SouthernGospelBlog.com

Worth Reading:

• Nate at Burke’s Brainwork found a demo of Carrie Underwood of “Jesus Take the Wheel” fame singing “For God So Loved” in her pre-American Idol days. It’s pretty good, with a strong ending.
• Cody McVey is now officially the pianist for the Kingsmen. He’s been with them for months, but it was on a trial basis at first.
• Aaron Swain has the scoop: Cross 4 Crowns has a new tenor, their fourth in two years, Marcus Faulknor. Does anyone know if he’s related to the Faulknor brothers that comprise a fellow Crossroads group, the trio Voices Won?

Upcoming Reviews:

• June 5 – Almost Morning (The Perrys)
• June 12 – When You Look at Me (Kingdom Heirs)
• June 18 – Keep Travelin’ On (Chuck Wagon Gang)
• June 26 – Book Review: Mighty Lot of Singin’ (Gerald Williams)
• July 3 – A Wonderful Love (Melody Boys Quartet)
• July 10 – DVD Review: 1951 1958 Live (Blackwood Brothers)

This is my second off-topic post in as many weeks, but like the previous one, it’s also tangentially related to Southern Gospel.

According to a Fox News report (hat tip, Matt Paasch), San Diego county is attempting to shut down home Bible studies. Apparently, they only want licensed religious gatherings. They want the couple they are targeting to pay thousands of dollars for a license to hold services on their property.

If a move like this holds up under judicial and legislative scrutiny, it would be the beginning of the end of the right to peacefully assemble for church services or Christian concerts—because a system where you must get government approval to meet is only one small step away from a system where the government denies certain applications.

Rating: 4 stars (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 4 stars (of 5)

Song List: Pilgrim Song; O Happy Day; This Little Light of Mine; Be Still and Know; Sweeter as the Days Go By; Gotta Go Back; If it Wasn’t For Your Love; Gonna Walk; A Bridge You Cannot Burn; Heaven’s Jubilee.

Available From: Label.

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Poet Voices recorded Pilgrim Song in 1999, at the peak of their popularity, three years before their retirement. This project’s lineup was tenor Dale Brock, lead Phil Cross, baritone Donny Henderson, and bass Tim Duncan. Though the CD is out of print, it was recently digitally re-issued by Crossroads.

Since there is no group photo on the cover, and there was a change at the bass spot (David Jordan leaving and Tim Duncan coming on board) , there was some question over Jordan or Duncan was the bass singer on this project. It’s unmistakably Duncan’s voice on “Sweeter as the Days go By,” but a friend more familiar with David Jordan’s voice thought it sounded like him on “Oh Happy Day.” I emailed Phil Cross asking which bass sang on this project, and he replied that it was Tim Duncan.

The project is a mixture of new and classic songs. Of the new songs, probably the best is the title track, “Pilgrim Songs,” with “Be Still and Know” (not the hymn) not too far behind. Another memorable track, though not entirely for musical reasons, is “A Bridge You Cannot Burn.” It starts with a clip from “Jesus Built a Bridge,” the song that put Poet Voices on the map in Southern Gospel. The lyrics focus on the doctrine of eternal security, a controversial enough doctrine that most Southern Gospel songs avoid anything more than a passing reference.

The most memorable rendition of a classic song on the project is the acapella rendition of “Oh Happy Day.” The arrangement, turning the song into a quartet song, is one I have only heard recorded by Poet Voices and, several decades earlier, by the Florida Boys. I am not certain whether the Florida Boys came up with the arrangement or whether it predates them. (Do any of you know?)

“Sweeter as the Days Go By,” featuring Tim Duncan, is also particularly nicely done.

This project stands up well to the test of time and is still quite enjoyable today.

Greater Vision is coming up on their 20th anniversary. Their first concert was on December 30, 1990; they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary year from this December 30 to December 30, 2010.

