SouthernGospelBlog.com

When I interviewed Phil Collingsworth for this site’s April feature article, he explained why the Collingsworth Family only releases a project every other year:

It might be interesting for you to know that our cost of recording an album is almost triple what some of the other ones are. That’s what we put into it, because we put time into it, and time is money when you’re in the recording studio. We put a great deal of time into it because we want it to be a lasting product—something you listen to years down the road and say, “That’s still good quality.” We feel quality rather than quantity is the key issue here.

This attention to quality has paid off, since each of their projects has been a noticeable step up from the previous. Strength for the Journey (2003) was good enough to launch them into the national Southern Gospel scene. God Is Faithful (2005) was good enough to launch them onto the Gaither Homecoming scene. We Still Believe (2007) was a project worthy of a Gaither Homecoming tour artist. And, somehow, The Answer is even better.

Like every other Collingsworth project, The Answer includes a wide variety of vocal and instrumental configurations. Spreading six or seven configurations between fourteen songs—and that’s not even counting things like a Phil/Kim duet on a verse of “Oh the Thought that Jesus Loves Me”—gives the album the same variety their live programs feature.

The most noticeable change is a decreased reliance on the soprano/alto/baritone trio. In their earlier years on the road, many of their vocal songs featured Phil and Kim with their oldest daughter, Brooklyn, probably since she would have been the only child able to hold a part by herself. As the other siblings become capable vocalists in their own right, they have increasing liberty to reserve this lineup for the songs that it best fits. Only three songs use this configuration: “Jesus is Still the Answer,” the old Lanny Wolfe Trio classic, which has been getting a strong response at live concerts, a new Kyla Rowland/Dianne Wilkinson-penned ballad called “Within the Reach of a Prayer,” and a rare composition by Phil Collingsworth himself, “Bottom of the Barrel.” The latter track is the project’s first radio single.

Two other trios are featured. A trio of the Collingsworth teens (at the time of the recording; Brooklyn has since turned twenty) sings “Count Your Blessings Again.” It’s a new song penned by Daryl Williams and the project’s producer, Wayne Haun; it is also one of two tracks with a more progressive arrangement than they have used on past projects. The other, “I Shall Not Be Moved,” is the same song that Palmetto State recorded in 2006 on When it Pours, God Reigns. But the song is so completely reinvented that you’d have to compare the songs back to back to be fully convinced that it’s the same song.

Of all the various vocal configurations, the female trio of Brooklyn, Courtney, and Kim has the most unique and distinctive sound. It was the only lineup other than the entire family to be featured in the Collingsworth Family’s first appearance at a Gaither taping. During the two-day taping that produced Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, Rock of Ages, Nashville Homecoming, and Joy in My Heart, the entire family sang “May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You” and the ladies’ trio saing “God is in the Shadows.” Of that latter appearance, I said:

. . . Of all the vocal configurations the Collingsworth Family uses in any given concert, this female trio is possibly their best and certainly their most distinctive. The Collingsworth ladies are Southern Gospel’s female Booth Brothers. They match their enunciation and vocal placement more precisely than any other group in the genre (besides, perhaps, the Booth Brothers, the Isaacs, and Voices Won).

This lineup is featured on two of the projects’ best songs, “Fear Not Tomorrow” and “Ever Gentle, Ever Sweet.” The latter song is the same mid-tempo song that the Bill Gaither Trio recorded in 1974 on Because He Lives. But despite the (well-deserved) legendary status of the Bill Gaither Trio, their version can’t touch the simple beauty of this one.

With “Fear Not Tomorrow,” the ladies’ trio proves its abilities are not restricted to mid-tempo numbers. I saw the Collingsworth Family the weekend after their project came out (review here), and though this was the first time that the audience ever heard this power ballad, it brought down the house with one of the biggest responses of the night.

A new vocal configuration appears for the first time on this project: Phil, Kim, Brooklyn, and Courtney sing the project’s closing track, “More than Anything.” This quartet would be a strong default configuration for the group; adding Courtney to the mix gives the mixed quartet a much fuller, warmer tone than the mixed trio has.

