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The January 2007 Singing News arrived this week.

Cover: Ernie Haase & Signature Sound made the cover for the second time in the group’s history. The formal pose–which was evidently the one that won the poll Singing News posted on its website–is, in my opinion, a good pick for this audience. The average Singing News reader doesn’t need to be convinced that Signature Sound is exciting; he or she already knows that. The average reader needs to be convinced that Signature Sound is…well, that Signature Sound is what the cover design implies, whatever that is. A classic Southern Gospel quartet with a contemporary look?

Gold City’s ad on page 3 marks the one-year anniversary of Doug Riley’s passing with a small box with Doug Riley’s picture and a caption reading “Remembering Doug Riley October 1970-January 2006.) For some reason, my eyes skipped over it until I was writing the review, on
the third or fourth time through the magazine.

Singing News published their top 40 year end chart on page 20. The Gaither Vocal Band’s “I Will Go On” sits atop the list at #1. The fan-voted song of the year, “He Saw it All” by the Booth Brothers, sits at #13. For whatever it’s worth, songs by male quartets hold only five of the top 20 slots:

• #1 – I Will Go On (Gaither Vocal Band)
• #9 – If it Takes a Valley (Brian Free & Assurance)
• #10 – Do You Want to Be Forgiven (Signature Sound)
• #15 – Don’t Let the Sandals Fool Ya (Triumphant Quartet)
• #20 – I Don’t Wanna Go Back (Kingdom Heirs)

The top three songs were somewhat progressive, which makes the highest-placed traditional quartet song the Triumphant Quartets’ Don’t Let the Sandals Fool Ya.

Stewart Varnado took over the Where are They Now? column this month, and did a good job with an article on former Dixie Echoes tenor Gerry Stroup.

The cover story on Signature Sound starts on page 40. It’s well-written. Especially toward the end of the article, where Ernie says he’d love to see “new groups come along and knock my socks off,” the article covers some of the same ground covered in this blog in the interview posted last month.

The news page mentions Ishee’s departure from the Palmetto State Quartet. It does contain one detail I didn’t see in any of the Internet articles–that Ishee handpicked his successor, Bryan Elliott of the Anchormen. In the days of nearly instantaneous Internet news reporting, the strength of a magazine is putting that little spin on the story or adding that little fact that isn’t covered in the immediate press release.

One of the highlights is D. Ann Bailey’s At Home with Ricky & Kelly Free. Since many people who surf the Internet looking for Southern Gospel news have read her contributions to various websites and message boards, we were looking forward to her first article published in Singing News. Let’s just say that it lived up to the expectations.

The story behind the Inspirations’ current single, “I Have Not Forgotten,” is found on page 80.

In “Conversations with Tim Lovelace” on pages 80 and 81, Lovelace announces that he will be starting a monthly column for Singing News that will be printed upside down.

Various Southern Gospel artists list their New Years’ resolutions on page 98. Stewart Varnado, who has commented in several articles that he doesn’t read sheet music, is making a New Years’ resolution to practice his skills in that area. If he succeeds, one of Southern Gospel’s best pianists will get even better.

Among the highlights on the Singing News Top 80 chart are Signature Sound’s “John in the Jordan,” debuting at #13, and the Inspirations’ “I Have Not Forgotten,” at #21. While the cat is already out of the bag that Jeff & Sheri Easter’s “Over and Over” will take the #1 spot in the February chart, here’s hoping that Signature Sound will be at #1 in March and the Inspirations’ song in April.

The refrigerator door feature on page 134 features various interesting tidbits, one of which was that Perrys pianist Matthew Holt began playing piano for his church at the ripe old age of four.

Chuck Peters has the story: Bill Gaither is about to do a taping with many of the major Southern Gospel groups. This wasn’t exactly a secret; various groups, such as the Ball Brothers and the Collingsworth Family, have referred on their websites to being a part of what for each is their first Gaither taping.

But a few months ago, in another piece of news, the Gaither Homecoming tour announced an “artist reduction.” (No, this does not refer to a weight-loss program!) Fewer artists will regularly appear at the Homecoming Tour concerts; there will be the tour stars, such as the Gaither Vocal Band and Signature Sound, as well as several soloists and perhaps one or two other groups.

So how is one to explain these two moves which appear to be in opposite directions?

