2012 Southern Gospel March Madness – Round 3 Results

Round three voting is officially over.  There were 110 unique votes cast in round three.  Raw totals are provided.  The Final Four match ups will be open for voting beginning Monday (04/02/12).  Click on the thumbnail to see the advanced brackets and final four match ups.

Match 1:  Gold City (59) defeats Karen Peck & New River (51)

Match 2:  Gaither Vocal Band (65) defeats Mark Trammell Quartet (45)

Match 3:  Triumphant Quartet (62) defeats Greater Vision (48)

Match 4:  Brian Free & Assurance (57) defeats Perrys (53)

Hymns – Guy Penrod

Southern Gospel Views from the Back Row (Steve Eaton) and Musicscribe (David Bruce Murray) offer another ‘must buy or not’ feature this week. Highlights and dislikes will be offered along with a definitive yes or no on whether the album is a ‘must buy’.

In this edition of the ‘must buy or not’ feature is the new album by Guy Penrod; Hymns. This 13 song collection hit retail 03/27/12. Guy doesn’t break any new ground musically on Hymns, instead adding his strong country vocal to classic hymns.

Song list: (1) “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” (2) “Count Your Blessings” (3) “The Old Rugged Cross” (4) “Down At The Cross” (5) “He Hideth My Soul” (6) “We’ll Understand It Better By And By” (7) “Rock Of Ages/I Stand Amazed” (8) “What A Friend We Have In Jesus” (9) “The Solid Rock” (10) “Amazing Grace” (11) “Does Jesus Care” (12) “Nothing But The Blood” (13) “Softly And Tenderly”

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• To hear George Beverly Shea still recording is a treat. He is featured with Guy on the classic hymn “Does Jesus Care”.
• There are several songs that Guy Penrod is able to create some special musical moments. They include “Down At The Cross”, “He Hideth My Soul” and the “Rock Of Ages/I Stand Amazed” medley.
• With Guy’s strong vocals, I look forward to his next album of new music, along the lines of his previous effort Breathe Deep.

MUSICSCRIBE

• “Down At The Cross” is a solid, toe-tapping Country arrangement with several “hot lick” breaks for the instruments. I wish more tracks on this CD had taken a similar energetic route.
• “We’ll Understand It Better By And By” starts softly with an acoustic accompaniment similar to something Chet Aktins might play, then picks up energy as the arrangement progresses. I wish more tracks on this CD developed like this one, rather than starting and ending more or less in the same place.
• Guy Penrod’s voice sounds great in any range, but I really sit up and take notice when he soars up above middle C into tenor territory. “Rock Of Ages” is one track where he proves he still has full command of his upper vocal range. I wish more tracks on this CD featured his voice in that high register.

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• While I treasure classic hymns and hope they’re never forgotten, to have an entire album of songs that have been recorded more times than can be counted is too much.
• It may be different if it was recorded by a group where the listener would get vocal variation, but having Guy perform all 13 songs, they start bleeding together by the end of the recording.
• I was expecting something more from this recording.

MUSICSCRIBE

• Some artists tend to go too far with vocal acrobatics. With Guy Penrod’s Hymns CD, the opposite’s true. I had hoped the experience would be a memorable sonic adventure, but most of these melodies stay close to home.
• A few key changes, more expansive vocal arrangements, and another duet or two would have gone a long way toward making this CD distinctive.

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• NO – There are several songs from this Hymns album that deserve a listen but the entire album would not rank as a ‘must buy’.

MUSICSCRIBE

• NO – Guy Penrod is one of my favorite vocalists in the business and hymns are a proven source of material, but most of these arrangements are bland.

The Fab Five – April 2012

April is upon us and in the midst of the Southern Gospel march madness competition I thought I would take a look at five current radio songs that have garnered my attention over the last month.  Sometimes artists and record labels don’t get it right when selecting radio singles.  The five songs I selected for April deserve a ‘shout out’ for getting my attention.  They include two Stow Town recording artists, the Collingsworth Family and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound.  You’ll also find Soul’d Out Quartet, Beyond The Ashes and a single from a four-year old album by Mitchel Jon.  Enjoy!

