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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 I’m fairly certain I heard that this was in the works, it’s now official. Elliot is re-joining the Anchormen. I believe he’s coming back to an entirely different group, since the old Anchormen all left to form Driven Quartet, and Anchormen manager Tim Bullins hired a regional group to replace them. However, though the faces are different, Elliott has returned to the Anchormen.

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 Greenes, has accepted a position at a church in Charlotte, NC and is coming off the road. They are seeking a replacement and can be contacted through their website, though they ask for serious inquiries only.

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 Pritchard, who comments as “natesings” on this blog and others, will now be contributing occasional posts. Stop over and welcome him to the blogosphere!

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 this song as a standard bass solo–but picture tenor David Sutton (Triumphant Quartet) doing it.
• “I’ve Just Started Living” . . . by the Inspirations?
• “I Know I’m Going There.”  This song was originally done by the Kingdom Heirs; imagine a Hoppers rendition.
• “My Name is Lazarus.” Picture this as a fast trio song no more once the McKameys record a slightly slower mid-tempo rendition.
• “Mary for a While.” If you don’t see the incongruity in an Oak Ridge Boys version of this Perrys song, it’s too early in the morning. Get another cup of coffee.

Your turn.

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 knowledge as early as last fall that Kim was going to be doing a solo record on the label. Does anyone else remember that, or is my mind playing tricks on me?

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 influence yours, I’ll post them in the comments after a couple of you post yours.

The categories this year: Artist of the Year, Male Quartet, Mixed Group, Trio, Soloist, Favorite Male Singer, Favorite Female Singer, Young Artist, Horizon Individual, Horizon Group, Tenor, Lead, Baritone, Bass, Alto, Soprano, Musician, Songwriter, Album, Song.

Let’s revisit this post in a few weeks and see who came the closest!

One note–I’ll be counting the total number of top 10 nominations guessed correctly, so the more categories you guess, the better your end result will (probably) be!

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 tip, JS).
• Here’s an interesting article on Cleavant Derricks (hat tip, QN).
• Harold McVey, who sang with Common Grace Quartet and (briefly) with Gold City, passed away earlier this week.
• The Dove Brothers posted downloadable soundtracks from their upcoming CD, Life, before the project itself was available–then pulled them.

One more thing. Be watching for a post tomorrow that will call for some serious thinking–and guessing.

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 members.]

Based on the stats and and photos posted here, it looks like it’s a pretty impressive venue; it seats 2,000, has an impressively high ceiling, and appears to be set on the lakefront of Lake Michigan. This should provide for some interesting video footage.

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 amount?

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 released soundtracks for a project even before the project was released.

The Dove Brothers themselves haven’t yet received Life, though they did approve final proofs last week.

UPDATE (2/22/08, 1:39 PM): That was short-lived. Jerry Martin just sent out another email newsletter, that he has pulled the soundtrack downloads for now.