Best Of 2012 – #17

Today we look at the Southern Gospel album and recorded song ranked #17 among the best of 2012.  Soul’d Out Quartet picked up Bryan Hutson from the Kingsmen and released a new album back in February.

That album, What The World Doesn’t Know, was strong enough to rank #17 among the best Southern Gospel albums released this year.  The album’s strength was in the ballads recorded by the group.  The strongest of those was “Worthy The Lamb Is He”.

Soul’d Out Quartet is still in search of that mega-song to propel them further in Southern Gospel music.  With resident songwriter Matt Rankin churning out songs and the vocal line-up the group has now, that song may be just around the corner.

Personal favorites from this recording include:  ”Worthy The Lamb Is He”, “He Is There”, “Thank You Lord”, “Since I’ve Been Saved” and “If You’ll Just Ask Him”.

#17 among the best Southern Gospel recorded songs of 2012 is a song that also is one of the best radio songs of the year.

The Crabb Family came together again and released a new album in February.  The first single, “If There Ever Was A Time”, is the song that ranks #17 among the best recorded songs of 2012.

Penned by Caleb Collins and Sue Smith, “If There Ever Was A Time” is a reflective song that features each member of the group at some point in the song.  This is one of the strongest vocal songs the Crabb Family has recorded and yet there is nothing fancy to the performance.  Enjoy a clip of the #17 recorded song of the year; “If There Ever Was A Time”.

Up next:  #16.

Best Of 2012 – #20

The time has come to take a look at the best Southern Gospel albums released in 2012.  The month of December will be devoted to counting down the 20 best albums and the 20 best recorded songs of the year.

Kicking off the count down at #20 is one of the biggest surprises of the year; Broken & Blessed by Shannon Knight.  Shannon’s power vocals and strong song selection allowed this album to find a spot at #20.  Shannon spent some time with the Daryl Williams Trio, but Broken & Blessed is his first solo album.

Broken & Blessed is the only solo artist album to find a place in the 20 best Southern Gospel album releases of 2012, making it the best solo artist album reviewed by this blogger this year.

Personal favorites from this recording include:  ”Good News Is Coming Down The Road”, “Between Two Thieves”, “I’ve Been Broken”, “Gotta Go Back” and “My Soul Is Lifted Up”.

Selecting the 20 best recorded songs of 2012 consisted of ranking each song from all 48 recordings on a scale of 1 to 10.  I then ranked those songs and the highest ranked twenty songs are those you find on this list.

Off all the songs recorded in 2012, the Soul’d Out Quartet lands at #20 with the Matt Rankin penned song; “Worthy The Lamb Is He”.  Found on the group’s 2012 release, What The World Doesn’t Know, the song is a traditional Southern Gospel power ballad that builds in intensity as the song comes to a close.

Soul’d Out Quartet has had some personnel shifts in 2012 with Bryan Hutson coming aboard as Baritone singer and most recently Ian Owens became the group’s bass singer with the departure of long time member Matt Fouch.  Enjoy a clip of the #20 recorded song of 2012; “Worthy The Lamb Is He”.

The countdown continues tomorrow with #19.

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!

What The World Doesn’t Know – Soul’d Out Quartet

RATING:  7.650 (10 song average)

• Album – What The World Doesn’t Know
• Artist – Soul’d Out Quartet
• Label – Crossroads
• Style – Traditional, Progressive
• Release Date – 02/21/12
• Available For Digital Download? – Yes

SYNOPSIS:

Soul’d Out Quartet release their first album with new lead/baritone Bryan Hutson and their first collaboration with Crossroads Music.  What The World Doesn’t Know hit retail outlets yesterday (02/21/12).

