SouthernGospelBlog.com

Southern Gospel artists recording a Christmas album typically use a mix of carols and secular Christmas songs. But there have been some excellent songs written for and recorded by Southern Gospel artists.

If you were recording a CD and chose to only use songs written or originally recorded within our genre, what songs would you choose? Are there enough that you could come out with a strong project?

Here are five that come to mind:

• Glory to God in the Highest (Inspirations, Brian Free & Assurance, Old Friends, Signature Sound / written by Daryl Williams)
• Mary, Did You Know (Gaither Vocal Band / lyrics by Mark Lowry)
• Tonight (Signature Sound / written by Gloria & Benjy Gaither)
• It’s Jesus (Mark Trammell Trio / written by Dianne Wilkinson)
• His Name Was John (Perrys / writen by Ronald Martin and Kyla Rowland)

With that, perhaps, as a start, can any of you come up with a list of ten SG-originated Christmas songs you would like to record on a SG Christmas project?

Rating: 3.5 stars (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 3.46 stars (of 5)

Executive Producer: Ken Harding.

Song List: Still Feelin’ Fine (Booth Brothers); Please Forgive Me (Crabb Family); I’m Not Giving Up (Gold City); Grace (Martins), For God So Loved (Brian Free & Assurance); Sweetest Song I Know (J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet); He Looked Beyond My Fault (The Rambos); What a Beautiful Day (The Goodmans); Is That the Old Ship of Zion (Kingsmen); I Lean On You Lord (Florida Boys); God Walks the Dark Hills (Vestal Goodman); Through it All (Oak Ridge Boys); I Wish I Could Have Been There (Perrys); Praise His Name (Jeff & Sheri Easter); Redeemer (Ivan Parker).

Available from: Artist, CBD.

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A review of a project of new songs focuses on the quality of the songs and the strength of the instrumental and vocal arrangements. But other than a brief look at audio quality, the bulk of the review of a compilation must focus on the song selection. (Speaking of audio quality, it is excellent. New Haven Records did a great job remastering old songs to the point that they don’t sound out of place next to today’s songs.

First—to get this out of the way up front—I find it a little odd that an All-Time Favorites collection is done without any songs from the Statesmen, Blackwood Brothers, or Cathedrals, arguably the three most popular Southern Gospel groups of all time. Volume 1 of this series did include a Cathedrals song (”Step Into the Water”), but no Blackwoods or Statesmen songs are on either.

This is probably in part because even though the title says “all-time,” both volumes use songs from the 70s through today. From this time period, a wide range of artists are included. New Haven’s term “eclectic collection” is on target—this CD includes everyone from the Crabb Family to the Kingsmen, from Ivan Parker to the Martins, and from the Booth Brothers to the Florida Boys.

The project does a fairly decent job of using one of a group’s most recognizable songs. The only song that jumped out as a seemingly odd choice was the Florida Boys’ “I Lean On You Lord.” Granted, the song did come from Timeless (1987), possibly the best album the Florida Boys ever released…but even for that particular era, the group is best remembered for “When He Was On the Cross (I Was On His Mind).”

New Haven releases a Southern Gospel Legacy Series, an excellent compilation series for some of Southern Gospel’s top groups. All of the pre-1990 songs on this CD (except possibly the Stamps song) have appeared on CDs in that series. So this CD would be most valuable to someone new to Southern Gospel, or a Southern Gospel fan who did not have earlier titles in that series.

For someone who has a decent collection of Southern Gospel music, this CD would have little new. But it would provide a good introduction for someone new to the genre.

Recently, I had the chance to interview Christian Davis. After singing bass with the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet, Christian Brothers Quartet, and Mercy’s Mark, he recently launched a solo ministry and has reorganized the Christian Brothers Quartet for select dates. His website is www.christiandavisministries.com.

For a formatted version of the interview, click here: http://www.southerngospelblog.com/features/20081201.pdf. A text version is below.

DJM: How did you get interested in Southern Gospel?
Christian: I started at an early age, growing up around it. My family were big Southern Gospel fans. Being involved in church, and listening to tapes and records, it just kinda sunk into my system and my blood.
My dad had a Sunday morning radio program and I always loved to pick out songs for him to play. One of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning was go to the radio station with my Dad.
As I got older, that’s when I really developed more of a love for it, because I understood it better. Not that I didn’t love it at an early age, but I was able to comprehend it a little more.

