SouthernGospelBlog.com

A couple of stories I didn’t get to this week:

• I decided to revise my rating of the Kingsmen’s new album When God Ran. I knew right off that it was very good, and gave it four stars, but I decided to bump it up to five stars (of 5). I am hesitant to hand out a 5-star rating until I know the project sounds as good on the 25th spin as on the first. This project does, and should go down as one of the year’s most solid releases.
• Charlie Waller’s New Florida Boys have lined up a dinner theater gig. Averyfineline has the story. Sounds like they will be at the Showplace Dinner Theater in Pigeon Forge, TN. Of course, it’s not Florida, but for whatever it’s worth, Palmetto State Quartet left South Carolina years ago.
• Verizon Wireless is sponsoring “How Sweet the Sound,” a competition to earn cash prizes and the title of best choir in America.
• The Collingsworth Family sent out a press release announcing that they will be the featured artists on Paul Heil’s Gospel Greats the weekend of August 8-10.
• Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s radio single “Help is On the Way” hit #1 on the Singing News September 2008 airplay chart. At #2 is the song I’m hoping makes #1 next month, “Yaweh.”
• Armond Morales and today’s Imperials have settled their disagreements over who can use the name; Morales relinquished rights to the name.

Stories to watch this week:

• Be watching SG websites for reports on Jason Waldroup’s final concert with Greater Vision, and Jacob Kitson’s first full concerts with the group.
• Be watching for updates on (and keep praying for) Lamp Music Group president Mike Pillow, who was in a motorcycle accident several weeks ago. His breathing condition deteriorated this week, and he had to return to an intensive care unit.

Upcoming reviews:

• 8/8/08: Keith Plott, There is One
• 8/8/08: Gordon Mote, Don’t Let Me Miss the Glory (bumped up a week)
• 8/15/08: Kim Hopper, I Just Wanted You to Know
• 8/22/08: Inspirations, How Great It Is

Wes Hampton recently went to a Steve Green concert. During the concert, Green called him up to the stage for a duet on “It is Well With My Soul.”

Hampton posted a video of the song:

Seeing this got me thinking that a “three tenors” concert series featuring Green, Hampton, and one other former Gaither Vocal Band tenor (Larnelle Harris, David Phelps, or Terry Franklin) would probably produce some great nights of music.

Over at Averyfineline, frequent commenter CVH comments on a current story, but starts an interesting rabbit trail:

Really, with the possible exception of Michael Card, does anyone consider songwriters to be theologians? Most are nothing more than conveyors of truth as they understand it.

So do we consider songwriters theologians?

More important, should we? Do we have an adequate understanding of how much our theology is impacted by our favorite songs?

In the past few years, I have learned some things about recording artists that I never realized before. The main thing that surprised me is that the artists purchase their CDs like any other distributor. Maybe others aren’t as dense as I am but recently I was talking to a recording artist who told me that, often, at concerts where a free will offering is taken, people don’t give in the offering because they plan to buy products. That hit a chord with me since I’ve been guilty of doing the same thing. She went on to say that people don’t understand that these groups need the offering too.

One of my concerns with giving an offering is I’m never sure how much of the offering will really go to the group that’s performing. I do occasionally give money in the offering plate (and I should mention here that supporting the churches who bring in gospel groups is necessary too) but in the instances where I want to make sure the money goes to the group, I will add a little extra to my check or credit card purchase and tell the group they can keep the change.

There’s been a lot of talk about groups disbanding due to funds to keep going. Although I realize a lot of people don’t have tons of money to give at concerts, and I really appreciate the groups who are willing to do concerts for a free will offering in order to allow more people to attend, I hope that those who can afford to do so will help to support these groups who are trying to balance ministry with livelihood.

A couple of stories that didn’t get mentioned earlier this week:

• Gaither.com staffer Emily Sutherland recaps the Gaither Vocal Band Reunion taping here.
• Wes Hampton shares his take (and a couple of photos) on his blog.
• David Bruce Murray posts that a Bluegrass song will be the next #1 on the Singing News chart. The most likely song to move into that spot is Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s current top 5 single “Help is On the Way.”
• The Dan Keeton Quartet has had its first lineup change; tenor/manager Dan Keeton announced that Chris Little (baritone) has left the group. Dan is taking auditions, and encourages baritones to send demos to dan@dankeeton.com or 1552 S St Hwy 207, Rush, KY 41168.

One more thing. This is the first time I’ve done this, but here is a preview of the next few weeks on our weekly Friday CD reviews feature:

• 8/1/08: Charlotte Ritchie, Bridges Over Blue
• 8/8/08: Keith Plott, There is One
• 8/15/08: Gordon Mote, Don’t Let Me Miss the Glory

Dan Keeton (of the Dan Keeton Quartet) recently launched SGTracks.com, a site which he hopes will become a one-stop source for Southern Gospel soundtracks. Currently the only tracks available are from his old groups (Keetons and Dixie Melody Boys) and his current group (Dan Keeton Quartet), but he hopes to expand the selection eventually. He invites groups interested in selling their tracks on his website to contact him at dan@dankeeton.com.

A couple of weeks ago, I set up an account at Pandora Radio, www.pandora.com. It is a free online radio service that plays a customized mix of songs based on songs you’ve said you like (or don’t). You set up an account by defining one or more artists whose style you consistently enjoy, and refine results in the future by clicking thumbs up or thumbs down when you particularly like a selected song.

