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Paul Heil’s weekly program The Gospel Greats has been voted the favorite syndicated radio program in the Singing News Fan Awards for years. Unfortunately, no stations in my area carry the song, so I listen online. Here’s a link to a station that plays the program on demand.

About 44 minutes into the second hour of this week’s program, Paul Heil plays Signature Sound’s new radio single, “John in the Jordan.” This was a good pick for a radio single, because it accurately captures Signature Sound: Quartet music that is different than anything you’ve heard before while still having an unmistakably traditional feel.

The song, incidentally, features Ernie Haase on the first verse, but Ernie and lead singer Ryan Seaton trade off lines on the second verse. Bass Tim Duncan is featured on the chorus. After two verses and a bridge, the song transposes from G to A, permitting Duncan to hit a low A.

The song is quite enjoyable and should do well for Signature Sound. The chorus leaves no question that it’s classic quartet music, but it’s both traditional and innovative at the same time. It takes a quartet of Signature Sound’s stature to pull that off.

Danny Jones from the Singing News has a blog called Danny’s Diary. In his most recent post, he asks two questions: Name your two favorite live albums, and name the single biggest news stories of 2006.

The two live albums that I consider to be the all-time greatest are the Cathedrals’ Live in Atlanta and the Kingsmen’s Live at the University of Alabama.

Honorable mention goes to the Blackwood Brothers’ In Concert, Greater Vision’s Live at First Baptist Atlanta, the Happy Goodmans’ Wanted Live, the Kingsmen’s Live…Naturally and Big and Live, and Signature Sound’s Stand By Me…Live (their only live CD thus far, to my knowledge.)
Now let’s look at the biggest news stories of 2006. I would have to say that the three biggest stories thus far are (1) Anthony Burger’s sudden death on stage, (2) Doug Riley’s sudden death in a car accident, and (3) the lineup change in the Perrys (lead singer Loren Harris left and was replaced by baritone Joseph Habedank, who was in turn replaced by Nick Trammell).

There were several lineup changes in popular groups, including several in groups consistently nominated in the top 5 or 10 of Singing News Fan Favorites in their categories. But the Perrys were the most popular group (group and members consistently voted #1 in various categories) to have significant lineup changes this year.

I think it’s a little early to ask for the biggest stories of 2006. The year isn’t over yet! There are over two full months yet to go–but hopefully nothing will happen that will top the first two stories, at any rate.

Stop by Danny’s blog and let him know how you would answer his questions.

Gold City recently posted a slide show of photos from a recent sound check. Whoever wrote the captions has quite a sense of humor!

Singing News is reporting that Steve Ladd, tenor singer for Gold City, has been hospitalized with a high fever. Keep him in your prayers.

Edit 10/21/06: In an email from Gold City, they mentioned that Kingdom Heirs tenor Billy Hodges filled in for their Renfro Valley, Kentucky concert last night. Additionally, those fortunate enough to live anywhere within reasonable driving distance of Dacula, Georgia will get a real treat: Jay Parrack will fill in at tonight’s concert.

Edit 10/23/06: Gold City’s most recent email update announced that Steve is recovering, on his way home, and should be back on stage soon.

Although Christian Davis has spent less than ten years in Southern Gospel music, he already has quite a resumé. He sang with the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet from 2000 through 2003, at a point when they had one of the smoothest blends in Southern Gospel. He was a member when the group won its only Singing News Fan Award thus far, Favorite Horizon Group of 2001. Christian left in 2003 to form his own group, the Christian Brothers Quartet. This group disbanded in 2005; he joined his current group, Mercy’s Mark Quartet, in 2006.

Davis released his first solo project last month. Of the ten songs on the project, Make it Real, at least eight should already be familiar to an average Southern Gospel fan.

The project starts with a Gaither classic, “Thanks to Calvary.” Davis’ rendition appears to be an unspoken tribute to George Younce’s rendition, proving that Davis did not waste his time singing backup vocals and filling in for the Old Friends Quartet. I have never heard a singer come any closer to Younce’s classic rendition than Davis does here.

The second song on the project is the classic Fanny Crosby hymn “My Savior First of All.” Davis’ early work with the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet created an initial impression that he was a low-note specialist who would think nothing of rattling the subwoofers with an A-flat below low C at the end of every other song. But Davis’ rendition of this hymn shows that he has a pleasant solo voice as well. The song is keyed in E-flat with a transposition to E, which leaves him hitting a high note of the B below middle C. This is the range in which a baritone would typically perform the song.

When many bass singers are in the higher register of their range, they sing each note in a way that leaves no question that they are a bass singer. (Burman Porter is a good example of this style.) Christian Davis, though, takes a different approach to singing a melody. He sings it in a straightforward fashion, evidently confident enough of his own abilities that he feels no need to convince the listener with every note that he is a bass singing high. The result is a pleasing voice timbre that George Younce mastered, but few other singers achieve.