What The World Doesn’t Know offers the listener ten new songs that cover styles that are ‘Kingsmen-esque’ to the more progressive stylings of Brian Free & Assurance.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Vocally this is one of the strongest albums to date for Soul’d Out Quartet.  Adding a veteran like Bryan Hutson to the mix only enhanced the strength of this new recording.
• Soul’d Out Quartet has two of the best book ends in Southern Gospel quartet music.  Dusty Barrett holds down the tenor position with ease as Matt Fouch is one of the best young bass singers in Southern Gospel music.  Both turn in great leads on What The World Doesn’t Know.
• Bryan Hutson has two stand out tracks on this new effort.  The closing number “Thank You Lord” is delivered with a simple arrangement that allows the vocal to be the center point.  The Tony Bennett lounge style to “Since I’ve Been Saved” also allows Bryan to display his veteran vocal talents.
• The easy listening feel of “If You’ll Just Ask Him” allows tenor Dusty Barrett to deliver the message with sincerity.
• Strongest songs included in order:  ”Thank You Lord”, “If You’ll Just Ask Him”, “Since I’ve Been Saved”, “Worthy The Lamb Is He” and “He Is There”.

DISLIKES:

• The recording is ballad heavy.  There are only three up tempo numbers contained on the entire recording.  Also, there are no big Southern Gospel power ballads found on What The World Doesn’t Know, so variety is lacking.
• While the up tempo numbers were lacking, the three contained on the recording were the weakest songs found on the recording.
• While Barrett/Fouch are strong book ends for Soul’d Out, I would have liked to hear Barrett featured on a nice up tempo vocal and Fouch a slower smooth bass feature.
• Weakest songs included in order:  ”That’ll Be A Great Day”, “When They Had Prayed” and “What The World Doesn’t Know”.

SONG LIST/FEATURED VOCALIST:  1. “All Things Are Possible”/Matt Fouch, Bryan Hutson (7.5)  2. “Go Out And Get Them”/Dusty Barrett (7.5)  3. “Since I’ve Been Saved”/Bryan Hutson (8)  4. “That’ll Be A Great Day”/Matt Fouch (7)  5. “Worthy The Lamb Is He”/Matt Rankin (8)  6. “If You’ll Just Ask Him”/Dusty Barrett (8)  7. “He Is There”/Matt Rankin (8)  8. “When They Had Prayed”/Bryan Hutson (7)  9. “What The World Doesn’t Know”/Matt Rankin (7.5)  10. “Thank You Lord”/Bryan Hutson (8)

Concert Review – Soul’d Out Quartet

I usually attend quite a few concerts in the span of a year.  Another feature I wanted to use in 2011 is a brief highlight reel of those concerts experiences.  I don’t shoot video but Southern Gospel already has the best blogger for outstanding concert footage.  I will simply offer some thoughts.

My first concert of 2011 was Sunday night 01/09/11.  I went to the Springwood Free Will Baptist Church in Belmont North Carolina to see Soul’d Out Quartet.  The Singing News reigning horizon group of the year is finally making their way into North Carolina and I was glad I could get out and see them.

It was a small church, but it was full.  I would say there was 150 in attendance.  This group truly gets better every time I hear them.  This current line-up has been together now over three years and it really shows on stage.  The group has a lot of fun performing but they know how to react to what is going on with the audience and get serious when needed.

Soul’d Out Quartet did a good two-hour performance filled with all their recent songs.  They did not feature any music from their new album, Worth Every Mile, which I happened to review last week.  I noticed they didn’t have it available yet for sale at their table.

The performance of the evening was Dusty singing “Maker Of The Rain”.  This personal, worshipful tune had people at the altars.  I didn’t realize until the performance that Dusty wrote the song.  Anytime I hear classic Kingsmen, I am not disappointed.  Soul’d Out turned in a great performance of “When My Feet Touch The Streets Of Gold”.

Song list included (I don’t remember the exact order of performances):  “Cool Drink Of Water”/”I Have A Story To Tell”/”I Am Blessed”/”We Shall Rise”/”Joseph Got His Tomb Back”/”Maker Of The Rain”/”I’ll Cast My Crown”/”Jesus Is Coming Soon”/”The Eastern Gate”/”When My Feet Touch The Streets Of Gold”/”Who Is This Man”/”He’s Been So Good To Me”/”Ain’t Nobody”/”See Ya Over There”/Michael also did two piano solos and one piano duet with Tanner.

