Shelly Brown of The Browns posted the following announcement on Facebook:

The Browns are entering a new season of their musical journey after welcoming baby Tessa Nichole into the family June 21st. With the birth of their new daughter, group members Nick and Jessica Trammell, will be making some changes. Jessica will be coming off the road to care for Tessa at home and Nick will be joining his father’s group, The Mark Trammell Quartet. “It is our greatest joy to see Nick and Jessica choosing to raise Tessa in a godly home filled with Southern Gospel song!” The Browns, Michaela, Adam, Andrew, Keith, and Shelly, continue their 12 year tradition of Sharing Music from the Heart!!

More information will be shared when it is known.

UPDATE: Dustin Sweatman is coming off of the road, and Nick will assume the lead singer position.

Worth Knowing

• BMI handed out its Christian Music Awards earlier this week. Songs and songwriters were both honored; Kyla Rowland joined three CCM songwriters as one of the four “Songwriters of the Year.” Several Southern Gospel songs were honored as “Award-winning songs,” evidently a top-25 list of sorts:
• Did I Mention (Kyla Rowland / The Perrys)
• I’ve Never Known a Day (Van Mitchell / The Inspirations)
• Somebody Died for Me (Kyle Matthews and Christy Sutherland / Triumphant Quartet)
• This Old Sinner Testifies (Kyla Rowland / The Perrys)
• You Were Faithful Yesterday (Rodney Griffin / Greater Vision)
• Nick and Jessica Brown Trammell (of The Browns) had their first child Thursday morning—a daughter, Tessa. Congratulations to the parents (and the ecstatic grandparents, too!)
• The Freemans signed with Rivergate Talent Agency for booking.
• Sheila Heil (wife of legendary Gospel Greats host Paul Heil) had eye surgery yesterday. Prayers are requested for her recovery.

Worth Watching

Here’s a video of the Garms Family (who are SouthernGospelBlog.com contributors) singing “Tell Me the Story of Jesus.” It’s probably their best performance to make it to YouTube yet.

Also, here’s a ten-minute Gaither.com video interview with Ben Isaacs (about producing albums).

Worth Discussing

It’s open thread Saturday—you decide!

Worth Knowing

• Booth Brothers Contest: Thank you to all who entered in Tuesday’s contest for free seats to next week’s online Booth Brothers concert. Congratulations to the ten winners (selected by ASGM): Robert A., Stephanie S., Penelope L., Aaron Swain, Linda F., Aaron J., Katie Crutchfield, Stephen G., Eric S., and Dan Plemmons. (Full names were only given for individuals who comment online under their full name.)
• The Browns: Browns members Nick and Jessica Trammell announced that they are expecting their first child next June. Congratulations! (Nick is Mark and LaReesa Trammell’s only child.)
• The Kingsmen: Randy Crawford’s heart surgery was this morning. His heart valve was worse than expected, but the surgery went well, and he is recovering. Bob Sellers of the Capstone Quartet filled in for the last two weekends.

Worth Reading

• Friday Night Revival’s Dustin Allman asks if youth’s interest in Southern Gospel is slipping. It seems the consensus is that there are quite a few talented young singers looking to make their mark in our industry, but not quite as many as (say) twenty years ago.

Worth Watching

Here is rare professionally recorded footage of Scotty Inman and Tim Duncan with Poet Voices (from their final NQC performance before the quartet configuration disbanded):

Worth Discussing

It’s open thread Saturday. You decide!

Last Friday, I reviewed the Browns’ new CD, Now. I offered high praise for “My Child is Coming Home,” calling it the “best song the Browns have recorded to date.” I was trading emails with Browns member Nick Trammell, who co-wrote the song with his father, Mark Trammell, before the review went up. He shared the following about the song:

Nick: I wrote it after hearing the story of Tony Greene’s passing. I heard he had friends and family around his bedside preparing to say goodbye, and singing him in to Heaven.

When I thought about that, I started thinking about what was going on those same few moments in Heaven preparing for him to come home. I get chills every time I hear the song and think about it.

Just a little something to visualize about next time you listen to it!

DJM: Thank you, Nick! 

It is not often that I say this, but this is one of the year’s absolute must-buy songs. You can find it individually on iTunes and eMusic, and the whole CD on the Browns’ website.

3:1 Reviews offer three highlights of an album and one area that could have been improved.

1. “My Child is Coming Home”: This is a great song and a great performance. A few years have done wonders for Nick Trammell’s voice; his increased vocal richness and maturity call to mind a mid-1980s Mark Trammell (his father). He’s well on his way to being Jimmy Blackwood to his father’s James Blackwood. But even more impressive than the vocal delivery is the song, which Nick co-wrote with his father: If he’d written this when he was with the Perrys, this song would have been nominated for “Song of the Year.” It’s the best song the Browns have recorded to date.

