SouthernGospelBlog.com

From Dan Keeton’s latest email newsletter:

I have been thinking, now that NQC 2008 is over and we have had time to reflect on what was accomplished, tonight, I received this email….

Dear Keetons,
10/6/08

My name is Jeff and I work for the State of Kentucky down in Louisville…

I was working one day down in the dumpsters area cleaning up all the trash on the ground & outside of the dumpsters where all the trash goes after each big show that comes in down here in Louisville. I was cleaning & spotted some Christian CD’s in the trash, But I found them all & cleaned them off and took them home with me and listened to all of them.

For years I have been running from Lord, this song (Answer for the Lost) in the trash “reached out” and it touched my sinner’s heart & I cried out to the Jesus… I went to my Moms & Dads church, and after church my baby-brother prayed with me & I gave my whole life to the Lord Jesus on 9-21-08…

I thank the Lord for helping me find your CD & for the song (Answer for the Lost) “that helped me get back home” ..

Thank you,
Jeff

Some people have dreams of being on the “main stage”. Some have aspirations of being the next BIG thing. Let it be known, if this is what happens, Dan Keeton hopes more of his CDs make it to the trash.

(Reprinted by permission.)

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)

In these days of uncertainty, especially where the economy is concerned, it would be extremely easy to cave in to fear. In the above verse, Jesus knew He was going to die, and He wanted to remind His disciples that they would still have His peace. Today, we have that same assurance from a living Savior who sees everything going on in our world. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can focus on the Lord and know that He will take care of us. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) Scripture also says, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11b) With promises like those, we really have nothing to fear if we are walking with Him. We simply need to “look up, and lift up [our] heads; for [our] redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28)

It occurred to me the other day that if blogs are a passing fad, then SouthernGospelBlog.com might be outdated one of these days. “So 2000s,” the 2010s geeks will say.

So just in case the blogging fad passes, and I still have something to say…

I just bought the domain names www.southerngospelcommentary.com and www.sgcommentary.com. I figure those are two domains that should remain viable into the long-term future.

I think www.southerngospelblog.com has enough name ID now that it’s not worth re-branding the site at this point. (But I am open to input on this point. Thoughts?) At any rate, the domain names are now active and typing them in will bring you to this site.

I was thinking this evening about lyrics. I think I was about 9 years old the first time I heard anyone talk about the importance of listening to what you are singing. It’s probably only been the past few years, though, that I’ve paid attention to the poetry of song lyrics and decided there are quite a few truly gifted songwriters–writers who not merely make things rhyme but who describe things so vividly. Tonight I am thinking about the song, “How Big is God?” by Stuart Hamblen who was a tremendous songwriter. If you know the song, have you ever stopped to ponder the words of the first verse?

Though man may strive to go beyond the reach of space,
To go beyond the distant glimmering stars
This world’s a room so small within my Master’s house
The open sky but a portion of His yard.

Maybe the reason these lyrics came back to me is that I’m reading the book of Job right now which is a vivid picture of the vastness of God! When I think of it, I wonder why I ever worry about anything! Nothing can happen without God right there allowing it to fulfill His purpose. Why can’t I continually rest in that? I’m not there yet but I pray that I’ll get there.

Not too long after singing tenor for the Cathedral Quartet from 1968-1972, Mack Taunton more or less slipped out of the Southern Gospel scene, except for an occasional appearance, like at the Cathedrals’ 1995 Reunion.

A couple of days ago, I heard from his son, Steven Taunton. He said his father is enjoying leading a normal life in Oklahoma, and is working with Steven on recording a new project. Steven said if anyone wanted to contact his father, they could do so via his (Steven’s) email address: sgt_68@yahoo.com.

On a personal note, this week I released a DVD on the Faith of America’s Presidents. It’s available here. Here are two video clips:

If your browser blocks YouTube, you can watch these directly on my website.

***

There is a little more to these off-topic personal posts than might meet the eye. I have never been a big fan of the anonymous-blogger-behind-a-keyboard model. Posting my photo (on the “about” page) and these video clips helps me be a little more recognizable, and thus accountable. It serves as a check that keeps me from running a needlessly critical story or unsubstantiated rumor, since any of you (fans or artists) could recognize me at a concert and call me on it. And I think that’s a good thing.

A little while back, I came across an interesting website called iTunesRegistry.com. How it works is pretty simple: You create a free account, upload your automatically generated iTunes XML file, and the website provides all kinds of statistical analyses on your data. It generates a profile which you can share publicly if you so choose; here is mine.

