2011 NQC – Friday Night Recap

Friday night of the 2011 National Quartet Convention is now in the record books.  Highlights are as follows.

• The Collingsworth Family batted a thousand this week making all three sets at NQC noteworthy.
• Karen Peck Gooch battling through her set not being 100% vocally.
• The Isaacs turned in another strong performance and one of my favorite songs performed all night; “Why Can’t We”.
• Gaither Vocal Band was near flawless in their performance.  Wes Hampton was outstanding on “Here Is Here”.
• Consistently good sets turned in by Greater Vision, Hoppers and Perrys.
• Gold City, Legacy Five and Brian Free & Assurance closed the night.  While inconsistent in song selection the sets turned out decent.

• Recycled songs.  I know it is getting near the end of the week and a lot of people were there tonight that were not there early in the week but groups re-staging songs already performed during the week is a bit overkill.
• Recycled jokes.  Isn’t a comedian’s job to consistently look for new material?
• One can tell it is getting near the end of NQC week because I am getting fatigued with all the music and I am not even there, but watching from home.  It gets harder to critique when artists start falling back to back on the nightly schedule and the same songs are sung used in previous sets.

**Now to crown the best of the night:

Best single song performances (in order of appearance):  (1) “Resurrection Morn” – Collingsworth Family  (2) “Why Can’t We” – Isaacs  (3) “Greatly Blessed, Highly Favored” – Gaither Vocal Band  (4) “He Is Here” – Gaither Vocal Band  (5) “Please Forgive Me” – Gaither Vocal Band  (6) “I Know A Man Who Can” – Greater Vision  (7) “I Will Serve Thee” – Hoppers  (8) “Blue Skies Coming” – Perrys  (9) “It’s Love” – Legacy Five  (10) “Jesus Will Pick You Up” – Brian Free & Assurance

Best Set of the Night:  Overall tonight’s program was better than last night because I actually had to decide between several artists for best set.  When the dust cleared, Gaither Vocal Band barely eked out the win.

2011 NQC – Gaither Sing-A-Long

As with the Gaither Vocal Band reunion yesterday, I will provide the song list and denote highlights of the Gaither sing-a-long today.

1. “Amazing Grace” - Featured, Sonya Isaacs
2. “Farther Along” – Ann Downing
3. **”How Beautiful Heaven Must Be” – Mitchel Jon
4. “When God Dips His Pen” – Wes Hampton
5. “Everybody Will Be Happy Over There” – Voice over with James Blackwood
6. “Winging My Way Back Home” – Entire group
7. “You Sho Do Need Him Now” – Gene McDonald, Tim Duncan, Tim Riley, Jeff Chapman, Ray Dean Reese, Sue Dodge, John Rulapaugh, Kim Hopper, Sonya Isaacs, Ladye Love Smith, Charlotte Ritchie
8. **”Just A Little While” – Stan Whitmire, Ryan Seaton
9. **”O How Marvelous” – Charlotte Ritchie, Jonathan Martin, David Phelps
10. **”Precious Lord, Take My Hand” – Marshall Hall, Angela Primm, Michael English
11. “I Don’t Want To Get Adjusted” – Mitchel Jon, Michael English
12. “The Sweetest Song I Know” – Voice over with Howard Goodman, also Ben Speer, Wesley Pritchard, Becky Bowman, Gene McDonald, Michael English, Gordon Mote, Mark Lowry
13. **”The Holy Hills” – Reba Rambo McGuire, Buck Rambo
14. **”I Just Came To Talk With You Lord” – Sheri Easter
15. “Down To The River” – Charlotte Ritchie, Becky Bowman, Sonya Isaacs, Joyce Sander, Judy Martin Hess, Ladye Love Smith, Kim Hopper
16. “Looking For A City” – Ann Downing, Sue Dodge, John Rulapaugh, Lauren Talley, Amber Thompson, Sonya Isaacs, Kim Hopper, Ladye Love Smith, Charlotte Ritchie
17. “After While” – Ben Speer, Jeanne Johnson, Sue Dodge, Gene McDonald, Ann Downing, Allison Durham Speer, Mark Trammell
18. **”Ninety And Nine” – Nelons
19. “How Long Has It Been”/”Then I Met The Master”/”Where No One Stands Alone” – Honoring Mosie Lister
20. “What A Day That Will Be” – Jim Hill
21. **”When I Survey The Wondrous Cross” – Nelons, David Phelps
22. **”Worthy The Lamb” – Current Gaither Vocal Band
23. “All Hail The Power” – Closing chorus.

**Denotes Highlights