DJM: So your first experience traveling professionally was with the Sounds of Liberty?
Christian: Yeah, my first professional musical experience was with Sounds of Liberty, a recruiting group for Liberty University. That was only for the year of 1999.
At the time, the Sounds of Liberty weren’t singing Southern Gospel. One Sunday morning, I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Jerry Falwell in his office and talked to him about starting a quartet. When I said that, it was like magic words to him. He had always wanted his own quartet, for his church, ministry and TV program (The Old Time Gospel Hour), as well as traveling with him when he goes around and speaks. He told me, “Christian, I want you to be the bass singer. Robbie Hiner doesn’t know it yet, but he’s gonna be my tenor singer!”
You can read a little about that on my website.

DJM: You were with them from ‘99 through ‘03?
Christian: Yeah, I was with them for four years.

DJM: And then you started your own group…
Christian: Yes, the Christian Brothers. (Continue Reading >>>)

A friend mentioned the other day that she thought Everyday People, Greater Vision’s last A-list recording with Jason Waldroup, represented the peak or culimation of Greater Vision’s sound during Waldroup’s time with the group.

I didn’t say anything at the time, but that comment got me thinking. What was Greater Vision’s best recording during their Waldroup years? And (if the answer is any different), what recording would you point to as the culmination of that era?

It was easy for me to narrow it down to three finalists: Live at First Baptist Atlanta (2002), Quartets (2003), and Hymns of the Ages (2006).

Mainly since it’s the last of the three, I’d point to Hymns of the Ages as the culmination. Every track on the project is fully orchestrated and arranged perfectly for the three voices; the project really doesn’t have a single dud track.

It would be a harder call for me to say which I think is the best of the three.

What do you think? What was Greater Vision’s best recording during their Waldroup years? And what recording was the culmination of that era?

Stewart Varnado of the Dixie Echoes just sent out a press release announcing that former Dixie Echoes and Florida Boys bass singer Billy Todd passed away this morning:

It is with a heavy heart that I write this email to let you know that my friend and former Florida Boys & Dixie Echoes bass singer, Billy Todd, passed away this morning (November 30th), after a long battle against alzheimers.

Arrangements are still pending. They will be available at www.singingnews.com once they have been finalized.

I have just uploaded a “Remembering Billy Todd” page on our website that consists of a brief biography along with many pictures of Billy throughout the years.

Please keep the Todd family in your prayers.

God Bless you all!
Stewart Varnado
Dixie Echoes

When I gave the challenge to praise God instead of asking for things, I didn’t realize just how hard it would be. I spend a lot of my “prayer time” on a daily basis praising God for His goodness to me but I guess I never realized how much I ask God for on a daily basis too.  Not that it’s wrong to ask for things (In fact, Jesus tells us to ask) but this past week, I really wanted most of my time to be spent praising Him and I began to realize how much I ask for that He has already promised me. That realization reminded me how much more I can thank Him for than I do.

One thing people often pray is that God will be with them or be with a loved one. God has already promised to be there. (”I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” ~ Hebrews 13:5) Therefore, that is something I can thank Him for–the fact that no matter what I’m going through, He is right there with me.

I also found myself thanking Him for His covering, protection, wisdom and guidance. Although I often pray for these things, the fact is He has been providing those things and I need to remember to thank Him for that and trust that He will continue to do so.

Although Thanksgiving is the time of year that reminds people to give thanks, we need to do so on a daily basis. We have so much to be thankful for all year long. As a song the Freemans sang says, “I want to thank Him for all that I’ve already thanked Him for.” I don’t think we can praise Him too much.

Probably due to the extended holiday weekend, there wasn’t really enough news in SG to call for a Saturday roundup of stories I missed during the week.

So, in light of this discussion I was having with Chris Unthank over whether Crabb Revival is seeking success in the CCM market, I thought I’d point out something interesting I noticed in Daywind’s ad on page 39 of the September / October Homecoming Magazine:

In its third decade of business, Daywind Records is the pre-eminent label in the Southern Gospel genre with an impeccable roster of artists: Brian Free and Assurance, Greater Vision, Karen Peck and New River, the Booth Brothers, Crabb Revival, Aaron and Amanda Crabb, Austins Bridge, Legacy Five, Mark Trammell Trio, the Perrys, and Triumphant Quartet. Daywind is also crossing into the CCM Market with Pop/Adult Contemporary music from Austins Bridge, Aaron and Amanda Crabb, Crabb Revival, Brian Free and Assurance, and the Booth Brothers. (Emphasis mine.)

