Name This Blog Poll: A Photo Finish

We want to thank everyone who voted in our poll to name the new blog!

We could never have anticipated that the results would be so close. MusicScribe.com finished just a fraction of a percent higher than Southern Gospel Central with 49% of the vote. Southern Gospel World Wide finished a distant third.

The direct link once we make the move will be blog.musicscribe.com. All the existing URLs will ultimately be set to forward to the new site, and musicscribe.com will forward to blog.musicscribe.com as well.

In the coming days we will be working feverishly to make the move and import previous posts to the new location.

As you can probably tell, we are all excited to be launching this new venture and we’re glad all of you are along for the ride!

Most Influential – #28 – Triumphant Quartet

This week finds the artist ranked 28th among the most influential in Southern Gospel history; Triumphant Quartet.

Starting in 2002 as Integrity Quartet and changing their name to Triumphant Quartet in 2004, the first few years of the group’s career was spent at the Louise Mandrell (later Miracle) theater in Pigeon Forge TN.

Triumphant Quartet are one of the few quartets traveling that has all five original members still performing with the group after a decade on the road.

INFLUENCE METER:

• Triumphant Quartet’s influence on Southern Gospel music is just starting to be felt.  This is a group that we’ll look back on in ten years and see the impact they had on Southern Gospel music.  They are this era’s Gold City.
• The continued stability in personnel will only keep Triumphant Quartet tops among the Southern Gospel audience.
• Hit Songs:  ”Almost Home”, “Back To Me”, “Don’t Let The Sandals Fool Ya”, “Down Every Road”, “Everyday”, “Great I Am Still Is”, “He Is”, “He Rescued Me”, “He’s Leading The Way”, “Hey Jonah”, “I Bring You Forgiveness”, “Love Came Calling”, “Old White Flag”, “Saved By Grace”, “Somebody Died For Me” and “When The Trumpet Sounds”.
• Best Album:  Love Came Calling (2010)

Here is a YouTube clip, published by TheEthan1990, of Triumphant Quartet singing one of their early hits “I Bring You Forgiveness”.  Enjoy!

The Fab Five – April 2013

We have turned the page on another month.  It is April 2013 and time to look at five current radio songs.  These are the five current radio songs that received the most listens in my iPod over the course of the preceding month.  Weston and Christy Hinson gives the listener a classic Hinson style song while the Talleys and Dunaways give us two great family harmony songs.  The LeFevre Quartet and Old Paths round out the top five, both singing a Rodney Birch song.  Enjoy!

Recording Oddities: Jimmy Fortune – “He’s Getting Me Ready” (Trax)

The digital revolution is changing quite a few things about the music industry – in particular, how we purchase music. Instead of driving down to the music store, we can hop on iTunes and instantly have the songs we want. Until recently, however, if you wanted the original performance trax to your favorite gospel music, you still had to go to the local Christian bookstore and buy the accompaniment CD, often for around $10 per CD. For someone like me who uses tracks such as these frequently, it can become quite time consuming (and costly). You can imagine my surprise, I’m sure, when I saw that record companies were now offering original accompaniment trax on iTunes.

One of the trax I found on iTunes was Jimmy Fortune’s I Believe project, all in accompaniment form. This project has long been a favorite of mine, and I’ve wanted to do several songs from this project for a while, but just couldn’t justify shelling out $25 (plus shipping) to order the accompaniment disc. Turns out, on iTunes, you can purchase the same disc in digital form for $10, or just order the individual songs for $0.99. Not a bad deal! I ordered three of the songs to start off.

As I’ve noted in the past, sometimes you find some interesting things while listening to the “accompaniment trax” versions of songs. A good engineer can often perform audio slights-of-hand by doing some digital splicing and editing until we are presented with a finished product, and often times, these edits are done at the last second, long after the recording sessions themselves have ended. The end result is a tight recording, but when making accompaniment tracks, you are making them based on the ORIGINAL studio recordings, not the final edits.

In this case, one of the trax I purchased, “He’s Getting Me Ready,” is actually a minute and a half longer compared to the final retail version. Apparently, the original studio session included two instrumental breaks, an extra chorus or two, and a much longer ending (that actually repeated the intro), but before the album was released, the song was shortened by cutting out one instrumental break, a chorus, and trimming the ending. This was not a matter of just fading the song out early….these edits were done in the middle of the song. To the engineer’s credit (whom I believe is Kelly Schoenfeld), there is virtually no evidence of any major edits; the only indication I can find is at the end, where Fortune’s vocals tend to fade a little as the instrumental tag begins (possibly an overlap in waveforms?), and that was something I thought was entirely intentional anyway.