The third song on the project is “We Seek Your Face.” To my knowledge, this Rodney Griffin song was first recorded by Eric Bennett with the Kingdom Heirs on their 2000 project City of Light. Jeff Chapman, who replaced Bennett with the Kingdom Heirs, recorded it with Greater Vision in 2003 on their Quartets project. Christian uses the soundtrack from the Greater Vision Quartets project. Interestingly, Christian himself appeared on Quartets, singing a different song, “Crown of Bright Glory.”

The fourth song on the project is a song entitled “It Matters to Him About You.” This is one of the two songs on the project that is not already familiar. Unfortunately, this project has no liner notes, so I do not know who wrote the song or whether it is original to the project.

A choir joins Davis on “The Love of God.” Christians’s bass solo on this song was bears the imprint of influence from George Younce.

Davis turns in able performances of three other classic Southern Gospel songs, “He Touched Me,” “Beyond the Sunset,” and “Beulah Land.” “Beyond the Sunset” is another song that is often identified with George Younce. In his rendition, Davis delivers the narration with a voice quality very similar to Younce. However–unlike on his excellent renditions of “Thanks to Calvary” and “The Love of God”–Davis’ rendition of the narration doesn’t quite seem to capture the pathos that made George Younce’s version unforgettable.

Beyond any doubt, the most impressive vocal feat on the entire project is Davis’ a capella rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer.” Davis sang all four vocal parts, from tenor to bass. I am serious in stating that he sang tenor. He didn’t just sing the tenor part in a lead singer’s range. The song is keyed in A; the tenor part focuses on the fifth interval, so he sang the E above high C on an ongoing basis throughout the song. He sang the G above high C at several points in the song, with a smooth voice quality more reminiscent of Roger Bennett than of current Mercy’s Mark tenor Brent Mitchell.

Davis’ rendition does not neglect fans of his low notes, either. He hits the A two and a half octaves below middle C at several points towards the end of the song (including ending on that note). In other words, he sings one note short of three octaves in the song. The blend toward the end, where the high and low notes are two and a half octaves apart, is simply amazing. It’s a better quartet sound than many quartets, including Davis’ own group (Mercy’s Mark) have. But to listen while realizing that that one voice produced the entire range of sounds, from a low contrabass to a reasonably high tenor, is a feeling that I simply cannot put into words.

The project closes with the title track, “Make it Real.” Unfortunately, since this project has no copyright information in the liner notes, I can’t give much on the background of this song.

The project was produced by Wesley Pritchard and Davis’ wife Sophia Davis. The graphic design is more professional than most table projects. The liner notes are also well done, although copyright information on the individual songs is regrettably omitted.

Most solo projects by bass singers that I’ve heard seem to have a tension between focusing on rattling the subwoofer with incredibly low notes and with carrying a smooth melody. Many bass solo projects lean toward the subwoofer end of the equation, sacrificing a smooth melody for the subwoofer notes. However, the bass singer’s emphasis on low notes, which works so well in a quartet setting, does not translate as well into a solo project, where there are no other singers to carry the necessary smooth melodies.

Some bass singers adapt better than others to the different requirements of a solo recording. Davis seems to have done remarkably well with this project. He has mastered the art of carrying a smooth melody to an extent that his performances on Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet and Mercy’s Mark projects have not fully revealed. His current group, Mercy’s Mark, would do well to grasp his abilities in this regard and feature him more in the future.

I am not one to dispense high praise casually. But this project deserves it, so let me conclude with this: This is the best solo project by a bass singer that I have ever heard.

We have a special treat today; Dixie Echoes bass Tracy Crouch agreed to be interviewed for this blog. He sang bass with the Florida’s Diplomat Quartet from 1997 through 2000. He attended Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Oklahoma studying for a B.S. degree in Music Ministry. He joined the Dixie Echoes in September 2004, singing his first concert with them on September 20, 2004 at the Suwanee River Jubilee. He has a blog of his own, cajunbass.blogspot.com.

1. Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your background?
I grew up in the small town of Iota which is in southwest Louisiana. Iota is located in the heart of “Acadiana”, or “Cajun Country” so I grew up eating ALOT of crawfish, (which for ya’ll that don’t know, it is ‘crawfish’ NOT ‘crayfish’, or ‘crawdads’!!) jambalaya, etouffee (a-too-fay), gumbo, cracklins,and all that other great food that the cajun’s are known for. So naturally I have a great appreciation for authentic cajun food and the culture surrounding it. Something we didn’t have alot of was southern gospel music. Due to the large influence of Catholicism it just wasn’t a hot spot for quartet singing. But thanks to my dad’s love for southern gospel thats all I remember hearing growing up. Dad always had plenty of records by the Speer Family, Gaither Trio, Statesmen, Blackwood Brothers, Doug Oldham, Danny Gaither, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and many others.