2. “Worth of It All”: This song about the events leading up to and following the Crucifixion fuses a Classical-influenced track with a soaring 6/8 melody that bursts with the energy of a Keith & Kristyn Getty Celtic song. Michaela Brown delivers the chorus with vocal runs reminiscent of yodeling. The song, co-written by Nick and Jessica Trammell, joins “My Child is Coming Home” as stronger than any previous song the Browns have recorded.

3. Nick Trammell as a songwriter: Before I saw songwriter credits, I listened through the project and noted the six strongest songs: “Now and Forevermore” (written by Michaela Brown and Nick Trammell), “Good Enough” (Nick Trammell), “My Child is Coming Home” (Nick & Mark Trammell); “Silent for Me” (Michaela Brown, Dianne Wilkinson); “Worth of It All” (Nick & Jessica Trammell); “Still My Child” (Nick Trammell). With one exception, each of these songs have a common thread: Nick Trammell as a co-writer. His writing is taking the Browns to the next level.

:1. One thing I would change: Length. If the set list had been whittled down to the ten strongest songs (there are fourteen), this would have been a five-star recording. But even as it is, this is not just the Browns’ strongest project yet—it’s one of the ten strongest Southern Gospel CDs of 2011. If you enjoy great songs and family harmonies, add this album to your must-buy list.

Traditional or Progressive

Middle-of-the-road, more so than their last one.

Radio Single Picks

“My Child is Coming Home,” “Worth of it All,” “Still My Child.”

Album Rating: 4.5 Stars

Credits

Producer: Tim James, The Browns. • Group members: Nick Trammell, Jessica Brown Trammell, Shelly Brown, Adam Brown, Michaela Brown, Andrew Brown. • Review copy provided.  • Song list: Now and Forevermore; Good Enough; Nothing is Impossible; My Child is Coming Home; Everywhere I Go; Beautiful Day; Silent For Me; Joyful Medley (instrumental); When Grace Became Amazing; Rained Out; God of a Second Chance; Worth of it All; Put Your Hand in the Hand; Still My Child.

A few years ago, after Nick Trammell married Jessica Brown of the Browns, Jessica left the group. In November 2009, Nick and Jessica launched their own trio, the Trammells; SouthernGospelBlog.com featured an interview with them here.

Nick and Jessica have accepted an invitation to join/rejoin the Browns. The Browns’ first tour as a six-member ensemble will be a trip to Canada later this month. The group has a CD release planned for late spring, which will also feature the new lineup.

After two previous reviews of Browns projects (Hope and A New Day), the Browns need no introduction here. At the risk of being redundant, for any new readers: The Browns are a family group from Iowa that has been on the national scene for several years now, with a steadily growing fan base. Their first several projects were produced by Roger Talley; with their last recording of new songs, they worked with Bubba Smith for the first time. Under Smith, known for producing CCM marquee acts like Point of Grace, Sandi Patty, and Petra, they tried a new sound on for size and found that it was a pretty good fit.

When a group goes from an ambitious project, pushing their sound in new directions, to a hymns table project, some might take that as an admission that the new sound either didn’t work out or was too much too fast for their fans. But that doesn’t appear to be the case here, since the project covers a broad range of styles and offers arrangements that are innovative without making unnecessary changes just for change’s sake.

“Standing On the Promises” features older son Adam and is arranged in a jazzy / big band style.

“I Sing the Mighty Power / Canon in D” features the children on their electric violins (or, at any rate, probably will in live concerts, though from the liner notes it appears as though daughter Michaela may have laid down all violin tracks in the studio). The arrangement, which was put together by Michaela, is an interesting mixture of the old and new, with string arrangements and keyboards combining for a driving arrangement with clear classical influences.

“I’ll Fly Away” also features the electric violins, and a vocal solo by younger son Andrew. He is vocal dynamite right now, one of the strongest child vocalists in Southern Gospel in recent years. If his voice can retain the same power once it changes, it may be the bankable power needed to take the group to a new level.

There are two acapella songs, arrangements of “In the Garden” and “Beulah Land.” The latter is a song they have done live (on their Live @ the Factory DVD), but put on CD for the first time.

Michaela turns in a strong rendition of “My Jesus, I Love Thee.”

Mother Shelly’s rich alto is a perfect fit for “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”; a duet with Adam on several lines in a verse is brilliantly executed and all too brief.

The project’s standout track, an a capella rendition of “Wonderful Grace of Jesus,” starts off sounding like pretty much every other rendition since the Cathedrals introduced a now-classic arrangement in the 1980s. Through the verses and first two choruses, they do the standard two counterpoint lines with harmonies.  A little over two minutes into the track, they break into three counterpoint lines, with vocal activity rivaling what a top quartet could pull off on “Heaven’s Joy Awaits” or “Getting Ready to Leave This World.”

Returning to an earlier comment, these arrangements are innovative without making unnecessary changes just for change’s sake. Far from being “just another hymns project,” this project helps establish the Browns as a serious player on the national level, as a group that can be creative and innovative even on a smaller table project-sized budget.

