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After my recent post about Lucas Case playing piano for the Kingdom Heirs, a reader of this blog checked with Steve French and found out that Case was filling in, and that 14-year-old piano prodigy Joshua Pope will be filling in for the summer while the Kingdom Heirs seek a permanent pianist.

If Roy Webb desires to stay in Southern Gospel but needs a few months off the road to deal with his father, this could be his chance. Of course, any of numerous other pianists would jump at the chance for this position, so chances are the Kingdom Heirs will come up with someone very good.

Last week, I floated the possibility of augmenting my reviews by adding a rating of how traditional the project is. The purpose of a review is to help the reader know if he or she wants to buy the project, and I think this feature will help. Reader Diana found reading another blog’s review of a Valor project that a reviewer who rates albums she likes highly on their own merits can rate an entirely different project highly, also on its own merits.

So an overall 5-star system (which I might also implement shortly) doesn’t really cut it for telling you whether or not you want the project. I can find something nice to say about just about everything; I’ve only reviewed one CD for this blog where that was a challenge. But just because the project has its nice aspects doesn’t mean that you, the reader, will like it. I think that adding this traditional/progressive rating system will augment your ability to read one of my reviews and know whether or not you would like to purchase the project.

So let’s dive right in.

Extremely Traditional
Definition: Vocals, Piano, and possibly Bass: An album style unchanged from Southern Gospel albums of the 1950s and early 1960s
Examples: Dixie Echoes Sounds of Sunday, Dixie Melody Boys Smooth and Easy, Five Broke Single Boys self-titled project

Very Traditional
Definition: Sounds quite a bit like “extremely traditional,” but with slightly augmented instrumentation
Examples: Legacy Five Heritage series, Greater Vision Church Hymnal series, Dove Brothers Sing the Quartet Way, Mark Trammell Trio Journey Thus Far, Inspirations I Know

Quite Traditional
Definition: A Southern Gospel fan of the ’50s would instantly recognize this as Southern Gospel, but would wonder what had happened to the instrumentation. Mostly old-fashioned arrangements such as would be found on a “very traditional project,” but perhaps with some big ballads
Examples: Cathedrals Alive! Deep in the Heart of Texas, Kingdom Heirs Gonna Keep Telling, Palmetto State It’s Settled, Perrys Life of Love

Somewhat Traditional
Definition: Still distinctively Southern Gospel, but all or nearly all songs have modern instrumentation
Examples: Mark Trammell Trio Once Upon a Cross, Collingsworth Family God is Faithful, Greater Vision Live at First Baptist Atlanta, Gold City Are You Ready, Legacy Five London

Slightly Traditional
Definition: Utilizes enough traditional arrangements to still be traditional, but has some more modern vocals and instrumentation
Example: Brian Free & Assurance Live in New York City, Signature Sound Get Away Jordan

I’m not going to try to define the second half, at least not yet. Just extrapolate in your imagination from the first five.

Slightly Progressive
Example: Dove Brothers Anything But Ordinary, Everything but Typical

Somewhat Progressive
Example: Gold City Revival

Quite Progressive
Example: Mercy’s Mark Something’s Happening

Very Progressive
Example: Crabb Family

Extremely Progressive
Definition: Contemporary Christian Music in all but name
*****

Notice that I do not assign numbers to the scale. Obviously, I number it 1 to 10 mentally, just to preserve my sanity as I try to keep everything straight. But I do not post it publicly because reader dbmurray’s observation that a straight 1 to 10 scale would make it appear that traditional albums were inherently better is well taken. Of course, in the opinion of many Southern Gospel fans, traditional albums are inherently better, but that’s not the point here. The point is to make these reviews more informative and better enable you to decide whether you want to purchase the CD.

So what do you think? Am I on the right track?

It’s being reported on the Singing News forums that Lucas Case (until recently of the Monument Quartet) is currently playing piano for the Kingdom Heirs. No official press release has gone out yet, but I post that link for whatever it’s worth.

EDIT: For whatever it was worth, the thought occurred to me that Steve French has gone on record in the past saying that he does not take group members from other full-time professional groups. So perhaps Case is just filling in.

I feel like running around and shouting, “The Sky is falling! The Sky is falling!”

