SouthernGospelBlog.com

Two years ago, I did a story on “Piracy in Southern Gospel,” and interviewed Gerald Wolfe for his perspective.

Earlier this week, he went into his thoughts further on his blog, in a post entitled Somebody’s Got to Say It. Music piracy definitely stands the chance of putting some of our favorite artists out of business, so his post is a helpful refresher for those of us already aware of the problem, and a good intro for those who hadn’t thought about the issue before.

Rating: 4 stars (of 5)

Available from: Crossroads (2), Artist.

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I have known about this two-CD series for a couple of years. But though I thought the concept had potential, I wasn’t in any rush to find copies. The reason is quite simple, and has nothing to do with Kim Collingsworth’s unquestioned genius at the piano keys: Background music doesn’t keep my attention easily.

Now that I’ve gotten and taken the time to listen through the two CDs, I regret that it took me so long to get copies. (Sure, you hear that line a lot. But if we get something we’ve been expecting to be forgettable and our expectations are met, we’re not likely to post about it, are we?)

Both CDs offer roughly 45 minutes of “continuous piano music.” Think of it as a 23 or 24-song piano medley. Despite the wide range of songs included—hymns, praise songs, and Southern Gospel classics—I didn’t catch a single awkward transition. The songs are broken into separate tracks, but there are at most brief pauses between individual tracks.

Orchestration is fairly simple on both projects. On Volume 1, Milton Smith—who is probably better than anyone else in our genre at making a keyboard sound like a real orchestra—did the orchestrations, and the project was produced by Phil Collingsworth.

On first listen, it’s clear that Vol. 2 retains the same simplicity. But repeated listens reveal more depth. Wayne Haun was brought in as a co-producer, and the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra provided real orchestration.

Also, volume 2 has a subtle but nonetheless distinct framework. It starts with several meditative calls to worship, building into a set of majestic songs with a theme of God’s worthiness. (In particular, “Holy, Holy, Holy” stands out as a strong track.) A set of songs on the love of God brings in a more subdued mid-point to the project. Then, a more uptempo number, “Down by the Riverside,” leads into the final string of songs, which moves from uptempo to a majestic finish.

I recently purchased some LPs from a friend who had duplicates. He sent them through the U.S. Mail. Evidently the U.S. Customs and Border Protection / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers thought Southern Gospel records must be suspicious, because they opened the box, apparently tearing the top off in the process. After they found only LPs (which, fortunately, they didn’t damage), they put the package in a massive and very official-looking box, taping the top of the old box on:

So did the Immigrations Officer think my friend had managed to fit an illegal alien into an LP-sized box?

Or maybe it’s just that he loved Southern Gospel and wanted to pirate copies for his mp3 player before the shipment continued on its way!

Jeremy Peace, former tenor for the Kingsmen, is now a member of the Old Paths Quartet. It turns out tenor isn’t the only position he could have held down in the Kingsmen:

Given the fact that he can also sing all four vocal parts (well!), he may just be the most talented individual in that host of talented individuals that have had the honor of calling themselves a member of the Kingsmen.

It wasn’t that long ago I was posting about an interesting local radio intro to Signature Sound’s #1 hit “Reason Enough.”

I just hit chapter 2 in that saga: The same local station carries the Salem / Solid Gospel feed at nights. About fifteen minutes ago, they played the same song. Afterwards, the overnight announcer (Greg Goodman?) said, “That was Ernie Haase and Signature Sound with the title song from their latest project, Reason Enough.”

Hopefully everyone who heard the song, loved it, and rushed out to the nearest Wal-Mart or Lifeway to pick up a copy can figure out they need to be looking for Dream On.

(Make no mistake, I’m not bashing Solid Gospel at all. They typically have a very high-quality program quality. That’s why this anomaly stood out.)

The Perrys have hired their sound engineer, Troy Peach, to move on stage and sing baritone for the group. Their announcement said:

Troy Peach will be filling the baritone position. Troy has been with our group for the past year as one of our sound techs and bus drivers. He also filled in for Nick back in December while Nick was off for his wedding and done a great job. Troy is no stranger to singing as you may remember him with Jeff and Sheri Steele and later his own group First Love. We have known Troy for years and have watched him develop into a hard working young man. With the economic situation right now going on in not only gospel music but the whole country, we feel like this is the thing to do, this is not taking away from the fact that Troy is a great singer and we have traveled with him and we know his life. He is so easy to get a long with and that counts for a lot when you travel on a 45 foot bus four days out of the week and sometimes more. Troy has a heart and passion for not only our music, but gospel music as a whole and he wants to do his part to make it all it can be. He is already a part of our “family” so now we have just tied him in even more! Troy is so excited about being able to sing again and we are excited to have him sing with us. Troy’s wife Katy is in full support of Troy and his new position with our group. Katy is enjoying being able to stay home with their 3 year old twin boys Clayton and Shelton while they are little. It has been over- whelming at the emails we have received from people all across the United States who love Troy and have ask us to please give him the position. This shows us that Troy has made a lot of friends during his time in gospel music that love him, his singing and his humble attitude. We feel God placed Troy under our noses for this purpose.