Though the original plan for the project called for no instrumentals, evidently plans changed before the project was complete. Phil does a trumpet solo on “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,” while Kim is featured with a piano solo on “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”

There are two other songs that the review wouldn’t be complete without a mention. “I Want a Principle Within” is a magnificent, sweeping rendition of a Charles Wesley hymn largely forgotten except in some holiness circles. The hymn deserved to be brought back, and this rendition does justice to the strength of the lyric and grandeur of the melody.

Since words fail me when discussing “Oh, the Thought that Jesus Loves Me,” I’ll resort to statistics. About the time I started this site, I switched from Windows Media Player to iTunes. Since I don’t re-set play counts, my automatically generated top 200 list tracks each time a song has been played for the last three or four years. After just a month of having this CD, “Oh, the Thought that Jesus Loves Me” is at #6 out of 19,319 tracks. It’s that good.

In closing, a few words need to be said about where this album positions the Collingsworth Family. In addition to a strong assortment of new songs, the project has three hymns (one vocal, two instrumental), several familiar Southern Gospel selections, and two or three songs from Inspirational music. Specifically, that latter group of songs is “Jesus is Still the Answer” (Lanny Wolfe Trio), “I Want Jesus More than Anything” (Truth), and depending on if you count the Bill Gaither Trio (which, historically speaking, you should), “Ever Gentle Ever Sweet.”

The audience of aging music fans that loved Inspirational music back in the 1970s is a largely untapped market right now. Contemporary Christian music long since passed them by, and though many have some familiarity with the Gaither television specials, many more have no idea that anything like the style they used to love can now be found again. The Answer fuses the best of both genres in a way that, if properly marketed, will win many new fans.

Rating: 5 stars. ♦ Average song rating: 4.3 stars. ♦ Group members: Phil, Kim, Brooklyn, Courtney, Phil Jr., and Olivia Collingsworth. ♦ Produced by: Wayne Haun. ♦ Available from: Label, Artist. Review copy provided. ♦ Song list: I Shall Not Be Moved; Fear Not Tomorrow; I Could Never Praise Him Enough; When the Roll is Called Up Yonder; I Want a Principle Within; I Know; Ever Gentle Ever Sweet; Jesus is Still the Answer; Count Your Blessings Again; Within the Reach of a Prayer; Oh the Thought that Jesus Loves Me; Bottom of the Barrel; Great is Thy Faithfulness; More Than Anything.

As several other bloggers noted yesterday, Legacy Five just launched a new blog, at http://legacyfive.wordpress.com/.

So what makes this any different from a newsletter?

It’s easier for the fans to interact with the group and each other.

This “community site” concept is one that Crossroads has been helping several of its artists launch. Legacy Five’s has the potential to become as strong and active a community as the Talley Trio’s site (http://talleytree-o.com/) if they can remain consistent with updates.

I think the answer is yes.

After all, how many Southern Gospel songs would you enjoy as an instrumental piece—taking the soundtrack and adding in a cello part for the melody—if you didn’t already know the lyrics, and if that didn’t add to your enjoyment of the song?

Now I’m not saying there aren’t any. In fact, I can think of two:

• “Almost Morning” by the Perrys
• “He is Loved” by Greater Vision

There probably are a few others. But not many.

Southern Gospel is a lyric-driven genre. After all, it’s all about the message—all about the Gospel.

On his always-fascinating blog, Jeff Foster mentions a news tidbit in a Legacy Five e-letter that (for whatever reason) I never received. Frank Seamans will stay most of the rest of the year with the group; his final concert will be on December 8, the last concert before their Christmas break. Their new tenor will officially start on their annual concert on December 31 in Morristown, Tennessee (at Gerald Wolfe’s home church).

No, it’s not a project that they’ve recorded. Yet.

With one notable exception, the concept of a group recording a complete concept album singing the songs of a legendary songwriter has been lost in our genre. (Truth be told, the idea of the concept album has been nearly lost, period, but that’s another post.)