All right, maybe that’s an exaggeration. But to have both the Florida Boys and Three Bridges disband on the same day, plus more information coming out on JBIF’s disbanding (can’t find the link, but discussion on the Singing News board over whether it was too few dates or whether it was Stephanie wanting to go to college), plus yesterday’s story that Signature Sound is not getting another pianist…sometimes when things like this get going, everything starts happening.

It is official; the Florida Boys will retire in July. Their booking agency, Harper, posted a headline on their website (but no article yet, or at any rate a bad link if there is an article.)

Before Harper posted, I emailed Les Beasley asking if it was official for the record. He replied:

Much to our sorrow the retirement stories are true.

Thanks for your concern and may God bless you and yours,

Les Beasley

One can hardly blame them for going out at the top of their game.

So says Averyfineline. I’ll post more when I know more.

If this happens, my biggest regret would be that I never got to hear Glen Allred sing baritone live and in person.

EDIT: That didn’t take long. It’s up on the Harper Agency website now, though they have a dud link which they’ll hopefully fix soon. At any rate, the headline is there: “Florida Boys to Retire in July.”

According to Ernie Haase, Signature Sound will not be hiring a full-time replacement for Roy Webb. In an email today, he explained: “I like to build my future on the four faces of the singers like the Oak ridge boys and the GVB.”

For the time being, he’s hired Gordon Mote to play piano for Signature Sound during this group’s Summer Tour.

From the perspective of a quartet fan, I like the practice of having the pianist as the member of a group. But I can see the wisdom in Haase’s course. As Greater Vision knows well, the fewer faces you keep before the public, the easier of a time you have keeping the same lineup together. As most any group manager does, Haase will try to maintain a stable lineup with the same four singers. If he succeeds, Signature Sound’s best days are yet to come.

UPDATE: A question some might ask is if Haase is keeping the spot open for Webb to return. In response, Haase says: “Roy was a fine addition to our group for the time he was here, but my decision has nothing to do with him coming back.”

Right now, the Kingdom Heirs have one of the nicest deals possible in Southern Gospel: A steady job (at Dollywood) where the fans come to you, you get a predictable paycheck, and you can go home to your family almost every evening.

Other groups have had theater gigs for a while; Triumphant does this currently, and the Inspirations did for several years in the 1980s. Only time will tell what course Triumphant will take, but the Inspirations ended up choosing to leave the theater and hit the road.

It’s not out of the question that someday, whether by choice or by necessity, the Kingdom Heirs will someday hit the road full-time.

What would happen?

Would such a move cause them to lose some popularity, or would exposure to more dedicated Southern Gospel fans propel them into supergroup status?

Right now, they sing in front of quite a few people every year, 2.5 million by some generous estimates. But numerous Southern Gospel fans have never made the trek to Dollywood, and never seen the Kingdom Heirs come close to their area in one of those rare winter tour dates.

I don’t know the answer, but the questions are interesting thought to ponder.

I’m still working away on some of the CD review ideas I posted a few days ago. In case I don’t get anything done by the end of the day today, I wanted to be sure to get at least something up today, so here’s a link to another blogger’s post:

Legendary Cathedrals tenor Danny Funderburk had a mild heart attack a few days ago. Paul Jackson is keeping this post updated with the current news…and if you visit, you get the extra bonus of some Funderburk stories.

Check out this article featuring an interview with Southern Gospel soloist (and Florida Boys bass) in the Catoosa County News. He talks about himself–

One of the individuals that helped carry the Florida Boys sound for more than 20 years is the legendary bass and baritone singer Buddy Liles. A member of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Liles continues with a solo ministry he began almost a decade ago traveling throughout the country ministering to thousands each year.

In a telephone interview while traveling in New York, Liles said he enjoys the closeness of communication created with the audience as a soloist.

“There really is a lot of variety to my program,” he said.

–and about the future of Southern Gospel:

“I am 100 percent about helping the young people,” he said. “There have been many people that have helped me over the years.”

He said some of those are his heroes Bill Gaither, Jake Hess, and J.D. Sumner.

Liles said he has no worries about the future of Southern gospel music.

“I think it’s here to stay,” he said. “People appreciate people who sing by note and go after pretty harmony.”

Check it out!