On August 6 and 7, they will record a live CD, to be released on December 30. It will be recorded at Temple, Texas at their Cultural Activities Center, and will be promoted by Tony Watson and James Rhodes, the first people to schedule Greater Vision for a concert. (They have hosted a Greater Vision concert every year since.)

There will be several brand-new songs on the CD, and a number of their classics songs. They are enlisting their fans’ help in selecting the songs and have posted a poll of their twenty most popular songs. Fans can vote for their five favorites, and there is a write-in slot. In case anyone is curious, I voted for “A Pile of Crowns,” “It Means Just what it Says,” “My Name is Lazarus,” “Soon We Will See,” and a write-in, “Till the Storm Passes By.” I was slightly surprised that my write-in didn’t make the short list, since Gerald Wolfe points to it as his signature song. (Other songs not original to the group, such as “It is Well,” were on the list, so that wasn’t the issue.)

For the last several years, Legacy Five has brought in surprise guests for their Memorial Day Celebration event in Nashville. This year, they brought Mike Huckabee. He made a speech and then played bass guitar as the group sang “I’ll Fly Away.”

Mike Huckabee is the former governor of Arkansas and ran for President in 2008. (He out-lasted all other candidates besides the winner, McCain.) He now hosts “Huckabee,” a number one rated program on the Fox Channel, and hosts the “Huckabee Report,” which is aired nationally three times each day on the ABC Radio Network.

This might be a long shot, but did anyone reading this catch “I’ll Fly Away” on video?

After 60 years on the road, the Lewis Family has announced that they will be singing their last concert on September 5. This was necessitated by health issues, one of which was that Polly Copsey’s Parkinson’s and dementia has moved to such an advanced stage that she has recently had to get off the road. Copsey is one of the three Lewis sisters who provided the backbone of the group’s sound for years (and, incidentally, is also the mother of Sheri Easter).

The Augusta Chronicle reports:

A card mailed last week announced that family comedian and all-around musician Little Roy Lewis and former Lincolnton resident and banjo/fiddle player Lizzy Long would be available for bookings in 2010. The two have been appearing in concerts and festivals many times in recent years separate from The Lewis Family, often with banjo playing legend Earl Scruggs.

This family has made a long-term impact on the Southern Gospel and Bluegrass genres with their unique blend of Bluegrass Gospel, and they will be missed.

Happy Memorial Day!

On Veterans Day we honor the survivors of war. Today, let’s give our heartfelt thanks to families who have given their sons and daughters to make the ultimate sacrifice in freedom’s cause.

Let Freedom Ring!

This is only tangentially related to Southern Gospel, but it was too thought-provoking not to share:

Every now and then, the question of the future of the Southern Gospel demographic is raised. This sheds a unique perspective on the subject.

This is a joint review with Adam Edwards of Southern Gospel Critique.

1. “What Will My Cross Testify”
Adam: Ron Martin’s power vocals on this Kyla Rowland tune really kick this project off. Ron is one of the best vocalists in Southern Gospel music that chooses to remain in the ministry instead of the limelight. “What Will My Cross Testify” is a powerful song to kick off this new project from The Rowlands.

Daniel: Of course, the ministry and the limelight aren’t mutually exclusive, but I do understand what you’re saying.

2. “Did I Mention”
Adam: Tenor Wes Green sings the lead vocals on this new Kyla Rowland tune and cranks out a great vocal offering. This was my first exposure to the song, but The Perrys have also recorded it on their upcoming release featuring Libby Perry. This should be a great radio release. Awesome song.

Daniel: The lyrics on the verses are, at least in my opinion, the most memorable part of the song. The verses have some powerful thoughts.

3. “Back To Me”
Daniel: This song, which was recorded by Triumphant Quartet in 2005, is one of only two songs on the project not penned by Kyla Rowland. (The other is “Resting in His Grace.”) Yet this song, written by Marty Allen and Robert Arthur, does fit the feel of the rest of the project well.