I think that Gaither is rethinking the Homecoming series. Perhaps the immediate future of the Homecomings will be fewer artists on a tour, but more artists at tapings. But this could lead to a long-term future for the series, in which the tapings introduce a new generation of artists, who eventually become popular enough to be added to the tour.

This CD is a collection of twelve songs Younce recorded, mostly in the 1970s.

“He is the Dearest Friend” was recorded in 1976 for the Easy on the Ears, Heavy on the Heart album. (The album and song, incidentally, were produced by Bill Gaither.) The song is in the key of A, and Younce sings low A at several points throughout the verses; his voice never sounded better in this subwoofer range than it did at this point in his life, before his heart attack.

“He is the Dearest Friend” and the second song, “Row Your Boat,” were both written by Younce. “Row Your Boat” applies naval imagery to the Christian life. It was originally recorded on the Cathedrals’ 1973 release Seniors in Season.

“He Came Back” was recorded in 1975 on the Cathedrals’ album For Keeps. (For Keeps, incidentally, is to the best of my knowledge the album on which the Southern Gospel classic “Shout over Heaven” was introduced.) This song is one of the highlights of the collection.

The fourth song the collection is the Joel Hemphill classic “Jesus Have Mercy on Me,” from the Cathedrals’ 1974 Our Statue of Liberty album. The first three songs on the project showcase Younce’s low singing; this is the first of several songs that features him carrying a lead, though in a lower key than a lead singer might perform the song. Younce carries the melody through the chorus, with the rest of the group joining in inverted harmony.

“Then I Found Jesus,” the fifth song on the project, comes from A Little Bit of Everything (1970). Younce wrote the song, which became a Cathedrals standard throughout the 1970s.

“Keep on the Firing Line” is one of the few songs from the 1980s in this collection. This song, one of the few songs on the project to feature Kirk Talley’s and Mark Trammell’s voices, was recorded on Trammell’s first album with the group, Telling the World About His Love. Even though this song was recorded only a few years after the others on the project, a difference can already be heard in Younce’s voice quality.

“So I Love Him Dearly” comes from the Cathedrals’ 1978 album One at a Time. Younce wrote the song, which has recently been brought back by Gaither Homecoming tour artist Mike Allen.

The eighth song on the project, “Rumormill,” is distinctively a novelty song. (”If it can be twisted, you can be sure that it will / ‘Cause there ain’t nothing sacred at the rumormill.”) Younce recorded the song on the Cathedrals’ 1983 project Individually. Female backup singers sing the harmony parts; the voices of the other Cathedrals cannot be heard on the song.

Younce wrote the ninth song on the project, “Little Deeds.” It was originally recorded on Welcome to Our World (1972). The Cathedrals had quite a bit of tenor turnover that year. Mack Taunton was the tenor at the beginning of the year, and Roy Tremble ended the year with the job, but between the two, Bobby Clark and Roger Horne filled the tenor position. Either Horne or Tremble sings the tenor part on this song.

“The Cross Was His Own” comes from the Cathedrals’ 1977 project Then and Now.

“Seeing Eye Dog” comes from Seniors in Session (1973). Younce sings solo throughout the song, unlike most of the other songs on the project (where the rest of the quartet joins on the chorus).

The final song on the project is one of Younce’s many renditions of “This Old House.” I believe it came from Seniors in Session. (I must admit I reached this conclusion by process of elimination, as I already have Younce’s other renditions of the song.)

When he recorded these songs, he was in peak voice. Though I haven’t always said this, I have always in the back my mind had the 1970s as the point when he was in peak voice. In the earliest years of his career, his voice had not attained its full depth, and in the final years of his career, various health issues including heart attacks and kidney failure took their toll.

On various message boards and in this blog, I have been known to make the case for George Younce being the best Southern Gospel bass of all time. When I say that, I think of the way his voice sounded at its peak. If you want to hear what his voice sounded like at its peak, listen to songs from this era–and if you want to listen to songs from this era, there is no better place to start than with this collection of some of his best songs from the era, digitally cleaned up and on CD for the first time.

The project is still available at www.georgeyounceonline.com.

Gerald Williams’ Melody Boys Quartet announced a new lead singer, Terry Robertson. Robertson follows in the steps of several noted Melody Boys Quartet lead singers, including Ryan Seaton, Jonathan Sawrie, and Johnny Minick.