2012 Southern Gospel March Madness – Round 3 Voting

We have made it to round three of the 2012 Southern Gospel march madness competition.  Please vote for one choice in each of the four match ups.  Round three voting will only be open for three days (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday), so be sure to get your votes in early.  Have fun!

2012 Southern Gospel March Madness – Round 2 Results

Round 2 polls are now officially closed and here are the raw total vote counts.  There were 121 unique votes cast in round 2.  Click on the thumbnail below to see advance brackets and round 3 match ups.  Round 3 voting will begin tomorrow.

Match 1:  Gold City (66) defeats Hoppers (55)

Match 2:  Gaither Vocal Band (85) defeats Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (36)

Match 3:  Triumphant Quartet (92) defeats Collingsworth Family (29)

Match 4:  Perrys (62) defeats Soul’d Out Quartet (59)

Match 5:  Brian Free & Assurance (68) defeats Kingdom Heirs (53)

Match 6:  Greater Vision (83) defeats Old Paths (38)

Match 7:  Mark Trammell Quartet (72) defeats Kingsmen (49)

Match 8:  Karen Peck & New River (81) defeats Tribute Quartet (40)

Believe – Anchormen

Southern Gospel Views from the Back Row (Steve Eaton) and Musicscribe (David Bruce Murray) join forces once again to present the ‘must buy or not’ feature. Highlights and dislikes will be offered along with a definitive yes or no on whether the album is a ‘must buy’.

In this edition of the ‘must buy or not’ feature is the new album by the Anchormen. A couple of years in the making, due to personnel shifts, Believe finally made its way retail 02/28/12. Believe marks the return of Anchormen veterans Terry Carter (Baritone) and Dale Forbes (Lead). Holding down the high and low notes are Karl Rice (Tenor) and Paul Harkey (Bass) respectively.

Song list: (1) “Just As I Am (Prelude)” (2) “Meet Him There” – Melanie Goodman (3) “Some Things I Know” – Donna Beauvais/John Darin Rowsey (4) “Where Love Stood” – Donna Beauvais/Matthew Garinger (5) “Borrowed And Barely Used Tomb” – Charles Isbell/Zane King (6) “This Time Tomorrow” – Tim Chandler/Lana Chandler (7) “For Everybody Broken” – Lee Black/David Moffitt/Kenna West (8) “No Such Thing As Coming Clean” – Ben Storie/Dianne Wilkinson (9) “Ain’t It Good To Know” – Melanie Goodman (10) “I Enter In” – Wayne Haun/Joel Lindsey (11) “The Day Nobody Praised Him” – David Hill (12) “Just As I Am (A Cappella)”

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• This is the strongest Anchormen recording since the original Carter/Forbes era in the early ’90s.
• Speaking of Dale Forbes, he is a singing machine on Believe. He has a featured lead on over half the songs on the recording. His return to the group is a huge asset. His vocal range displayed on this album easily ranks him as one of the top lead vocalists performing in Southern Gospel music right now.
• Forbes lead work on “Where Love Stood”, “Borrowed And Barely Used Tomb” (great song!) and “The Day Nobody Praised Him” are stellar. “Borrowed And Barely Used Tomb” should be a radio single choice.
• Terry Carter turns in a nice performance on “Meet Him There”. The listener is treated to some nice harmony singing on the chorus and even some steel guitar accompaniment. Paul Harkey is also one of the most talented young bass singers on the road. His lead vocal on “Ain’t It Good To Know” deserves a listen.
• I can’t overlook the ensemble work on the group’s current radio single “I Enter In”. One of my favorite radio songs so far in 2012.

MUSICSCRIBE

• I like CDs that have an overall consistent theme, whether it be it lyrical or musical or both. Believe starts with Zane King playing a verse of “Just As I Am” on steel guitar. The CD ends with the quartet singing an a cappella verse of the same familiar invitation hymn. Using a classic hymn for bookends on a collection of new songs is preferable to the common practice of inserting a line from a familiar hymn into a new song.
• “Where Love Stood” is the strongest ballad on the CD. Dale Forbes sings this lyric with feeling, conveying a deep sense of conviction.
• “This Time Tomorrow” is the strongest upbeat song. Every line has an internal rhyme, so it had to be a technical challenge to write. This song also features Forbes.
• In fact, most of the songs that really stand out to me on Believe feature Dale Forbes. He’s outstanding on “The Day Nobody Praised Him.” “Borrowed And Barely Used Tomb” is another strong song for the Easter season. “Some Things I Know” is a good up-tempo song as well.

