SouthernGospelBlog.com

Since a commenter on this blog commented that she liked to read about family happenings in Southern Gospel, I prepared this post about Gaither Vocal Band baritone Marshall Hall and his wife Lori having their first child, daughter Presley Hall, recently.

Gaither.com has posted the story of Marshall’s hurried trip back from South Africa, as well as several photos of Presley.

John Scheideman mentioned my new blog in a recent entry on his blog. He said more nice things about me than I deserve. One thing he said was this:

Daniel is always digging for more and more information about the music he loves so much. In that aspect, he reminds me of myself at the same age. He has an advantage I never had back then…he has the resources of the internet at his disposal, and he has made far more connections in the gospel music world that I made when I was 20.

And one of those connections was John himself. I learn something new every week in the history section of the Southern Gospel Nuts message board. There is no way I would know anywhere near what I know about the field were it not for the generosity of Dean Adkins, David Bruce Murray, John Crenshaw, and John Scheideman with their encyclopedic knowledge of our genre.

A note to any who want to know what know about Southern Gospel: When any of these men speak, listen closely.

The blog is back up and running. The problem that took it out for the afternoon was caused by the hosting company and was nothing I had any control over.

Thank you for your patience. I’ll get some observations posted as soon as I can. In the meantime, check out this article about the induction of Doug Oldham and the Hinsons into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.

In an email update mailed yesterday, Jerry Pilgrim of the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet announced that the quartet would be going into the studio in November and December to record what will be their first new project in about two years. (For those who care about such things, their project will be recorded at GAT3 Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina.)

This recording is an interesting case study in personnel turnover. Lead singer Wyatt Wilson is now the only group member who also appeared on the previous recording. The Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet that recorded Restoration in 2005 (a fine project, by the way), was tenor Robbie Hiner, lead Wyatt Wilson, baritone Jeff Stanley, and bass Jeff Pearles. Robbie Hiner is now an executive with Song Garden Music Group; Jeff Stanley has (according to the quartet’s most recent email update) accepted a position with Liberty University, and Jeff Pearles is now bass with the King’s Heralds Quartet, a group whose schedule is nearly entirely filled with Seventh-Day Adventist venues.

Two years later, as the quartet prepares for their sixth album, their lineup consists of former Legacy Five tenor Tony Jarman, lead singer Wyatt Wilson, newly joined baritone Ron Grimes, and bass Jerry Pilgrim.

Although the lead singer has still stayed the same, a group with this much personnel change has to effectively start over with every album, winning (or retaining) fans of previous versions of the quartet. But the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet has assembled a lineup of extremely talented men, and I have no doubt that they will be able to re-establish themselves as a quartet with a smooth blend and a trademark sound.