Gerald Williams is the longtime bass for the quartet, but has seen quite a bit of turnover in the other positions recently. Terry Robertson’s joining was announced yesterday; tenor Scott Baker joined the group in September, while baritone/pianist Caleb Matheny joined in July. In the last two years, there have been at least three different people have filled each of these parts. If I am not mistaken, Williams now has a completely different group than the group which appeared on his last project.

XM Satellite radio announced its special Christmas programming in this press release:

Beginning at 8:30 PM ET on Sunday – New Year’s Eve, enLighten is presenting more than seven hours of “live concert” recordings, calling it a New Year’s Gospel Jubilee. Preceding it, beginning at 5 PM ET, Paul Heil’s Gospel 2006 In Review will be heard.

Groups to be featured on the New Year’s Gospel Jubilee include the Kingsmen, Cathedrals, Perrys, Bill Gaither Trio, Downings, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, and Greater Vision … plus a couple of  “surprises.”

On Monday, New Year’s Day, enLighten 34 will air a repeat broadcast of its four-hour Singing News Fan Awards production beginning at 3 PM ET, to be followed by the weekly Daniel Britt & Friends program and, at 8 PM ET, a repeat of Paul Heil’s Gospel 2006 In Review.

XM Radio’s enLighten 34 can also be heard via XM Radio OnLine on Channel 34, as well as on DirecTV Channel 828 and AOL Radio.

Southern Gospel dramatized? That’s what you’ll find in this Southwest Florida News-Press article:

…entertainment writer Nicole Hamill gets a surprise visit from her estranged grandfather. Nervous and troubled by the unannounced visit, Nicole struggles to find common ground with the old man she remembers as a stern, aloof figure from her childhood.

But her grandfather starts weaving stories about his short tenure with a high-octane Southern Gospel quartet, and she becomes intrigued in spite of herself.

Evidently Mark McClellan, who wrote the musical, not only managed to base a play on “Southern gospel music made famous by The Statesmen, The Blackwood Brothers, The Stamps, The Blue Ridge Quartet and more,” but he also managed (whether intentionally or not) to pick a famous Southern Gospel last name for his main character.

(This one’s for you, AVFL!)

If I had the power to give anyone any Christmas gift, my twelfth and final gift would go to Greater Vision. I would give them Glenn Dustin. While Dustin blends fine with Legacy Five, he had a near-perfect blend with Greater Vision on the song they recorded together, “He is To Me.” Many people think Greater Vision would be better with a bass, but not just any bass will do; Glenn Dustin would, in my opinion, be a perfect fit for Greater Vision’s sound.

Legacy Five fans need not fear; I have something good in mind for your group, too. Should Glenn Dustin ever leave Legacy Five, I’d be rooting for Randy Byrd to get the job. Byrd, who currently sings with the Blackwood Brothers, has a sound that I think would really complement Legacy Five’s blend.

Now I could keep going! I think David Hester of the Dove Brothers would be a good fit for the Blackwood Brothers’ sound. Who better to sing with the Blackwood Brothers than a bass who sounded like J.D. Sumner? Then, of course, I’d send Burman Porter back to the Dove Brothers.

This is just a snapshot of the chain reaction that happens when a major group hires a singer!

Since this is somewhat connected to the last idea, I’ll post it on the same day.

If I had the power to give anyone any Christmas gift, I would make peace between Bill Gaither and the National Quartet Convention board.  It seems there are as many stories about what went wrong as there are insiders telling the story, but those often malicious rumors have no place in this blog. Whatever the cause, we do know that something has come between them, and I for one would like to see this breach healed to the point where the Gaither artists, and especially Signature Sound, feel free to return to the main stage.

If I had the power to give anyone any Christmas gift, my tenth would be peace between Southern Gospel groups. I can think of several sets of groups that do not like each other, for one reason or another. Perhaps singers left one to start the other, or perhaps something else has come between them. Whatever the reason, my tenth Christmas wish would be for peace on earth, and especially (in the context of this post) between  rival Southern Gospel quartets.

If I had the power to give anyone any Christmas gift, my ninth would go to the Perrys. I would give them, if I could, the finances and equipment to tape a live video.

Their last live video, Absolutely Positively Live (1999), was made back when the Perrys still had a soprano. Yet from all I hear, their concert programs have become even more exciting since they’ve moved to a Happy Goodmans-style mixed quartet sound. It would be nice if the excitement, energy, and enthusiasm they generate on stage was captured on a live recording of their biggest hits–not so much a video that introduces new songs as a video that captures the experience of the Perrys performing their best songs to a live audience.