The following puzzle will be up all weekend. In this first free music give-away, I need you to correctly identify the title of the song and the artist. I may have made this first one a bit too easy. Please send your answers to me via email. I ask that you don’t leave your answer in the comments section to allow everyone to participate. The first entry to correctly identify song title and artist will win. I will announce the winner in my iPod track of the week post on Monday which will happen to be the song contained in this puzzle.
As I was formulating ideas on why I wanted to start a blog, about Southern Gospel music, my initial thought was how can I be relevant with so many other bloggers bringing ideas to the table on the same subject. Where can I fit in? Where can I be different? Will anyone really care? I realized I wanted to focus on the new generation of Southern Gospel music and its artists and varying styles while also introducing today’s Southern Gospel fan base to some great classic Southern Gospel music.
As a reader of this blog you will soon come to realize you will get a lot of music clips, both audio and video. The plan is to meld both current/modern and classic Southern Gospel music and try to show the reader that past the recording processes of different time periods the music is still great, no matter what era it is found.
That brings me to another feature I plan to bring you periodically, something I would like to refer to as record rewind. Providing today’s Southern Gospel audience to some great classic music.
The first feature shines the spotlight on Teddy Huffam and the Gems. To my knowledge, Teddy Huffam and the group were one of the first black artists to market themselves in the industry. Teddy and the Gems won a talent competition circa 1973, held at what use to be the Hoppers annual singing at Watermelon Park in Berryville Virginia. By 1977 the group released its first album with Canaan Records, one of the biggest Gospel labels of that time period. Along with their debut release, in the same year the group also released a live album titled, Live! Souled Out. The album’s most notable songs were “John The Revelator”, “Just In Time”, and “Wait Til You See My Brand New Home”. “John The Revelator” and “Wait Til You See My Brand New Home” became standards for the group.
Take a listen to some of the excitement from this 1977 release. For any serious Southern Gospel record collector, especially if you enjoy live recordings, this LP is must have. This is the kind of album that needs to be re-released in digital format for today’s Southern Gospel audience.
I wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know that tomorrow evening will be my first free music contest post. I plan to give away free music at least once a month. It will actually lead into my iPod track of the week for next week. Hidden within a puzzle of sorts will be the title of the song that I have already selected as my iPod track of the week. First one to correctly identify the song title and artist, via email, will win.
Song covers have become more prevalent among today’s Southern Gospel artists. If you’re not familiar with the term song cover, it simply means an artist re-recording a song made popular by another artist. I enjoy when artists go back and pick up songs from the past, and make it their own among today’s Southern Gospel fan base. One of the best groups at doing this lately is the Hoppers. Nearly every album recorded over the last ten years has had at least one cover song.
In what will become a regular series of this blog, I am going to offer song covers, smack down. You will get sample clips of each version, so you can get a feel for both the original and updated versions. You decide which version you prefer.
Now back to the Hoppers. In a song that they can now rightfully claim as their own, “Shoutin’ Time” is not an original Hoppers tune. This song was recorded by several artists in the late 1970′s, most notably the Inspirations. Love it or hate it, “Shoutin’ Time” has been a huge success for the Hoppers. Another cover they have made their own more recently is “I’ve Come Too Far”. Another 1970′s tune, originally recorded by the LeFevres and later the Rex Nelon Singers. This song has become Connie Hopper’s signature song.
I am not going to offer either of those songs today in the smack down, but instead the groups current single, “O It Thrills Me”. Unforgettable, the album which contains the song, could be considered an entire album of covers since it contains all previously recorded songs. “O It Thrills Me” is a song that hasn’t been recorded too often, which is nice. Outside of the original Speer Family version, there are not too many versions of this song floating around. Written by Dad Speer, the original cut was recorded by the Speer Family in the late 1950′s.
Remember when listening to the Speer’s clip, the time frame in which it was recorded. Proper singing technique was a Speers trademark and it shows listening to the first verse and chorus. The Hoppers updated version comes in on the second verse of the song. Their tempo is a bit faster than the original and the Hoppers do what they do best by kicking it into high gear when they reach the second chorus. In this first song cover smack down I would give a slight edge of victory to the modern updated Hoppers version. Let me know what you think.
Traditional Southern Gospel radio, for the most part, has become a thing of the past. At least when it comes to producing mega songs. Today’s generation has become their own radio station, programming/playing their iPods/MP3 players with what they want, when they want. Each week I want to provide a recommendation in what I call the iPod track of the week. These are songs that I am playing frequently in my iPod song rotation.
The first selection comes from a new artist based in northeast Oklahoma. To be honest I never thought about giving this artist a listen until I heard the song, “Empty Handed”. Chris Hester began singing full-time in late 2003 and currently has two albums to his credit. His strong country vocal could easily find him on mainstream Country radio. “Empty Handed” happens to be track #2 on his latest album, Steps I’ve Taken. The song, I also found, happens to be his current radio single.
Give it a look and listen and let me know if given the chance, would you add it to your iPod playlist?
Hello All. I know what everyone is thinking. Why in the world is there another Southern Gospel blogger? What is this guy going to add? Well, let me start by saying the things you won’t see here.
1. If you are looking for group personnel change information, you won’t find that here.
2. If you are looking for the general Southern Gospel news story, you won’t get that here. There are plenty of other fine places to visit for that kind of information.
What you will find here:
1. Concert reviews. I attend many concerts, thus the title of the blog. I normally sit as close to the back as possible when attending concerts. The main reason is because I like to take in the entire concert, from stage to audience. I will relay my concert experiences with you.
2. I am always on the lookout for the next best thing. You will get information regarding up and coming artists.
3. I will provide you with weekly tidbits such as my Ipod track of the week. What I mean by that is with my extensive music collection I will offer a track that I feel everyone should have on their Ipod.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope to offer something a bit different than everyone else.
David Bruce Murray
Diana Brantley
Kyle Boreing
Phil on Southern Gospel
Steve Eaton
