vision, and the Inspirations in the “traditional” category, while groups like Signature Sound, Gold City, and the Gaither Vocal Band would be in the “progressive” spot.

The Dove Brothers would probably fall more in the traditional definition, although they are expanding somewhat in recent years. The Booth Brothers could go either way, but from the above definitions, I’d lean more toward “traditional.”

Chris Unthank would probably only go back five years.

It’s only the groups that are doing something that sounds fresh today that are “progressive.” Everything else that falls under the Southern Gospel umbrella of music is either traditional SG, or it’s actually a traditional Country or Bluegrass or the occasional Black Gospel group that SG audiences happen to like.