2. Do you play any musical instruments?
Yes. I started in junior high school on the french horn and eventually moved to the baritone/euphonium, trumpet, and finally to the tuba where I’ve been ever since. I played the tuba all through my collegiate career and really enjoyed it. It’s a fun instrument!

3. What are your hobbies?
Really singing has been my hobby. It was what I always did for fun. Now I just get paid to do it! I really don’t have anything else that I just love to do on the side. I would enjoy playing in a small brass ensemble or community orchestra but our schedule just doesn’t lend itself to that.

4. Who are your favorite groups and your favorite singers?
Really too many to list but here are some of my favorites: Speer Family, Gaither Trio, Dixie Echoes, Florida Boys, Goodmans, Palmetto State, Gold City, Booth Brothers, Hoppers, Rebels with Jim Hamill and London Parris, and really many, many more. As far as individual singers I enjoy George Younce, Tennessee Ernie Ford, JD Sumner, George Beverly Shea, Danny Gaither, Larry Ford, Ronnie Booth II, London Parris, Tim Riley, Guy Penrod, and again many, many more.

5. Other than singing bass, what are your responsibilities on the road?
Driving the bus, washing the bus, setting up and tearing down equipment

6. After concerts, people sometimes walk up to singers and say, “You sound just like…” If someone wanted to give you a high compliment, who would they compare your singing to?
I’ve had this happen several times. The ones I hear the most are George Younce and Billy Todd. I take both of those as very high compliments.

7. On the same topic, what is the most unusual comparison someone has made with your voice?
I really haven’t had an unusual vocal comparison, but someone told me not too long ago that I looked like Theodore Roosevelt. That took me by surprise!

8. What is the funniest thing a fan has said to you or a member of your group after a concert?
Right after the new King Kong movie came out I had a gentleman speaking with me at the table before the concert. He started talking about that movie and informed me that this new movie was “all fake”, but the original “was real”. He went on to tell me about the giant ape that escaped and how much trouble he caused. He was as serious as could be! At first I thought he was just kidding but as he continued it was pretty obvious he was a believer!!

9. What are your favorite and least favorite things about spending so much time on the road?
I really enjoy traveling and seeing many interesting places (and people). I hate having to miss family gatherings and now that I’m married I really miss spending time with my wife.

10. If you could not sing bass, what part would you want to sing?
Probably tenor. I know, I know…every tenor wants to be a bass, and every bass wants to be a tenor. But you have to admit these a pretty fun parts.

11. What is the lowest note you have ever hit? What is the lowest note you can predictably hit?
I think I’ve hit a low G a few times, Probably more A flats trying to hit the G’s LOL. Consistently I can do a low C-Bb. You really don’t need more than that. I’d rather spend time singing than growling.

12. If you could assemble an all-time all-star quartet, who would you select for the various positions?
That’s a tough question, I know its been hashed over and over again on the message boards. It very possibly could change next week but this week I feel like Larry Ford-Tenor, Dale Shelnut-Lead, Mark Trammell-Baritone, Jim Wetherington-Bass, Hovie Lister-Piano

13. Suppose that you were looking for a bass job in a quartet. One day your phone rings, and it’s Martin Cook offering you the job of singing bass for the Inspirations. Right after you hang up, Ernie Haase calls you and offers you the job of singing bass for Signature Sound. Which would you choose?
Well I’m not a real fan of mountains, I’m a flat lander, so I don’t think Bryson City would work for me. So if I had to make a choice between these two groups I’d go with an easier elevation in Ohio. But…well….I know I could never get my hair to look like that and I’d have to improve my cardio to keep up with the rest of them.

Thank you, Tracy!

Ronnie Page has an excellent column by this name in U.S. Gospel News. Here is the link, but since the future of the newspaper and thus the website is uncertain, I will make mention of some of the best here.

Dentist’s Hymn: Crown Him With Many Crowns
Tailor’s Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy
Optometrist’s Hymn: Open My Eyes That I Might See
Massage Therapist’s Hymn: He Touched Me
Pilot’s Hymn: I’ll Fly Away
Parolee’s Hymn: I’m Free Again
Gossip’s Hymn: Pass It On

That prompted me to compose my own list of Southern Gospel songs that fit various professions:

Car Salesman’s Hymn: Little is Much
Car Technician’s Hymn: You Better Run
Argument Hymn: He Said
Car Accident Survivor’s Song: Until I Start Looking Ahead
Dynamite Technician’s Hymn: The Walls Come Down
Groundskeepers’ Hymn: The Ground is Level
Psychologist’s Hymn: I’m Losing My Mind
Volunteer’s Hymn: Excuses
Paparazzi Hymn: Trying to Get a Glimpse
Nursery Supervisor Hymn: We Will Be Changed

I launched this blog on September 18, 2006, the Monday after the National Quartet Convention. How did the first month go?

