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Today’s Comment of the Day award certainly has to go to Keith, in comment #9 on this morning’s NQC Dino Showcase post. He said:

While they’re at it, give Kim Collingsworth her own showcase, too. She’s incredible. I’d pay for that one.

I have this feeling he’s not alone.

Last week, we had quite a discussion over whether reviews by local groups should be featured on this blog. I am working on an idea I hope will satisfy most readers. In the meantime, before I finalize that post, I have a little bit of unfinished business. Before I made last week’s post, I had agreed to listen to and review Harmonies for the Heart, a project by Standing By, a duo based in Spencer, Indiana. The group is composed of Dave Miller (lead/bass guitar), Bruce Yates (baritone), and Yates’ wife Lynn (piano).

The project’s instrumentation is rather unusual for the modern Southern Gospel genre, consisting solely of piano and bass guitar (except on “Where No One Stands Alone,” which adds synthesized strings). The project features eleven familiar Southern Gospel songs, “He Set Me Free,” “Since Jesus Passed By,” “Where Could I Go,” “Boundless Love,” “Oh What a Savior,” “What a Day That Will Be,” “Where No One Stands Alone,” “Goodbye World Goodbye,” “He Loves Me,” “Lighthouse,” and “Sweet Sweet Spirit.”

The duo sings the lead and baritone parts on most songs, but on two of the project’s most interesting tracks, “Boundless Love” and “Oh What a Savior,” they move one part up to sing lead and tenor.

Probably the best move this group could make would be to add a third musical part. But even without a third part, the project is an enjoyable collection of familiar songs.

Rating: Enjoyable

Over the past four years, as Archie Watkins has had frequent vocal troubles, the Inspirations have had various tenors filling in. They have now officially hired one; Singing News announced this evening that Darren Osborne is now an official Inspiration.  While Archie Watkins will undoubtedly appear at major events, and at most trips as possible, having Osborne as an official utility vocalist (in addition to tenor, he can sing lead and baritone) will allow Watkins to ease into retirement gradually, as the Inspirations gradually build the momentum to eventually carry a post-Archie group without breaking stride.

Yesterday, I checked Dino’s schedule and found that he is scheduled to make an appearance at NQC this year, on Thursday, September 11, at 2:30 P.M. Other than that this will be a showcase appearance of some sort, it’s not immediately evident whether this will be part of the Parade of Pianos or whether he will be given his own separate showcase. The Parade of Pianos has not been on Thursdays in recent years, but the Gaither / Signature Sound showcase could have led to a re-scheduling of the event.

An email is on its way to the inboxes of a few of the applicable decision-makers; I will update this post with any additional information as it’s received.

UPDATE (1/23, 11:25 AM). I heard via email from Clarke Beasley that Dino will be doing his own (separate) showcase this year. He also answered commenter Donna’s question; Gerald Wolfe will again host the Parade of Pianos.

The Dan Keeton Quartet has set their premiere concert for Saturday, March 8, 2008, in Ashland, Kentucky. What makes this unique, even as premiere concerts go, is that they will be making a live recording of this concert. More details are available here.

Before I purchased my copy of Greater Vision’s Quartet’s Live, a friend lent me her copy of the project, purchased shortly after it came out. I enjoyed the whole project, but I certainly thought that the funniest moment of the whole afternoon was on the song “Rocked on the Deep.” At one point on the chorus, after the bass singer carries the melody for several lines, the tenor is supposed to sing a line or two. One of the times this happened, Jason missed his cue and everyone was singing the harmony beat.

What made this priceless was that Mike Holcomb gave Jason “the look,” and from the look on Jason’s face it appeared that for a split-second, he didn’t quite realize why. Then he realized, but too late to jump back in for that particular line, and jumped back in at the next line.

Last year, I went to a Greater Vision concert at about the point they were discontinuing the DVD and purchased one of the last copies of the project. But when I purchased it, I couldn’t help but wonder if my memory was playing tricks on me, because the flubbed line–and that brief but priceless instant reaction–was no longer there.

So is my memory playing tricks on me? Or were two versions of the DVD released, with the second version perhaps pulling footage from one of the other times around the chorus?

I purchased this CD the week it came out, but I didn’t review it immediately for a very simple reason: On first listen, I didn’t particularly like it.

Of course, like just about everyone else, I liked the catchy opening tune, “It Means Just What it Says,” from the first time I listened to the album. But my initial view of the rest of the album was that it contained too many slow songs. But over time, the rest of the album grew on me, and I now consider it to be one of Greater Vision’s strongest recent releases.

Some of Greater Vision’s early projects started out with a fairly stripped-down sound, since that was what their budget permitted. After the late 90s, when they started cranking out radio hits and winning Singing News Fan Awards at a faster rate than any other group since the Cathedrals’ retirement, they could afford big orchestration, and several of their recent albums featured that heavy orchestration.

On this project, they returned to the stripped-down sound, and it works well for these songs. The album’s three standout uptempo songs, “It Means Just What it Says,” “God Will Pass By,” and “The First and Last,” just wouldn’t be the same with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

The album’s song placement is interesting; three of the album’s four uptemo songs are in the first four songs on the project; from songs five through eleven on the project, there’s only one more uptempo song, “As I Am.”

Among the album’s slower tracks, probably the two best are “Peace Like a River” (by Dianne Wilkinson) and “Too Much to Gain to Lose” (by Dottie Rambo).

Rating: Recommended.

The Murfreesboro and Rutherford County Daily News Journal posted an interview they conducted with Gerald Wolfe. Greater Vision will be appearing in concert at Murfreesboro’s Bellwood Baptist Church tomorrow, but the interview ranges over a wide variety of questions, covering everything from Gerald Wolfe’s past career to what he perceives as Greater Vision’s signature songs. It’s an interesting Saturday morning read on an otherwise slow news day (so far).

What were Southern Gospel’s best live moments? Whether musical or comedic, what were impromptu moments, unexpected (at least on the part of the audience), that epitomize the best of this genre?

I’ve considered making a list for some time,  but (thanks to the advice of a wise friend) decided that it would be more interesting if I got your input first.

Especially focus on moments that are known to a decent circle of Southern Gospel fans, whether it was at a concert such as the NQC where may SG fans were in attendance, or whether it made its way onto a live recording.

This morning brings us two personnel changes:

After a year’s hiatus, playing for the Kingdom Heirs for a few months and then for Mike & Kelly Bowling for about a year, the Old Paths Quartet just announced that Joseph Cox is returning as their pianist. Even though the Old Paths Quartet doesn’t have the national name recognition of a Dove Brothers or a Kingdom Heirs, that Cox would make this move says something about the strength of the group. I have yet to hear them for myself, but from all I hear, this quartet could be one of Southern Gospel’s next big things.

The Perrys have added Troy Peach (late of TK & McRae) as their sound man. At the concert I attended several months ago, they had announced that their previous sound man was in the National Guard or Reserves (I forget which) and was about to be called up for a tour of duty. I’m glad they decided to fill the spot; it helps live sound immeasurably to have a full-time sound man running the sound from the audience.