What caught my attention was the reference to Crabb Revival, settling the question at hand. But if it was just that, I would have left this as a follow-up comment on that specific thread. I thought this was of more general interest, though, as it indicates how Daywind explains to a non-Singing News audience the general directions they see their artists going.

Rating: 4 (of 5)

Average Song Rating: 3.9 (of 5)

Producer: Gus Gaches.

Song List: Must I Go Empty Handed; I Love Him So; Cloud He’s Coming Back On; When I Get Carried Away; Gulty; I Bless Your Name; It Takes Faith; Glory Road; First Day in Heaven; Without Him; How Great Thou Art; Total Praise; In His Will; To Get to Jesus; Days of Elijah.

Available from: Artist.

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Groups like Greater Vision, the Perrys, and Gold City have years of mega-hits to draw on to win over an audience and warm them to receiving their new material favorably. Newer groups like the Mike LeFevre Quartet, even though they have several albums under their belt, have to work with lesser-known songs and, when singing classics, songs introduced by other groups.

This video is the LeFevre Quartet’s first DVD. Even though only four or five songs on the project are original to the group, the program is a good mixture of classics, all-but-forgotten Southern Gospel songs, and Southern Gospel renditions of current praise songs that provides a solid introduction to the group.

The video quality is top-notch. The roving cameraman and the boom camera operator were both at the top of their game on the night of the taping, and the editing is also superb.

The LeFevre Quartet is remarkably agile at shifting stylistic gears seamlessly. Mike LeFevre’s voice is a solidly Southern Gospel baritone; David Staton’s lead vocals have a contemporary edge. A segment of Southern Gospel classics transitions into a segment of fully orchestrated praise songs so smoothy that one has to be following closely to even notice that the group has shifted gears.

The group starts the program establishing its Southern Gospel bona fides with two LeFevre songs, a Happy Goodmans classic, and Mike Lefevre’s signature song, “When I Get Carried Away” (after a witty comedic introduction by tenor Gus Gaches). After several newer songs with soundtracks, the group sings several Southern Gospel classics with a live band. The band—pianist Trey Ivey, drummer Jordan LeFevre (Mike’s son), and bass guitarist Gary Coursey (former Singing Americans bass guitarist who plays select MLQ dates), brought a boost of energy to the program.

The program closed with several original and praise songs, ending on a strong note with “Days of Elijah.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I write this, I’m particularly thankful for you. Artist don’t make it far without fans, and blogs don’t make it far without readers. Thank you for making this site a success!

Last night, Crossroads recording artist Cross 4 Crowns sent out a press release that Matt Felts is replacing Dallas Rogers at the tenor slot in Cross 4 Crowns. Dallas Rogers’ doctor had put him on complete vocal rest, forcing him to leave the group. Matt Felts, who till now sang tenor for the possibly disbanding Monument Quartet, will be stepping into the tenor slot. Owner Allen Leath calls Matt a “once in a lifetime find,” citing his heart for ministry.

Speaking of Monument, Felts’ statement left room for them to announce their own disbanding:

“I am excited to be a part of this incredibly talented group. It is wonderful to see the hand of God working in these men and it’s an honor to be a part of that. I want to thank Monument, most especially Marshall,  for the last two years. It was truly a blessing to go and spread God’s love to countless thousands at fairs across America. Thank you to all the friends and fans who supported us night after night. I will miss Marshall, Jerry, Daryl and the band greatly but I am excited to begin this new chapter in my ministry.”

This will be a huge change for the group’s vocal direction. Dallas Rogers is an Appalachian tenor in the style of Archie Watkins, while Matt Felts is a power tenor in the style of Ernie Haase. While I hate to see Rogers go—he gave the group a distinctive sound and, with bass singer Justin Terry, was one of its two strongest links vocally—Felts’ vocal abilities are unquestioned and he will be able to carry the torch without missing a beat.

For an introduction to Matt Felts, check out our interview with him here: http://www.southerngospelblog.com/archives/432.