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• While I was more than happy to hear Dale Forbes return with some of the best singing of his career on Believe, it would have been nice to get another feature from Terry Carter or Paul Harkey.
• The current lack of availability of this recording via digital download. This is too good a recording to not have it available for those of us who no longer purchase physical CDs.

MUSICSCRIBE

• I don’t know if it was the producer, the group owner or the singers who called the shots on arrangement choices for Believe, but did they forget about Paul Harkey? Featuring Paul Harkey on just one song is comparable to having Lebron James on your basketball team and telling him to pass the ball 9 times out of 10 when he has an open shot. If Harkey hadn’t been so good on their last CD (2009′s Always A Road), I might not care so much now. But he was that good, and so I naturally had some strong expectations for this release.
• I hesitate to say anything about the songwriting, because I genuinely like all the songs on Believe. There’s just a line here and there that strikes me as blah. I don’t care for “meet Him here and He’ll take you there.” It might be OK as an isolated line, but in this song it’s the hook. It’s generic. I really like the rest of the lyric, though, and everything else about the song.

SOUTHERN GOSPEL VIEWS FROM THE BACK ROW

• YES – This album is classic Anchormen all the way. It reminded me of the great recordings the group released in the late 1980′s and early 1990′s. It is easily the best Anchormen album since the original Carter/Forbes era Anchormen.

MUSICSCRIBE

• YES – Despite my deep disappointment over the lopsided solo assignments, particularly for Paul Harkey, Believe is just as good as the best CDs I’ve heard in the past year or so.

UPDATE (March 27): Sometimes our ears fool us. Both Steve and David thought Dale Forbes had the lead on the song “Where Love Stood.” The tones are similar and it’s in a lead vocalist’s range, but that’s actually Paul Harkey. This obviously negates some of our complaints about the CD and makes it that much more of a Must Buy. Thank you to Brad Strider of Mercy’s Well for pointing it out to us! 

2012 Southern Gospel March Madness – Round 2 Voting

Round two voting is now officially open.  Vote for one artist in each of the eight round two match ups.  Voting will remain open until Tuesday (03/27/12).  Please leave any questions in the comments.  Have fun!

2012 Southern Gospel March Madness – Round 1 Results

I want to thank everyone for participating in the Southern Gospel march madness competition.  There were 128 unique votes in each category for round one.  Round two voting begins tomorrow.  Here are the raw vote totals for round one.  Please click on the thumbnail below to see the advanced brackets and round two match ups.

Match 1:  Gold City (65) defeats Booth Brothers (63)

Match 2:  Gaither Vocal Band (75) defeats Nelons (53)

Match 3:  Triumphant Quartet (89) defeats Martins (39)

Match 4:  Soul’d Out Quartet (74) defeats Sisters (54)

Match 5:  Kingdom Heirs (66) defeats Legacy Five (62)

Match 6:  Old Paths (74) defeats McKameys (54)

Match 7:  Mark Trammell Quartet (79) defeats Wilburn & Wilburn (49)

Match 8:  Tribute Quartet (70) defeats Talleys (58)

Match 9:  Karen Peck & New River (78) defeats Jason Crabb (50)

Match 10:  Kingsmen (73) defeats Bowling Family (55)

Match 11:  Greater Vision (94) defeats Inspirations (34)

Match 12:  Brian Free & Assurance (69) defeats Isaacs (59)

Match 13:  Perrys (82) defeats LeFevre Quartet (46)

Match 14:  Collingsworth Family (68) defeats Dixie Echoes (60)

Match 15:  Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (66) defeats Jeff & Sheri Easter (62)

Match 16:  Hoppers (84) defeats Dove Brothers (44)