Mercy’s Mark not going back on the road
Except for occasional dates, Mercy’s Mark frontman Garry Jones announced yesterday, the group will not be returning to the road. Jones sent out an email newsletter announcing his decision; oddly enough, as blogger Coomer’s Cove points out, he doesn’t exactly say who will be joining him at those dates. I wouldn’t be surprised if it includes a few former Mercy’s Mark members, most particularly Josh Feemster and Chris West, but we don’t know yet.
Jones intends to focus on producing and studio work.
It’s tough to keep a group on the road, and unfortunate that a group that started out with this much promise was one of the ones to bite the dust.
Comment by Aaron Swain (February 7, 2008, 11:17 am)
Ya know, with Garry going back to focusing on producing, I wonder if he will produce future Gold City albums. They’re good in their own right, but with Garry’s production once again, it’d be just like old times. Hit after hit after hit.
Hmm… I would like to see that quartet put together of Brent Mitchell, Josh Feemster, Craig West, and Chris West (see Youtube video) go to a full-time group, with maybe a different piano player. Garry would join them on those “select dates”, maybe.
Comment by Quaid (February 7, 2008, 1:03 pm)
Garry has produced some of the pest projects that I’ve heard, including Gold City’s ” Pilliars Of Faith”, and Palmetto State Quartet’s “There’s Something Going On”.
Comment by Brandon Coomer (February 7, 2008, 1:34 pm)
“There’s Something Going On” sounded a lot like Gold City of the early 90s. Not only did Garry produce it and play piano, but Mark Fain played the bass on the project.
Garry did great work on “Pillars of Faith,” but I’ve also heard that Steve Hurst worked with Brian Free (and maybe other members) leading up to that project. I don’t know if that is a true story. Anyone know?
Comment by Grigs (February 7, 2008, 10:00 pm)
Brian mentioned that he had been working with Steve Hurst in a Singing News article around the time “Pillars” came out. I still think “Pillars Of Faith” and “4 God So Loved”(BF&A) represent Brian’s best recordings.
Comment by gospelHog (February 8, 2008, 4:15 am)
Does brian have a good recording?
gh
Comment by Grigs (February 8, 2008, 9:13 am)
In the words of E.T., the Extra Terreastrial, “OUCH!”
Comment by Quartet Fan (February 8, 2008, 10:53 am)
I hate to derail this thread any more than it is, but I think Brian has improved greatly since his Gold City days. His last few recordings with Assurance are very good.
I hate that Mercy’s Mark is no more, this industry not only needs more quartets, we need more high quality quartets. Mercy’s Mark was quality.
Comment by Paul (February 8, 2008, 12:27 pm)
Our Church hosted a concert by the group, and my honest opinion is that even though the guys were talented, they still had quite a bit of work to do as a quartet before they could hope to “make it.”