SouthernGospelBlog.com

Every year I’ve done this, I’ve attempted to think outside the box. And I am going to do it again here, since in this post, I’ll discuss my own blog.

Of all the things that could improve this blog, I think the thing that would help the most is having another contributor. Like all of you, I go through days or weeks where I’m too busy to put quality time into a daily post. And so I’ve thought from time to time about adding a contributor. But before that happens, I decided, I’ll have to watch them over the period of a couple months (at least), to ensure that he or she can both write at a professional level and maintain the same level of positive but thoughtful commentary that (I hope) marks this blog.

Only one thing makes this Day of Christmas post different from all the others. It’s about to happen.

Ladies and Gentlemen… (drumroll)

Welcome Sony Elise as a contributor to this blog!

She will contribute at least occasional album reviews, and will probably fill in if I have to be out for a few days (provided we’re not at the same event!)

She’s known as SGEnthusiast on the Singing News Forums, and Sony (OFC) for those of you who frequent Homeschool Alumni. I’ve known her for a little while now; we both work for Wisdom’s Gate, a Christian book and magazine publisher. (Wisdom’s Gate publishes three magazines–Home School Digest, a national homeschooling magazine, An Encouraging Word, a quarterly ladies’ magazine, and Brush Arbor Quarterly, a magazine on revival and discipleship.)

I’ve commented on this before, but despite the fact that it might not show, since I’ve studied hard to overcome this deficiency, I’ve only listened to Southern Gospel for a few years. Sony, on the other hand, has listened to Southern Gospel for much of her life, from the 80s through today. (No, I definitely won’t post her age, even if that does show that she’s at least twenty!)

She likes most of the groups I like, and likes a few additional ones, having a slightly greater tolerance for cutting-edge styles. She also brings a first-hand familiarity with groups that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s but have since disbanded.

Join me in welcoming Sony as a contributor to this blog!

Yesterday, Nick Trammell and Jessica Brown announced their engagement. (More precisely, oddly, Daywind announced the engagement, but let’s not quibble over the details.) Nick sings with the Perrys, out of Gallatin, Tennessee, and Jessica sings with her family group, the Browns, out of Le Mars, Iowa.

As they make wedding plans and figure out how to arrange schedules with groups based 13 1/2 hours apart, here are my best wishes to them for a happy, lifelong marriage and successful ministry in any avenues in which God may direct them.