Both now and in the old days, certain groups would find that a certain songwriter’s style simply fit their sound. And from time to time, groups would release a complete album of some of that songwriter’s classic songs.

• Cathedral Quartet – Sings Albert E. Brumley Classics (1976). This was certainly the Cathedrals’ best table project, and possibly their best project ever. The mid-70s lineup of the group could render better male quartet versions of Brumley’s songs than any other group then or since.
• Bill Gaither Trio – Sings Inspiring Songs of Stuart Hamblen (1977). Of course, Bill and Gloria Gaither’s songs defined the Bill Gaither Trio’s sound. But if any songwriter came second-closest to fitting the trio’s sound, it was Hamblen.
• Chuck Wagon Gang – Sings the Songs of Albert E. Brumley – God’s Gentle People (1962). Of course, I said “male quartet” in my comments on the Cathedral post, because the Chuck Wagon Gang defined the Brumley song by introducing several of his best songs (including “I’ll Fly Away.”) So, not surprisingly, this album was one of their best.
• Chuck Wagon Gang – Sings the Songs of Mosie Lister (1961). While perhaps a less obvious pick than the Brumley album, this also worked well for the group. They picked twelve Lister songs that fit their sound, and knocked them out of the park.

There have also been notable compilations, with tributes to the songs of Bill & Gloria Gaither, Kyla Rowland, and Lee Roy Abernathy. Some of these have just been compilations, but others (such as Command Performance: A Tribute to Lee Roy Abernathy, featuring the original Gold City rendition of “Movin’ Up to Gloryland”) featured original recordings. Multi-group tributes are nice, and I mentioned them because if I didn’t, one of you would surely note the omission in the comments. But the focus of this post is single group tributes.

Both then and now, groups with an in-house songwriter sometimes do a complete recording or compilation of that songwriter’s songs. Slaughter Writes Imperials Sing (1965) is a good classic example, while Greater Vision’s Songs From the Stories highlights Rodney Griffin’s songs (a number of which had only been cut previously by other artists).

But the concept of a full-album tribute of songs by an external songwriter had largely disappeared when the Dove Brothers brought it back in 2004 for their best project to date, A Tribute to Mosie Lister. They were toward the end of their classic-quartet-style era, so the project had the benefit of an eight-year warmup.

Southern Gospel artists and record labels would do well to bring back the concept album, particularly the tribute to a legendary concept. Here are a few, for starters:

We Shall See Jesus: The Kingdom Heirs Sing the Songs of Dianne Wilkinson. They have already cut more of her songs than any other group, so what would another project be? Here are some classics and forgotten tracks that would fit their style well:

• We Shall See Jesus. There are only two singers on the road that could do the song justice—Arthur Rice and Pat Barker—and the Dixie Echoes aren’t likely to do a Dianne Wilkinson tribute.
• Saved (Gold City).
• God’s Grace Reaches Farther (Greater Vision).
• When Mercy Came Down (Mark Trammell Trio). This is a gem that has been unfortunately forgotten.
• Of Thee I Sing (Greater Vision, Ball Brothers). This would sound amazing in a quartet setting.

Feelin’ Fine: The Booth Brothers Sing the Songs of Mosie Lister. Anchored by new renditions of “Feelin’ Fine” and its sequel, “Still Feelin’ Fine,” this could include songs like

• “Where No One Stands Alone”
• “Till the Storm Passes By”
• “His Hand In Mine”
• “Here Comes the King” (done by the Dove Brothers on their tribute)
• “Land Where Living Waters Flow” (uptempo song done by the Florida Boys and, farther back, the Harvesters)
• “That Says it All” (done by George Younce on his solo project by the same name). After drafting this, I remembered that Ronnie Booth put it on his solo project, which validates my thesis that it fits the group’s sound. A rendition by the entire group would fit well on such a project, though.

Of course, they could include several of the classics they’ve already cut, but there’s more then enough great Mosie Lister songs they’ve yet to cut that their project could focus on those songs.