The numbers are in. This blog was visited 10,292 times in the first month; it has had nearly 17,000 page views. Most visitors, incidentally, do not need to view more than one page because all the recent stories are on the same page.
Though these numbers are interesting, there is one set of numbers that I find even more interesting. My host provider is able to track what percentage of visitors are referred from other domains. It has been a relatively small number from the start; 1/3 of the visitors the first two weeks (33.3% each week) were referred from another website. But those numbers decreased to 13.4% the first week and 10.8% the fourth week.

That means that now roughly 9/10 of the people who stop by type in the domain directly or use a bookmark. And that’s nice to know, because people who have bookmarked the site or remember to type in “www.southerngospelblog.com” are far more likely to return–and that makes numbers like I’ve seen this month sustainable on a long-term basis.

So to all of you who stop by on a regular basis to see what I have to say, let me say this: When I started this blog, I hoped I would find at least a small audience that would stop by regularly. But I must say that the numbers of visitors and hits I have in this first month alone are more than double what I was hoping for once this got established. I can sit here and write all I want, but it is a complete waste of time unless some of you stop by and read it. So I thank you very much.

Was George Younce the greatest bass singer of all time?

In a word, yes.

I am finding that some of the most insightful posts in Southern Gospel right now are coming from The Inquiring Mind. In a recent post, he makes the case against George being the greatest. With all due respect to one of the most knowledgeable Southern Gospel historians out there, let’s look at some of his arguments.

First off is that people who think of Younce as the greatest haven’t heard the other great bass singers:

And leaving aside the obvious talents of great bass singers such as Arnold Hyles, Jim Waites, and Aycel Soward, does anyone seriously believe that Younce was the superior talent to men such as JD Sumner, London Parris, Jay Simmons, Herschel Wooten, Bill Lyles, Jim “Big Chief” Wetherington, Herman Harper, Bob Thacker, Armond Morales, Noel Fox, Billy Todd, Doug Jones, Gerald Williams, Brock Speer, or even Chalmers Walker?

Perhaps some of these men…but certainly not the majority of them. I would be willing to wager that most of the supporters of the idea that Younce is the greatest of all never even HEARD of most of those men. What basis, then, does someone have for making such a claim without the ability to make a fair comparison?

I can’t speak for others who perceive Younce as the greatest, but I know that as for myself, I have heard and have songs, albums, or CDs in my collection featuring the bass voices of Arnold Hyles, Jim Waites, J.D. Sumner, London Parris, Jay Simmons, Bill Lyles, “Big Chief” Wetherington, Herman Harper, Bob Thacker, Armond Morales, Billy Todd, Gerald Williams, and Brock Speer. I’m not positive I have heard the others mentioned, although chances are I have.

So I think I have the ability to make a fair comparison.

Inquirer1 does make an interesting point in that Younce was not recognized as the greatest when he was at the top of his game in the 1960s and 1970s.

When Younce really entered gospel music’s “big leagues” and joined the Blue Ridge Quartet in the late 1950s, he was in one of gospel’s most popular and visible quartets, and yet, despite his voice being at its’ arguable best, no one even thought of Younce as among the very best basses. The names mentioned most in that regard were JD, Chief, Morales, even Parris(from some!), but Younce was never ever regarded as the best. This despite the fact that he could probably do what he’s so adored for today as well(if not better)than he could at any time. He just was not seen in that light.

That is a valid consideration, but it is worth remembering that becoming the “greatest” isn’t something that happens overnight; it is a verdict rendered at or after the culmination of a lifetime on the road.

Having said all that, why do I believe George Younce was the greatest bass singer of all time?

I believe that the greatest bass singer is the one who best connects with his audience, whether on stage or on record. And in that regard, I believe that George Younce was the complete package.

Until his last years, he could rattle the floors with a double low A-flat. And on the very next song, he would sing a melody in a range which bass singers normally leave to the baritones or lead singers. He knew how to read a crowd like few others and did a masterful job emceeing concerts. And his recitations had an emotive quality that would still send chills down the backs of his fellow group members, who heard him do them every night.

And then, when the concert was over, many are the stories of the little kindnesses he showed to his many fans, young and old, who were waiting for a chance to meet their hero.

So why do I believe he was the greatest? It wasn’t because he was the lowest singer ever. He may not have been the most musically talented, either. Quite possibly, other bass singers were even more entertaining. But George Younce connected with the hearts of his listeners in a way that few have equaled and none have surpassed.

Let’s welcome a new Southern Gospel blogger, A.B. Kendall. He evidently works on the Southern Gospel Music Association and Grand Ole Gospel Reunion websites, and just launched his own blog, http://abkdal.blogspot.com/. If he continues as strongly as he’s started, his blog will shortly be added to my daily “read” list.