Adam: Ron Martin once again shows his vocal prowess on this tune. This song was originally released to radio in 2007 by Eighth Day. It reached #26 on the October, 2007 Singing News Top 80. It is basically a tune written about the Prodigal Son and is a great setup song for an invitation in a church service.

4. “A Table In The Wilderness”
Adam: The Mike Bowling Group originally cut this Kyla Rowland song in 2006. The Rowlands have upped the tempo just a bit from their version and have made it much more appealing to the ears. Baritone Kenneth Stepp takes the melody on the verses with Ron Martin finishing the melody on the chorus. This song is one of the highlights for me on this project.

5. “Safe Thus Far”
Daniel: This is the same song the Hoskins Family cut several years ago. For those who don’t particularly care for vocal embellishments, this is a much more straight-ahead version of the song. This rendition has less, both in the way of instrumentation and vocal embellishments, to distract from the lyric, and the lyric comes through with a new power.

Adam: This simplified version of the tune made popular by The Hoskins Family is much more appealing than the over-embellished original.

Daniel: Precisely.

6. “He Crossed Out My Sin And Shame”
Adam: This ballad sung by Ron Martin is a fairly mellow tune. I really like the imagery of Christ ‘crossing’ out my sin and shame on the cross of Calvary.

7. “Moving the Hand of God.”
Daniel: The Mark Trammell Trio released the best-known version of this cut on their 2007 project Once Upon a Cross. Both the Mark Trammell Trio version and the Rowlands’ version sound like a quartet song waiting to happen, just lacking a bass singer. It is not too hard to imagine a group like the Kingdom Heirs or the Perrys turning this into a barn-burner that audiences beg to be encored.

Adam: I’ll agree with Daniel. A bass singer on this song would be awesome!

8. “One Scarred Hand”
Daniel: Unlike the classic Gold City rendition, this Rowlands rendition stays in the same key throughout the whole song. Unlike the classic Gold City rendition which modulates up a fourth into each chorus, and manages to cover the keys of A, D, B-flat, and E-flat before the final bars, the Rowland start in A and stay in the key of A throughout.

Adam: The Rowlands have sang this song for years and have finally recorded it. This is a calmer version than Gold City’s, but that’s is not a bad thing. Wes Green is very comfortable with the song and it shows in the recording.

9. “We’ll Go Down Standing Up”
Daniel: The Rowlands have access to Kyla Rowland’s songs, oftentimes before the major groups get them. This song is a major group’s hit song just waiting to happen. It addresses a theme (persecution) many Southern Gospel songs avoid addressing this directly.

Just as a side note, speaking as a songwriter, “Lord” and “God” are two words that don’t rhyme easily. This song comes up with a pretty unique rhyme combination in the chorus: “We may be run through with a sword / But we’ll keep standing for the Lord / We may go down, but we’ll go down standing up.”

Adam: This is probably the most unique song on the project due to the theme of the song.

Daniel: Other than the already-classics, this is definitely the song that stuck out the most in my mind, one that kept playing through my mind after the last notes of the CD faded off. If I was a group manager and was sent a demo CD of all the new songs on this project, this is the one I would definitely jump to place a hold on.

10. “Resting In His Grace”
Adam: Kenneth Stepp penned this song that he also sings the melody on. It’s a good song and to me, there is nothing like a songwriter singing their own songs. I can’t wait to hear this one live!

11. “How Blessed”
Adam: At first, this song would not have been my choice to close out a project, but after hearing Ron’s powerful voice tell us just how blessed we are, you can’t help but close the project reflecting on the goodness and grace of our Savior. “How blessed is the one who died for me” is a lyric that really sticks to you. We are indeed blessed and this song turned out to be one of my favorite from the new release.

Final Rating:
Adam: 3.8 star song average / 4 stars overall
Daniel: 3.4 star song average / 3.5 stars overall

Wes Hampton and Mark Lowry have posted footage of the New Gaither Vocal Band in the studio; now it’s David Phelps’ turn to get in on the action.