God Handled it All: The Perrys sing the songs of Kyla Rowland. It’s no secret that Rowland’s songs fit the Perrys’ style better than a hand in a glove. The Perrys can even take a Rowland song (like “Did I Mention”) that has been a filler track for other groups and make it a showstopper. Here are a few Rowland songs that the Perrys have never cut, but should:

• God Handled It All.
• One Scarred Hand. A Troy Peach / Libbi Perry Stuffle feature.
• There Rose a Lamb. Featuring Joseph. Few lead singers could top the original, but Joseph probably could.
• Windows of Home.
• His Response. This Mercy’s Mark track was forgotten way too quickly, since Anthony Facello left the group before their next mainline release and his replacement didn’t sing the song. This could be a bass feature.

A couple of other ideas:

• The Inspirations sing the songs of Sandy Knight
• The Isaacs sing the songs of Dottie Rambo
• The Hoppers sing the songs of Paula Stefanovich

This past week, I have been thinking of how blessed I am. God never said, “Come to Me and you will never have a care.” He never said life would be all ease but He did say, “Come unto Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

It’s when I take my eyes off Him that I lose sight of just how blessed I am but the joy that floods my heart when I think of Him is stronger than I can begin to describe. It makes me understand why Jacob would cling to Him declaring, “I won’t let You go until You bless me” but my cry is, “I won’t let You go because I don’t want to walk through life without Your continual blessing!”

Are you depressed and discouraged, or do you have that “joy unspeakable and full of glory”? Let’s make sure we are being faithful to daily count our blessings. As we do, the joy will overflow.

I’ve had fun with a few small contests here and there on this site. But the Kingdom Heirs just announced a contest to end all contests: Click here to enter a contest where the prizes include four three-night passes to the National Quartet Convention, season passes to Dollywood, front-row seats to a Kingdom Heirs performance there, and a 22-piece merchandise prize pack.

Kerry Beatty has been the one mainstay of the Palmetto State Quartet through the numerous personnel changes they’ve had over the last few years. But it appears he’s left. Burke’s Brainwork notes an update to the group’s mySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/palmettostatequartet) that indicates that Paul Lancaster is their new lead singer.

Paul Lancaster has been criticized—unfairly—for never staying anywhere long. I have heard that even if he does a recording with a group, he has viewed some (and perhaps most) of  his stints with groups as being an extended fill-in while the group determines its long-term direction.

The Perrys just sent out an email announcing that “If You New Him” is at the #1 spot on the Singing News December Top 40 chart. The song, penned by Rodney Griffin and Perrys lead singer Joseph Habedank, has only been on the charts three months.

It’s the Perrys’ first #1 single in just over five years—their last #1 was “I Wish I Could Have Been There” in July 2004.

It is also the Perrys’ sixth #1, a number that ties them with the Cathedrals. (The Perrys’ six: Not Even a Stone, By Faith I Can Touch Him Now, Praise God It’s Settled I’m Saved, I Rest My Case at the Cross, I Wish I Could Have Been There, and this one. The Cathedrals’ six: Step Into the Water, Can He Could He Would He, Boundless Love, I Can See the Hand, Wedding Music, and He Made a Change.) The Cathedrals’ six songs, however, spent more months at #1 (19 vs. 8).

It’s a well-deserved honor. Congratulations!

Every now and then, I try to do a “reality check,” if you will, to see if what I have been doing with the blog is what you want me to do. Because, after all, I’d rather provide the content you want to read than continue my own merry way regardless of what you want.

• Interviews. Do you prefer one or two per month? I know past responses have generally been “the more, the merrier.” Because of time involved, I can’t pull off more than two per month, but I can aim for that goal (especially in post-NQC season, when I have a couple in the queue).
• CD Reviews. Once or twice per week? My spare hours have been tied up getting the underlying formatting done for the reviews of projects I picked up at NQC, so I have been several weeks running with few reviews. Once I have all the blog formatting set up (and revised in compliance with the FTC’s new arbitrary review guidelines that apply only to bloggers and not to more established forms of media), there will be quite a few in the queue. And I don’t want to overwhelm you with more than you want.
• Contests. I loved the first two. Any ideas for a third?