Rating: 4.5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4.1 stars. ♦ Group members: Shelly Brown, Michaela Brown, Adam Brown, Andrew Brown. ♦ Produced by: None credited. Executive Producers: Shelly Brown, Michaela Brown. ♦ Available from: The Browns. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: Standing On the Promises; My Jesus I Love Thee; I Sing the Power / Canon in D; Cross Medley; When We All Get to Heaven; In the Garden; Wonderful Grace of Jesus; I’ll Fly Away; Beulah Land; Great Is Thy Faithfulness / Majesty.

Rating: 4 stars (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 3.9 stars (of 5)

Producer: Bubba Smith.

Song List: A New Day; It’s a God Thing; I Can’t Forget the Blood; Get On the Boat; Don’t Doubt in the Darkness; You’re My Friend; Running To The Rock; My Heart Has Found a Home; Something Like the Likes of You; He/He Touched Me/He is Lord.

* * *

The Browns’ previous projects were produced by Roger Talley; on A New Day, they use a new producer, Bubba Smith. Smith, a multi-Grammy and Dove-winning producer, is best known for his production efforts in black Gospel and CCM, producing artists as diverse as Shirley Caesar, Helen Baylor, Bruce Carroll, Sandi Patty, Petra, and Point of Grace. He has also produced projects for Karen Peck & New River (Journey of Joy), the McRaes (Perfect Love), and the Crabb Family (Blur the Lines).

Not surprisingly, bringing in someone with a background like Smith’s gives the project a sound quite different than on their previous Talley-produced projects. While the project is still Southern Gospel, certain tracks bring Point of Grace to mind. Smith’s influence is most evident in the little things, like the vocal introduction to “Get on the Boat.” It’s not the sort of thing a typical Southern Gospel producer would do, but it’s a nice touch that just works. And it’s hard to argue with success.

Since their last project, the Browns have not only grown as vocalists, they have also grown as songwriters. Though they have written a few songs for previous projects, they wrote or co-wrote over half the songs on the project—including the project’s three most memorable songs, “Don’t Doubt in the Darkness,” “Running to the Rock,” and “I Can’t Forget the Blood.” Mom Shelly Brown co-wrote the first with Marty Funderburk, Adam Brown, the older of the two boys, co-wrote the other two, also with Marty Funderburk. Michaela Brown and Rebecca Peck contribute “You’re My Friend.”

Jessica Brown and her fianceé Nick Trammell co-wrote two of the tracks: “It’s a God Thing,” the CD’s first single, and a song they sing as a duet, “My Heart Has Found a Home.” Their voices complement each other’s voice nicely, and it’s not hard to imagine the two of them performing together down the road.

With every successive project since hitting the national scene, the Browns have matured vocally and stylistically. A New Day is no exception.

The Browns, a family group based in LeMars, Iowa, have been quietly but steadily building a fan base and becoming one of Southern Gospel’s favorite family groups.

Roger Talley produced this project; Donna Beauvais (from Hope’s Call at the time the project was recorded) is listed as the vocal producer for “Out of This World,” “I’m Out of Here,” “Livin’ Askin’ Walkin’,” and “He Said My Name,” four of the best songs on the project.

“Outta This World” is a standout track on this project and was an obvious pick for a radio single. I would have predicted that it would do better than it did; it just missed breaking into the Singing News top 40, peaking at #43 on the October 2007 chart [EDIT, 11/8/10: The link is broken and has been removed.]. It did stay on the chart for five months, through the January 2008 chart.

Andrew Brown, the youngest Brown, is featured on “Come.” While I’ve enjoyed his novelty songs on previous projects, this song shows a greater artistic depth, a more serious side. Only a slightly awkward transition from a bridge (in G) to the final chorus (in D) keeps this song from being the best on the project.

The project closes with a cover of Dennis Jernigan’s “When I Get Home.” On first listen, this quiet, relaxed track might not stand out. But after listening through the project several times, this track became my favorite from the project. The arrangement is richly textured; I didn’t even notice the mandolin part until I had listened to the song ten or twelve times. Though the song was written as a praise song (and fits that genre well) the lyrics about Heaven and melody blend seamlessly into this Southern Gospel project.

The first of many primaries on the way to the Presidency is the Iowa Caucuses. Last night, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee won the caucuses, a victory that mainstream media sources attribute to the support of Christian evangelicals and homeschooling families–one of whom will be familiar to readers of this blog.

One of Huckabee’s ads was taped at the Browns’ family farm, and Keith Brown (father / bus driver / sound technician) appears throughout the ad. The Browns are a homeschooled family singing group from LeMars, Iowa. Although I was out of town when they sent out the newsletter mentioning the ad and forgot to mention it then, news coverage last night and this morning reminded me of the ad. By the way, here it is:

If the comments become a debate between supporters of various candidates, I may moderate comments. The purpose of this post isn’t to support or endorse any candidate, just to point out an interesting connection between a Southern Gospel group and a name currently in the news.