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In about three weeks, the Gaither Vocal Band and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound will be releasing a joint CD/DVD release, Together. Since I interviewed Ernie Haase the last time Signature Sound released a project, I took a recent chance to interview the other three members of Signature Sound, baritone Doug Anderson, bass Tim Duncan, and lead singer Ryan Seaton.

The pdf version of this interview can be viewed here.

I just added a page listing all the feature articles Southern Gospel Blog has run. It’s in the sidebar under “Contents.”

Looking back, it amazes me to see how many people I’ve had the chance to interview in the past year–the Ball Brothers, Tracy Crouch, Keith Plott, Matt Felts, Gerald Wolfe, Scott Fowler, Doug Anderson, Ryan Seaton, Tim Duncan, Kyla Rowland, Ernie Haase, and Ed Hill.

What a year! It’s been quite a ride; thank you for coming along!

This is actually yesterday’s post. For some reason, I forgot to put it up; my apologies to those who looked for my daily post yesterday.

North Carolina officials recently renamed the 1.2 mile stretch of Yadkin River Road that connects N.C. 268 and U.S. 321 as the “George W. Younce Memorial Highway.” This article in Caldwell County News-Topic is well-written and more accurate than most articles on Southern Gospel figures in the mainstream media.

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I’m going to be out doing a seminar tomorrow, so I’ll try to make up for that by posting extra today.

I continue this weekly series with the best Kingdom Heirs lineup that never was:

Tenor: Brian Free
Lead: Ryan Seaton
Baritone: Melton Campbell
Bass: Christian Davis

Free’s style is closely akin to Billy Hodges, although I’ve probably reversed the order I should have said that (and compared Hodges to Free).

Over the last several years, Signature Sound’s Ryan Seaton has been developing and polishing a stage presence, range, and breath control that make him the closest modern-day equivalent I could think of to someone with the almost freak-of-nature abilities of Arthur Rice.

For some reason, Melton Campbell’s voice reminds me of Steve French’s. Both have a similar accent (at least to my Yankee ears), range, and pleasant tone.

Jeff Chapman is consistently in subwoofer territory, and from all I can hear is at the top of his game and right on target virtually every time he walks on stage. While other bass singers try for the same notes, few are as low as consistently. One of the few who can equal or surpass Chapman is Christian Davis, currently of Mercy’s Mark Quartet.

So there you have it: A group of four vocalists who have never sung with the Kingdom Heirs yet could preserve that Kingdom Heirs sound.