Their Southern Gospel selection is decent, though with a rather heavy focus on Homecoming artists (as would be expected from a project that is not SG-specific). Crossroads artists are featured from time to time; Daywind artists seem to appear more rarely than their popularity in the genre would suggest.

One tip: Don’t click thumbs up on songs you like but only want to hear occasionally. Songs you’ve marked thumbs up are circulated back into the rotation frequently, and the only way to break that is by clicking thumbs down, which more or less removes the song from rotation altogether.

Pandora doesn’t have a wide enough selection to supplant live365 stations and streams of physical AM/FM stations yet, but it is based on an interesting concept and seems to be an enjoyable site.

SGConcerts.com, the website I launched a week or two ago, is off to a running start. We have reviews up from five of our contributors to date. Some of our contributors live in areas (Oregon/Idaho, California, etc.) where Southern Gospel groups rarely come, so they will only be able to contribute occasionally, but this is a decent start.

Some of the first posts have come under criticism in certain quarters for being too positive. Is it not better to err on the side of being positive than going to the opposite extreme? Besides, what is the point of going to a concert if there isn’t a decent chance you’ll enjoy it? And if one of my contributors enjoyed a concert, I sure hope that would come through in their review.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about what it would sound like if the Booth Brothers covered an entire Cathedrals album, Easy on the Ears, Heavy on the Heart. This was supposed to start a weekly, multi-part series, but then there were a couple of busy weeks in Southern Gospel, so that fell by the wayside.

Things have calmed down enough that I can do the second post in this series. Imagine what it would be like if…the Gaither Vocal Band covered the Happy Goodmans’ album Chosen.

Chosen is a mostly forgotten entry in the Happy Goodmans’ discography, since it was recorded after Howard and Vestal left the group. The lineup is Rusty Goodman, his daughter Tanya, Sam Goodman, and Michael English. The songs:

• “The Cloud He’s Coming Back On.” The Kingsmen and Triumphant Quartet have both recorded this within the past year, but a GVB rendition would probably be solid enough and different enough to be worth a listen.
• “I Bowed On My Knees and Cried Holy.” Wait a minute, the GVB has already done this song. It would be a little too obvious to feature Guy Penrod, but either a Wes Hampton or a Marshall Hall feature would add an interesting twist to the song.
• “Home.” The GVB has also already covered this song, also, fairly recently. It fits their style.
• “The Message of His Coming.” This catchy song is the primary reason this album remake pairing came to mind. Someone–whether the GVB or another group–needs to bring this song back.
• “He Speaks to Me.” This would probably be a good point to feature Marshall Hall.
• “Look for Me.” This song, originally featuring Tanya Goodman Sykes, would make a great Wes Hampton solo.
• “Sail on Over.” This group-harmony song gives a nod to the convention song style.
• “He Chose Me.” I think this originally featured Rusty Goodman; it would fit Marshall Hall’s style.
• “Somebody Prayed for Me.” Guy Penrod could be featured here.
• “Someone to Care.” This would be a good feature for Bill Gaither.

Last week, Crossroads announced a re-launch of their website. Here’s the press release:

Crossroads Entertainment & Marketing has just launched a new web site and online store featuring thousands of Southern Gospel and Bluegrass songs and accompaniment tracks, available both as physical CD’s and digital downloads. Besides serving traditional CBA and secular retailers, Crossroads can now serve the needs of individual customers buying from the comfort of their own homes. The new site and store are the result of months of planning and implementation by Crossroads, one of Southern Gospel’s leading marketing companies. The website includes information about recording, track leasing, radio, labels and artists, and publishing, as well as the store. Crossroads serves as the record label to many of today’s leading Southern Gospel and Bluegrass artists as well as the distribution arm for several independent groups and partnering labels.

Crossroads executive Mickey Gamble and Sr. V.P. of Sales and Marketing, Scott Wagner have worked closely with programmers and designers to create a site that is visually inviting and simple to use. The digital download function of the store features the ability to purchase as full album releases or individual songs, and Singing News soundtracks as individual tracks. According to Gamble, “This is a first in the industry. Soundtrack users can listen to and purchase exactly the version and key they want for only $1.99, rather than having to buy the whole set at a much higher cost.”

According to Wagner, “The site is an evolving process that will constantly be updated with information and an ever expanding music library. Our goal to have a dynamic site so that people will visit often to see what’s new with our community and artists and, also, to know they can have an easy and secure shopping experience.”

“This is the beginning of a new era for Crossroads”, states Crossroads executive Chris White, “For the officers of the company, Mickey Gamble, Jeff and Vickie Collins, myself and all of our staff, this is something that makes us feel like we can finally service the world with our artists and our products, and in a matter of minutes. As we move from the world we’ve always known in our daily business, to the new world of technology, having these new pieces in our business ‘tool box’, will keep us and our music growing.”
Over the next few weeks and months, it is the company’s intention to make the online store Southern Gospel’s one-stop shopping for digital distribution, allowing other companies and independent artists the opportunity to present their products as digital downloads to a world wide market. In the August issue of the Singing News Magazine, Kenneth Kirksey will feature an article discussing how downloading music is becoming a standard in today’s world of purchasing products. The article will focus on the ease and safety of internet buying. To visit the new Crossroads site and store, simply log onto www.crossroadsmusic.com.

Enough labels and groups have started making downloads of current product available that making current releases available for download is nothing new. The news here is in their intent to eventually upload not only their own back catalog, but the back catalogs of other artists (table projects) and even labels. That’s a vision I’ve been hoping someone would catch for several years, and I’m glad to see Crossroads getting the idea and working to implement it.