iPod Track Of The Week – “What A Wonderful Change”

By bringing you the iPod track of the week, my hope is to introduce some great new music that you as the listener may have not thought about before.  There are a lot of talented artists recording Southern Gospel music.  Amidst the ever-growing landscape of ‘sangers’, it is nice when you get that rare treat of finding a song by a virtually unknown artist and thinking, I need to hear some more of that.  Such is the case with this week’s iPod track of the week.  This week actually brings a regional artist based in Dobson North Carolina.

The Bledsoes began their recording career in 1992 and actually found minimal chart success.  In the span of the last 18 years the group has six recordings including their current album, Onward.  Being a resident of North Carolina myself, I have heard the Bledsoes before.  Onward is straight ahead Southern Gospel music and this week’s iPod track of the week, “What A Wonderful Change”, is a camp-meeting style song.  I will readily admit this is not the only song on the recording that got the repeat treatment during the first listen.  This recording has several songs that could easily be featured as the track of the week.

“What A Wonderful Change” is track #8 on the recording.  I have provided the first verse and chorus.  Enjoy!

iPod Track Of The Week – “On My Way Home”

First, I want to congratulate David Murray for winning the first free music contest.  He was the first to guess the song title and artist contained in the puzzle posted on Friday.  Be on the lookout for the next free music contest in the coming weeks.  So what was the final answer.  My iPod track of the week happens to be “On My Way Home” from Soul’d Out Quartet.  Found on the group’s latest recording, Blessed, “On My Way Home” is not the ordinary quartet number.

First off, the song is actually a trio song featuring pianist Michael Howard on the lead with Dusty Barrett and Matt Rankin rounding out the harmony vocals.  Sung with a bluegrass track, it is not the typical (4) part quartet song.  As I was giving this recording a first listen, this was the first song to get the repeat treatment.  To be honest I hit repeat several times before moving on to the next song on the recording.

This song still finds a regular place in my iPod playlists.  One of my favorite Soul’d Out Quartet songs to date.  Give it  a quick listen and let me know what you think. The song picks up on the second verse.

iPod Track Of The Week

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?