Now, what I am unsure of is whether or not this was a decision made by Song Garden Music Group. Originally, I Believe was recorded independently by Fortune; I know when Song Garden released the project to retail, they removed one song and replaced with another; I don’t have the original independent version of this album to tell if there is any difference between the two with “He’s Getting Me Ready.” I DO know that Song Garden is who released the performance trax, so it may just be a case of using an original studio cut to make the accompaniment version.

Because I’m such a stickler for such quirks, I am actually surprised that this one got past me….it took my purchasing a different version to even know something had been changed!

Jamie Caldwell Joins Gospel Harmony Boys

Former Dixie Melody Boys and Weatherfords singer Jamie Caldwell has joined the Gospel Harmony Boys to sing baritone. For the past several years, Caldwell has served at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary as the Director of Recruitment and Minister of Worship. He has also served as a pastor for several churches over the years.

Caldwell recently relocated back to his native West Virginia where the Gospel Harmony Boys are based.

Resurrection Sunday!

This week will forgo the ‘live’ Southern Gospel music connection feature to celebrate Resurrection Sunday.  Happy Easter everyone!  Here is a YouTube video, chosen by each of us, to help celebrate the Easter season.  Enjoy!

1.  Steve’s choice:  ”Good News From Jerusalem” – Tribute Quartet (published by TheSevenTronic).

2. David’s choice:  ”Jesus Came Out Alive” – Brian Free & Assurance (published by BnCSGMusic).

3. Diana’s choice:  ”There Rose a Lamb” – Gold City  (published by Kyle Boreing)

4. Phil’s choice:  ”The Old Rugged Cross Made The Difference” – Gaither Vocal Band (published by GaitherVEVO)

5. Kyle’s choice: “My Son” – The Oak Ridge Boys (published by TheORBFan)

Biscuits From Heaven – Zach & Rodney

GRADE:  C+

• Album – Biscuits From Heaven
  
• Artist – Zach & Rodney
• Label – Red Hen Records
• Style – Traditional Country, Modern Country
• Release Date – 02/19/13
• Available For Digital Download? – Yes (iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody)
  

SYNOPSIS:

Christian country duo Zach & Rodney is made up of Zach Mashburn and Rodney Hedrick.  The group, based out of Trinity North Carolina, releases their first album with Red Hen Records; Biscuits From Heaven.

The album has been at retail since February 19th, 2013.  Biscuits From Heaven is pure country music with Christian lyrics.

Here is an excerpt from the duo’s website that explains how they started singing.

…”In the late 1990’s, while pursuing a career in country music and getting into trouble with the law, Rodney Hedrick was sentenced to perform his community service at a church, with one condition.  He would have to attend the Sunday School class taught by the janitor and choir director of the church at least one time. It didn’t end there.  Rodney kept going.  That one Sunday School class would change his life forever.  While attending, he surrendered his heart and talents to the Lord, taught the same class he attended, accepted the call to preach, and married the janitor’s daughter, who just happened to have a 12-year-old guitar-playing brother named Zach Mashburn.  So began the duo Zach and Rodney”…

HIGHLIGHTS:

• The production quality of Biscuits From Heaven should be commended.  At first listen I was impressed with just how country the album sounds.  The production sounds like anything I get when I listen to any mainstream country music artist.
• Lead vocalist Rodney Hedrick is a mix between Rodney Atkins and Josh Turner with a little Gary Allen thrown in.  If you’re a fan of mainstream country music, you’ll definitely enjoy Rodney’s vocal style.
• Rodney shines on the opening track, “Tell Me Something Good”.  This modern country mid tempo style tune would be a strong choice for radio single.  The song “Words” and the traditional country sounding “Goodbye To Sin” are also highlights for Rodney.
• Guitar player and vocalist Zach Mashburn also lends his vocals to a few numbers.  He gets a feature on the group’s current radio single “Hold On A Little Longer”.  He also gets two features that could find a home at mainstream country radio, “Relentless” and “Love Stands”.
• Strongest songs included in order:  ”Hold On A Little Longer”, “Tell Me Something Good”, “Love Stands”, “Relentless” and “Goodbye To Sin”.

DISLIKES:

• The target listening audience for Biscuits From Heaven is country music fans who enjoy Christian lyrics in their country music.  I don’t know how many Southern Gospel listeners will give it a listen.
• While the production quality was top-notch, the songwriting on a few songs was a bit weak.
• Weakest songs included in order:  ”Wreath Upon The Door” and “Feels Like Home”.

