The Death of Quartets?

There seems to be a somewhat common theme running through southern gospel blogs these days. It kind of goes like this...southern gospel quartets are dead. Gold City has new singers at every position in a short amount of time. Palmetto State is a shadow of its former self. Old Time Gospel Quartet, like Mercy's Mark is defunct. The Perrys don't count because they're a mixed group. It goes on and on.

I contend that if quartets, that traditional four-part harmony configuration that stated the phenomenon, is dead, so is the genre as we know it. Some would applaud this, but they also ignore the tremendous popularity of the Gaither Vocal Band and Ernie Haase and Signature Sound.
So, how can you have it both ways? You can't. I contend that bad quartets are dying. I know, Mercy's Mark was good and so was the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet, but they suffered from few dates and bad publicity (MM had so many defections, notably Anthony Facello and Chris West, that they had no continuity).

If this genre is to survive, we'd all better hope that Gold City, the Perrys and EHSSQ continue on as viable players. If they do not, we'll all be singing and listening to those obnoxious choruses that our well-meaning clergy and ministers of music think are so great. Think about that.

Gaither's Rock of Ages

I'd like to know who at Gaither Music comes up with this stuff. As I wait with baited breath for what I really want to see--a real old-time Gaither video with all the stars of southern gospel, we get "Rock of Ages" instead. More of the same.

If you remember, Gaither did a mega taping back last fall with every star of gospel music that was supposed to yield three videos--2 of hymns and the all-star video I'm waiting for. Well, surprise! Apparently the hymns did so well, we get a third bonus video, which is not necessarily a bad thing. It just delays what I want to see. More on that later.

The new video is sort of a rehash of the first two videos (or DVD's for those who want to be totally correct) were the big choir surrounded by a big orchestra showcasing the great hymns. Well, this one is the sme with different songs. The first two had the typical Gaither "stars" doing the solo work and this one has some different folks. We get the Jimmy Backwood's Blackwood Brothers, Greater Vision (making their first appearance in years), the Classic Imperials (who aren't called that--only their names listed separately), and the Collingsworth Family. It also includes the Gaither favorites, the Easters, Jessy, the now dufunct Florida Boys, the Martins, Donnie Sumner, the GVB, Signature Sound, and Andrae Crouch. It just seemed so unessesary. I guess the return of David Phelps was a big event to some.

What many of us are waiting for is to the that other video or videos when the individual groups get to do their popular songs with all the great production and sound included as standard equipment on a Gaither video. But even though it's been like six or seven months since the taping, it m ight be another six or seven before the market gurus at Gaither put this one out. It's all business, I guess.

We were just treated to the Homecoming Picnic videos a little while ago, which were, in my opinon supreior to these hymns projects after waiting a long time. It must be successful financially for Bill's bunch, but as Tom Petty once said, the waiting is the hardest part.

Changes Really Haven't Made Things Better

I've been away for awhile so several reasons. I flirted with another blogging system and found it to be so confusing to me that I just gave up. Couple that with the general funk that S0uthern Gospel Music and my other passions have been in and you get a lack of creativity. Although I keep getting emails to come back and write, I've resisted the urge until now, but I had to get something off my chest.

I rediscovered southern gospel music in 1999. As I've said before I was raised in a family where my father was a sg singer, but other forms of music appealed to me more, and I just quit listening. Then I picked up the Andy Griffith CD's of hymns and got the Gaither Nashville DVD for Christmas in 1999 and got hooked again. It was an exciting time. I got to see waht was happening with the Cathedrals and Howard and Vestal Goodman. I got to see my hero Jake Hess again. All was good. I spent hundreds of dollars on DVD's. I bought the Gaither catalog. I bought (and continue to) all the NQC DVD's. And it happened.

Gold City went from Jay, Jon, Mark, and Tim to Jay, Jon, Daniel, and Tim to Steve, Jon, Daniel and Bill to Steve, Jon, Daniel and Aaaron to Steve, Bruce, Daniel and Aaron. It's a whole new crew, and one I'll admit I've never heard...yet. That's in only nine years! I could go on and on. The Perrys have two new members. Palmetto State has only one surviving member and the Florida Boys are history (except for the new Florida Boys, which do not contain any of the characters who made up the old Florida Boys). Mercy's Mark, which I considered one of the great hopes for the genre, are gone. Gaither quit making videos that brought everyone together, and Ernie Haase and Signature Sound beame a household name (which is not a bad thing).

In the meantime, we've lost some great voices. Anthony Facello is a good example. Mercy's Mark's tenor was selling real estate last I heard and trying to form a new group which is probaly doomed to failure. Same goes for the other members of that great group, but I do understand that Josh Feamster and Chris West are trying to put together a group. In the hard times we are now experiencing, that might be a reach. Loren Harris, former lead singer for the Perrys is nowhere to be found. Gold City's former lead singer, Jonathan Wilburn is selling cars. John Rulapaugh, Rick Fair, and Burman Potter (of Palmetto State) are in a theatre somewhere in Tennessee singing. Jason Waldroup left Greater Vision to go into the ministry. It all seems so unfair. That group of singers could make up two or three great groups to come to your town or mine.

Whether it's economics or conflicts, we've lost a lot in the last few years. Of course there are survivors. Brian Free's group has rebounded nicely replacing Keith Plott (one of my favorite bass singers) with Jeremy Lile. The Gaitehr Vocal Band survived without David Phelps and Mark Lowry (though barely).

I noticed today that the economy must be pretty bad. It's been nearly two years since Gold City released a CD. They were usually good for one major project and a table project every year. The number of concerts in my area has dwindled to nothing in the last six months. Gaither continues to supress the geat taping (so I hear) mad ewith all the artists in Nashville last year (all we get is three hymns projects, which were great and the Picnic DVD's which were OK).

It's been a big letdown for me, but maybe it's just me.