Positive Daily Commentary on Southern Gospel
In May, I tried switching from a straight blog format to a more news website-based format. The response was mixed but leaned negative. So I’ve had in mind that once I had the time I would eventually switch back to a “real” blog format.
Here it is. We’re back!
I decided that since I was fortunate enough to own and use the most obvious domain name for a Southern Gospel blog - www.southerngospelblog.com - I should use the blog format. It’s as simple as that!
The Dixie Echoes announced today that Tracy Crouch is leaving. I hate to see him go but I can’t blame him; his baby will only be little once.
On a side note, I think he’s the first performer I’ve interviewed to go off the road.
I wish you the best, Tracy!
Gold City was recently featured in this article in the Grand Rapids Press.
The Gold City ensemble spent much of the past year finding itself.
“We kind of figured out who we are, musically, and then let that shine through our style,” baritone singer Daniel Riley said of the Southern gospel group. …
“We’re a new generation, and we’re a little different type of guys, although we’re being true to our roots,” said Daniel Riley, 34, from the group’s Gadsden, Ala., office. … Gold City “kind of broke the mold and started over” with its latest musical collection, “Revival.”
Recently, a friend who listens to a wide range of music, including some Southern Gospel, encouraged me to try a little more musical variety.
With all due respect to him–he had the best of intentions–I can find all the variety I want in Southern Gospel. There are ministering and entertaining songs, acapella songs and big ballads, and lightly and heavily produced albums. When I’m in the mood to listen to super-high tenor singing, or super-low bass singing, I can find both in Southern Gospel…in the same song.
I’m not saying other genres are bad; it’s just that Southern Gospel has enough variety to keep me perfectly content
Last time I posted news about Word’s re-launch of Canaan, it didn’t sound as though Word was putting much effort into getting Canaan back off the ground. A sales rep at CBA’s International Christian Retail Show said that Canaan was in talks with no new artists and that it was quite unlikely that Canaan would pursue digital distribution of their back catalog.
This Reuters article tells another story. Here’s the money quote, from Word’s Senior Vice-President of Marketing, Rod Riley:
Riley said the label is negotiating with other artists and will announce additional signings soon.
Another highlight:
With the relaunch, Word Entertainment becomes the only one of the big three Christian music companies — Word, EMI Christian Music Group and Provident Music Group — to have a Southern gospel division. It’s a move some see as a boost for the genre as a whole.
Even the digital issue is addressed:
Dean Hopper said he’s particularly excited about the label’s digital initiatives. “The digital age is here. How are we going to compete? How are we going to move our music into the future? I think Word has got the best handle on that.”
All in all, it’s good news, very good news, for Southern Gospel.
Periodically, fans on the Singing News Message Board throw out ideas for revamping the Fan Awards. I thought Jeff from Kentucky’s idea here was a different enough spin on the topic to make it worth mentioning.
The gist of it is that after a singer wins an award for a set number of years, say five, they are moved into a different category of “legends” and are ineligible to win the award.
Although my personal preference is to let the fans select whomever they may want for as long as they want, if they are to be re-vamped at some point this is an interesting way it could be done.
There has been more buzz about the Gaither Hymns DVDs than any other Homecoming in recent memory. With 200+ singers present, there were more musicians on this set than any other in recent memory–possibly ever.
There has been some speculation over what the final songlist would be–which songs would make the cut and which wouldn’t. It took some sleuthing, but I finally obtained a copy of the songlist.
Other than to note in passing that I’m disappointed that the Blackwood Brothers’ rendition of “Rock of Ages” didn’t make the cut, I’ll withhold comment. Here’s the songlist for your your perusal:
Amazing Grace
How Great Thou Art
So what do you think of the final song selection? Do you think the videos will live up to the buzz?
Do the newly appearing artists make this a new direction for the Homecoming Videos? Or is this video more of the same, with the new faces being primarily part of the choir?
Note: I know I said I wasn’t going to throw in any other comment, but the songs with previously appearing artists could have turned out better because they are more used to the video format and were less nervous. Now, back to your thoughts…
Here’s the XM announcement:
A last-minute stop has been added to Brian Free & Assurance’s concert schedule – a stop in the Nation’s Capital for a musical performance in XM Radio’s Performance Theater. And, it can be heard live on Friday morning, July 27th, beginning at 11 AM Eastern Time on enLighten XM Channel 34 or DirecTV Channel 828.
Now that makes me wish I had XM.
The other day, a pseudonymous commenter on Averyfineline said this:
And I am sure that some of the singers who have already passed away got credit for songs they did not write. I understand that sometimes they just bought the rights to the songs - such as George Yonce and “Yesterday.”
Well, there are a couple problems with that. First, George Younce didn’t own the song; Les Beasley published it (”Les Beasley Publishing”) and to my knowledge still owns the song.
Now there is no conceivable reason why Beasley, who published the song, would have said that someone else wrote it. If Younce had bought the song from someone else, he would have published it too and made a bit of money from it.
I understand that the background behind this particular song is that Younce wrote it during his brief stint with the Florida Boys. Les Beasley offered him about $50 for the publishing rights on the song, Younce said yes, and the deal was done. [EDIT: A follow-up email to Les Beasley confirmed reader Sony’s comment below that Younce actually wrote the song during his early Cathedrals years.]
Younce wrote numerous songs, both before and after, and could have had no way of knowing he’d just sold what was probably his career best.
Think about it for a minute. When we talk about George, we tend to superimpose his later legendary status on his earlier work. In 1958 or 1959, he wasn’t a marquee name yet. He was just a young man with a good voice trying to make ends meet. Gospel groups then didn’t have a reputation for paying high salaries (unfortunately, little has changed there)–and $50 was a pretty decent sum.
If Younce didn’t have the wherewithal to publish the song, chances are he wouldn’t have had the money to buy the author’s rights either.
One side note: Some people mix up author’s rights with publishing rights. The publisher gets 50% of the income from the song and the authors also get 50%. If there are two authors, each gets 25%. If there are two publishing companies, each publishing company gets 25%.
Most well-known songwriters, except for the few who self-publish successfully, sign a contract with a publishing company to publish their song. They are still recognized as the author and still get the author’s royalties, unless they sell their song for a set amount (as Younce may have done with “Yesterday”). But whether they get a royalty, which is standard operating procedure, or sell it for a flat fee, they still retain their right to be recognized as the author.
Daniel Britt recently posted an interview he did with Ernie Haase. In the interview, Haase mentions that he’s been interested in the idea of a Southern Gospel workout video that fans can exercise along with. That’s a great idea, but I have this feeling that if anyone tried following the moves on their main videos, they’d burn just as many calories as they would with a regular exercise video!
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