It’s not perfect; occasionally it mistakes a song for one of similar length. For example, despite what this says, I don’t have any Hank Williams songs in my collection and couldn’t pick his voice out of a lineup.

But the analyses it does provide are fascinating. For example, while iTunes can tell you your most played 25 tracks, it can combine playcounts from tracks on a project to tell you your most played project. My top 10 most played albums (over the last 2 or 3 years):

• Look No Further - Perrys (I already knew this was my most played project, but didn’t know the rest)
• Once Upon a Cross - Mark Trammell Trio
• Timeless Treasured Hymns 2 - Liberty
• Sings Albert E. Brumley Classics - Cathedral Quartet
• God is Faithful  - Collingsworth Family
• Sounds of Sunday - Dixie Echoes
• Snow  - Von Trapp Children (I like Christmas music!)
• Old Time Gospel Songs Vol. 1 - Liberty Quartet
• Going On with the Song - Kingdom Heirs
• (tie) Hymns of the Ages - Greater Vision
• (tie) Light from Heaven - Lacey Family

It doesn’t just tell you the top 10–it lists all of your albums in order. Here’s my complete list.

It also goes beyond albums to tell you which artists are the most played. My top 10 over the last 2-3 years:

• Cathedral Quartet (2984 total song plays)
• Florida Boys (1487)
• Kingsmen (1307)
• Liberty Quartet (1124)
• Perrys (999)
• Greater Vision (992)
• Blue Ridge Quartet (986)
• Blackwood Brothers (966)
• Kingdom Heirs (875)
• Various Artists (808)

My complete list is here. This sort of thing provides all kinds of surprises; for example, I would have never guessed that I had played Liberty Quartet more than the Perrys, Legacy Five, Signature Sound, and several other groups I’ve been listening to as long as I’ve been listening to Southern Gospel. I’ve only been listening to Liberty for about 6-9 months now. I would also have never guessed that the Blue Ridge Quartet would rank higher on my list than the Mark Trammell Trio, Legacy Five, and the Happy Goodmans.

For those of you who play your music (or a good portion of it) via iTunes, I’d be fascinated to see your statistics. Perhaps you can post links to your profiles in the comments. The link to your publicly viewable profile looks like this: http://www.itunesregistry.com/home/danielmount, except you would insert your username.

While this blog isn’t covering CCM news, this SoGospelNews story transcends genres. As much because I support adoption as anything else, I have been aware of CCM singer Steven Curtis Chapman’s efforts to promote international adoption through Shaohannah’s hope.

According to The Tenneseean, one of the three Chinese girls Chapman’s family adopted, Maria (age 5), was killed in a freak accident while playing outside in their family’s driveway. One of her older brothers was driving a vehicle and did not see her in the driveway.

This is the kind of thing that nobody with a driver’s license wants to think about…but we must, so that hopefully it does not happen closer to home.

EDIT: As my readers remind me, Chapman did write / co-write several Southern Gospel hits, “I Can See the Hand” (Cathedrals) and “Sing With the Angels” (Gold City).

Perhaps this is something that only interests web designers, but I confess to being fascinated by traffic statistics. Since Musicscribe and Averyfineline both posted their recent numbers, and it seems to be a slow news day (so far), for whatever it’s worth, here you go:

• Yesterday: 2,985 unique visits / 6,872 page views
• Last Week: 16,698 unique visits / 44,369 page views
• This month to date: 42,911 unique visits / 104,650 page views
• Last month: 52,377 unique visits / 117,733 page views
• Year to date: 225,799 unique visits / 458,016 page views
• Total to date: 641,252 unique visits / 1,072,595 page views

When I started this website, I hoped that one day I could number my daily readership in the hundreds. Numbers like these boggle my mind.

Thank you all for coming back time and again…and giving me a good reason to do the same.

EDIT (5/21/08, 12:39 PM): It just occurred to me to post total visits / page views since the start of this blog. Turns out I just passed 1 million page views a few weeks ago and didn’t even know it.

The Old Paths’s free download promotion has ended.  Sound clips from each of the songs can still be played on their website, where copies of their recent projects can also be purchased.

I would like to thank Jeremy Peace and the rest of The Old Paths for suggesting and helping me set this promotion up. It was one of the most innovative ways I’ve seen a group introduce themselves and make new fans, such as this one and, may I add, this one.