WRAP UP:

Biscuits From Heaven was my first introduction to the music of Zach & Rodney.  While this first effort was an enjoyable listen, there were definitely areas for growth.  With the production quality already in place, in a few years Zach & Rodney could stand toe to toe with any mainstream country music act.  I look forward to see what the group has to offer.  I found a YouTube video of Zach & Rodney performing for Why Us Ministries.  Take a look.

SONG/Featured Vocalist – SONGWRITER:  1. “Tell Me Something Good”/Rodney - Benjamin Hayslip, Gary Lloyd  2. “Hold On A Little Longer”/Zach; Rodney - Rodney Hedrick, Zach Mashburn  3. “Words”/Rodney - Rodney Hedrick, Zach Mashburn, Jerry Salley  4. “Relentless”/Zach - Charles Butler, Scott Krippaehne  5. “Wreath Upon The Door”/Rodney - Jerry Salley, Tony Wood  6. “Led By Love”/Rodney – Marc Beeson, Allen Shamblin  7. “Love Stands”/Zach - Jason Cox, Belinda Smith, John Paul Williams  8. “Could’ve Said No”/Rodney - Rodney Hedrick, Zach Mashburn  9. “Goodbye To Sin”/Rodney - James Elliott, Rodney Hedrick, Zach Mashburn  10. “Feels Like Home”/Zach

Concert Review: Paid In Full

Every now and then I attend a concert that is truly exceptional.  All of the elements come together – from the song selection and  vocal performances to the operation of the sound system  and  the audience response.   The Sunday night worship service at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Clarkesville, Georgia featuring Paid In Full was just such a concert.

Paid In Full (website, facebook page) includes two founding members lead Lance Moore and baritone Bradley Littlejohn and tenor Brock White who joined them almost six years ago.  The group will celebrate their 22nd anniversary this summer and during this time, they have mastered a variety of styles from pure southern gospel, a little bit of country, a tad of bluegrass, and even what I would call mildly contemporary gospel with several of the songs on their latest CD.  They have been on the charts with quite a number of songs throughout the years, have appeared on Gaither videos, and have been honored as the Horizon Group at the Singing News Fan Awards.    Although they haven’t had quite as active a tour schedule in the last year, from what I hear they have been busy with some songwriting.  They produced several original songs on their No Trace of Rain CD and I understand there will be a few more on the project they are currently working on.

Here’s what they sang:

• Truth Be Told – This is such a strong song to start with because it lays out the purpose of their singing – the presentation of the gospel message.
• My Soul Is Firmly Anchored – This bouncy song was written by their friend and producer Woody Wright.  Bradley was featured on the verses.  On the recorded version, Gene McDonald is a featured guest, but there was no bass singer during this performance!
• What the Storm Does Not Know – I would call this their signature song.  What a song of encouragement!  Here’s a video from  the first PIF concert I attended almost five years ago.
• Praise Makes the Walls Come Down - I think that this song from Kenna West really demonstrates the joy of praise.  Brock was featured on it.
• Heavenly Parade – This a capella rendition is always a hoot when they perform it since they really pick up the tempo the further along they go in the song!
• It Was Love – This is a beautiful song from one of their older albums and I’m so glad that they’re singing it again.
• Lead On – Bradley wrote the words to this song and sent them to Dianne Wilkinson for the music.  She sent back a bluegrass styled demo and the rest, as they say,  is history!  Here’s a video from a previous concert.
• Waiting For the Morning – This is one of two songs that Lance wrote for the No Trace of Rain project and the title of the project came from the words of the chorus.
• Redeemed  – This hymn came from the Sounds of Faith project and is one of my favorites.  It was a beautiful arrangement with country instrumentation.
• I Go to Jesus – This is the second song written by Lance.  It was a beautiful, slower song  that talks about various situations where we can depend on Jesus to be there for us.   Here’s a video from a previous concert.
• The King of Who I Am – They performed this song at their 20th anniversary and will be including it on their upcoming CD.  Brock’s voice has matured since he has joined the group and he really took command of the song.
• Light Doesn’t Make a Sound -  This song by Woody Wright presents such a simple message that to be a light to others in this world, we don’t have to be great speakers or singers.  We just need to live a life that reflects the Light of the World.  This is such a good style for Bradley.
• The Other Side – This was written by the late Stephen Hill and Lance is featured on it.    Here’s a video from a previous concert.
• Great Day in the Morning – After a short break, they ended the concert with this peppy song.

I’ll leave you with this video that is so appropriate for this Easter season, The King of Who I Am: