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The Ball Brothers, who toured with Signature Sound this summer, officially launched their message board this evening.

Stop by and check it out; it’s really quite fun to browse. All the members of the group active in answering fans’ questions. Daniel Ball is the most active of the brothers, followed by Andrew and Josh.  Stephen drops in every few days. They don’t just limit their activity to answering direct questions–they participate in the games, the prayer requests, and the general discussion.

But that isn’t all. There is an added bonus: SarahJ89, an active board member, is one of the Ball Brothers’ younger sisters. She said she likes coming on the board to see what people say about her big brothers. She even has a few stories she could tell on them if you ask nicely enough!

Sometimes I think Averyfineline revels in his reputation in the Southern Gospel blogosphere. He’s not afraid to say or print just about anything unless it could get him into legal trouble. But every now and then, he’ll post something that soars above the daily rhetoric of scandals and flat notes. Yesterday’s post was just that.

He has made no secret of the fact that he does not like Roger Bennett’s voice. I have been quietly amused by his opinion, because I think Bennett’s voice was one of the best the Cathedrals ever had, as well as the best voice in Legacy Five. (Probably at least half the reason I purchase Legacy Five albums is to hear Roger Bennett’s vocal solos.)

In his post, he talks about getting a Cathedrals concert poster autographed at a concert shortly after Roger Bennett had temporarily come off the road due to cancer. After mentioning that he has yet to get Bennett’s autograph on the poster, he transitions into discussing the need to lay aside the critical approach of looking at Southern Gospel and simply appreciate the human courage and endurance behind the songs. Then he returns to the concert poster motif in his closing words:

…faith still wears a deeply human face in ordinary life. We may understand it better by and by, but it sure doesn’t hurt that there’s a song to sing or play or listen to or hum in the darkness of the soul’s long night to help us cope in the meantime. I think I’ll go hang up that poster now. And hope for another day, another concert, another chance to get that last signature.

If there was a Pulitzer Price for “Best Southern Gospel Post of the Year,” this post would get my vote.

The Dove Brothers posted audio from their new project, Never the Same, yesterday. It seems like an excellent project, but appears to feature David Hester much less than their other recent project, Shout it Out.

That does not come as any surprise. A project of new songs rarely features the bass singer as much as a CD of classic songs. On a project of classic songs, the bass is featured on the verses or chorus for somewhere near half of the songs. But on a project of new songs, the bass singer is usually fortunate to get one or two solos (unless, of course, he happens to be the group manager).

These are just simple facts that most fans of Southern Gospel know. But one thing that’s not as often addressed is why. Why do the projects of classic songs feature the bass singer more often than the projects of new songs?

Perhaps it is because the classic songs became classics because they feature the bass, and that’s what the fans like to hear.