JK will still hold his position down as the main sound tech now along with running our multi- media when available. JK said he needed a lot of prayers to do two or three things at one time. But, we know he can get the job done!!

They added:

Last week we were in the studio recording tracks for our new album to be released in May. The title of the album will be “ALMOST MORNING.” We are so excited about the tracks and can’t wait to put the vocals down within the next couple of weeks. We have what I feel like are very touching and heart moving songs. Then we have a couple that will be….. well let’s say we have something for everyone on the album. We have songs from Kyla Rowland, Joseph Habedank, Wayne Haun, Rodney Griffin, Bill Gaither and others. I can’t wait for it to be released.

I’ve had a number of questions about what was up with SoGospelLovers; their site has been down for weeks. Sharon (snarflebooger) emailed me that they have been working out problems with webmasters and have set up a temporary URL here.

Making a top 10 biggest stories list for last year was a little challenge. There were personnel changes here and there, but really only two or three major changes. We could probably make as big a list based on 2009’s first two months alone!

As is pretty much all over Southern Gospel’s part of the web by now, the Perrys announced Nick Trammell’s resignation yesterday. Trammell is the current Singing News Fan Awards Favorite Young Artist of the Year. It looks as though both Trammell’s plans and the Perrys’ plans are uncertain at this time. The Perrys are auditioning baritones and already have a short list; Trammell indicated that God is moving him in other directions but seems to be unsure precisely what yet.

Based on comments so far, it looks like most Southern Gospel fans wouldn’t be too surprised if Nick and Jessica Trammell started a music ministry of their own at some point in the near future. If you’d like a preview of what that might sound like, check out the Browns’ most recent CD, which features a duet they sang, “My Heart Has Found a Home.”

There has also been speculation that Trammell may eventually join his father’s group, but current Mark Trammell Trio lead singer hasn’t left the group, so most people don’t seem to be expecting that to happen in the near future.

Perrys sound engineer Troy Peach is currently filling in until a replacement is found. He filled in several months ago for a week or two during Nick Trammell’s wedding and honeymoon. When I saw the Perrys in concert a few weeks before Nick’s wedding, he commented that Troy was filling in, even though the baritone part was lower than Troy’s comfortable range. On the other hand, people who saw the Perrys during Trammell’s absence spoke highly of Peach’s performance.

The Perrys were in the studio cutting an album, but hadn’t cut vocals yet. The project will be on hold till they select a baritone.

Initially, Trammell’s strongest drawing point with the Perrys was his heritage. But during the two or three years he was with the group, he grew noticeably as a vocalist and is now a solid baritone singer. His shoes will be much harder to fill now then they would have been had he only stayed briefly with the group.

Blooper of the Day: Check out the interview of Kingsmen tenor Harold Reed with JoyFM / enLighten DJ Daniel Britt about how he memorably messed up “Look for Me at Jesus’ Feet”: http://www.danielbritt.com/blog/2009/02/videointerview-morning-joyride.html

Loneliness. It can be such a real feeling. A spouse or a parent or a close friend or relative dies and, instantly, this wave floods in of complete emptiness. Yet, if we think about it, we also realize there is an extreme grace to get through one of the toughest things we face in life. Amazing as it is, we know we will be able to continue on and, no matter what we face for the remainder of our lives, that same grace will still be there because the One who gives it to us will never leave us or forsake us. He knows what it’s like to be forsaken and alone so He sends the Comforter to be with us and to allow us to continue to feel that strength and grace.

If you haven’t yet lost someone who is that close to you, it is still easy to feel lonely. Maybe you have a lot of friends but they have lives and families of their own and, although they treasure your friendship, they just don’t have the time they used to to just hang out or stay in touch. At those times, if you will listen, you will hear that still, small voice saying, “Child, I love you and I’m still here. Lovest thou Me more than these?”

See, although loneliness is real and often not a result of our choice, letting loneliness permeate your life is a choice. We have a Friend who truly desires a deep relationship with us but He’s waiting for us to stop pining for people to feel that void in our life. The fact is we can be lonely and have all the friends in the world. God gives people to us to encourage us and to be His hands and feet but they are not to replace Him. We need to be faithful to thank God for the people He puts in our lives but let’s also realize that every good and perfect gift comes from Him and if every gift were taken away from us, we would still have Him and, therefore, will be fulfilled.