Brian Elliott rejoins Anchormen At age 15, Brian Elliott joined the Anchormen as their full-time pianist. After six years of traveling with them, Elliott was Andrew Ishee’s handpicked replacement to play piano for Palmetto State. He’d only been with Palmetto State for a little over a year when that lineup dispersed. Although...

Greenes seeking Replacement for Brad Hudson Although the initial post on the Singing News forums seems to have disappeared, and I cannot track down Taranda Greene’s mySpace profile, fortunately fellow SG blogger Brandon Coomer posted this story before the post (seemingly?) vanished. Brad Hudson, who has performed for three years with the...

Nate Pritchard joins Burke’s Brainwork blog Several months ago, Wes Burke started the Burke’s Brainwork blog. It’s gotten off to a strong start, as Burke has made a strong effort to post daily. (For anyone who hasn’t tried it, this can be quite a challenge!) Anyhow, yesterday he welcomed another contributor to his blog. Nate...

Thinking outside the box It’s fairly well-known that the first major rendition of a song typically defines it…until someone thinks outside the box. Let’s think outside the box today and re-define some songs that we think we know. “Plan of Salvation.” George Younce’s definitive version has tagged...

Canaan signs Kim Hopper Canaan announced today that they have signed an exclusive recording agreement with Kim Hopper, soprano for the Hoppers, another Canaan recording artist. What puzzles me is the timing of the press release. I can’t put my finger on where or when I heard this initially, but I thought it was public...

Singing News Fan Awards 2008: Round 1 Predictions Well, Fan Awards season has arrived; the March Singing News issues have started arriving, and the fans have started filling out their ballots. Who do you think will be the top 10 nominees in each category? Post your guesses in the comments. I will post my guesses, but so that mine don’t unduly...

Southern Gospel News Roundup In the course of this busy week, a few stories didn’t quite merit their own post, mainly due to another post taking precedence that day. Let’s wrap up the week by catching up on a few news items: Baptist Press featured an in-depth and fascinating interview with Isaacs matriarch Lily Isaacs (hat...

Signature Sound announces next DVD taping Ernie Haase announced* on the Signature Sound message board that the group’s next DVD will be taped at the Navy Pier Grand Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois on April 30. The project is tentatively entitled Dream On, and the CD and DVD are set to be released this fall. [*Link only works for message board...

Size of donations at Concerts Does the quality of a Southern Gospel concert affect the amount you put in the love offering? Do you give more if you thought the group was really good, and less if you thought it was a lousy performance? Or do you always give a set...

UPDATE: Dove Brothers post soundtracks for Life …then pull them Jerry Martin just sent out an email newsletter announcing that he’d just made the soundtracks from their Life project available for download from their store. What makes this move unusual and noteworthy is that this is perhaps the first time in Southern Gospel history where a Southern Gospel group has...