Positive Daily Commentary on Southern Gospel
John Peterson, who wrote songs like “Surely Goodness and Mercy” and “Over the Sunset Mountains,” passed away on September 20th. During his long career, he wrote over 1,000 Gospel songs, and founded the John W. Peterson Music Company. He is survived by his wife of 62 years and by his three daughters.
Hearing the Colonial City Quartet’s smooth blend last Saturday got me to thinking. Every now and then, a quartet will assemble four voices that harmonize perfectly as one. Quartets with what I describe as “perfect blends” have singers who individually have strong voices, but can blend those voices to produce a distinctive group sound much greater than the sum of the components.
Of course, it isn’t just a certain combination of singers. Even once a group has the right combination of singers, it often takes several years before they sing as one.
Not every quartet ever achieves this perfect blend. (Not every quartet tries; the Kingsmen and Gold City, for example, make a point of spreading the harmony parts octaves apart for the big endings. And mistake me not; I love that form of Southern Gospel as much as any other fan.) But when it happens, it is something worth remembering and preserving.
All 406,047 words in all 1454 posts are © 2009 by Daniel J. Mount.
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