One final thing I wanted to point out to all you artists who still don’t have your music available digitally (through iTunes, Amazon, etc).  The preacher mentioned that the way he found out about Soul’d Out was due to a song he downloaded through iTunes of another artist.  Services such as this mention other artists you may like as a result of your purchase.  It just so happened Soul’d Out Quartet was listed as another artist he may enjoy.  He checked out their music, downloaded “I’ll Cast My Crown” and as a result of that song he called the group for a booking.

Worth Every Mile – Soul’d Out Quartet

OVERALL RATING:  8.03

CRITERIA:

1. Creativity/Originality = 7.5
2. Lyrical Content = 9
3. Production = 8
4. Song Selection = 8
5. My Recommendation = 7.65 (10 song average)

 

2011 is already shaping up to be a good year, at least if this first album review is any indication.  The first new release of the new year comes from the reigning Singing News fan award winner for horizon group of the year; Soul’d Out Quartet.  Worth Every Mile just hit online retail outlets.  Consider this the first of many album reviews in 2011.  I plan to give at least one album review a week for the entire year.

Current line-up of the group is composed of Dusty Barrett (Tenor), Matt Rankin (Lead), Tanner Stahl (Baritone), Matt Fouch (Bass) and Michael Howard (Pianist).  The group has done what they need to do to accomplish that horizon group win.  Now it is time to build on that and take themselves to the next level within the Southern Gospel music industry.  Worth Every Mile is a step in that direction.

The recording kicks off with two of the best songs of this group’s career.  Soul’d Out Quartet took a note from the progressive playbook with “I Will Run This Race” and “Through The Blood”.  Both would be great choices for singles to radio in 2011.  Soul’d Out Quartet is still looking for that break through radio song. 

Tenor Dusty Barrett is given the chance to shine on Worth Every Mile.  Not only is he featured on “I Will Run This Race”, but his vocal talents can also be heard on the jazz infused “Doing Things God’s Way” and the traditional Southern Gospel ballad, “It Was Worth It” (another great single choice).  His harmony singing on this recording, especially at the end of “Through The Blood”, adds that extra punch that separates this recording from all previous recordings by Soul’d Out Quartet.

One of my favorite songs from the group’s previous recording, Blessed, was the song “On My Way Home”.  Featuring pianist Michael Howard on the bluegrass style number was a great addition to that recording.  Michael is given the chance to sing again on Worth Every Mile, this time with what sounds like a ukulele.  Taking the traditional hymns “Leaning On The Everlasting Arms” and “Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus” and adding a Tiny Tim style ukulele melody makes for an interesting addition to the recording.

Lead singer and writer of most of the group’s material, Matt Rankin, is featured on the second verse of the powerful “Through The Blood”.  Matt also turns in a solid performance of the bluegrass themed, “When I Pray”.

The one downside to this recording is the lack of features for bass singer Matt Fouch.  One of the top young bass singers in the Southern Gospel music industry.  Matt is featured on “God’s Perfect Plan” and the second verse of “Found To Reach The Lost”.  There is a nice play on words with “Found To Reach The Lost”.  There are quite a few songs that talk about being lost and then found.  I like how that concept is taken and switched to say ‘I’ve been found to reach the lost.’

If you’ve never been introduced to Soul’d Out Quartet’s music, there is no better time to start than with Worth Every Mile.  The best way to start the new year is release the best recording of your career thus far.  That is exactly what Soul’d Out Quartet has done with Worth Every Mile.  While there is still room for growth, as is the case with any young group, this recording is a great step in that direction.

SONG LIST:  1. “I Will Run This Race”  2. “Through The Blood”  3. “God’s Perfect Plan”  4. “Doing Things God’s Way”  5. “When I Pray”  6. “It Was Worth It”  7. “Found To Reach The Lost”  8. “Leaning/Tis So Sweet”  9. “I Am Thine O Lord”  10. “I Want To Make A Difference”

Concert Review – Kingsmen, Soul’d Out Quartet

Since starting my blog a month ago, this is the first opportunity I had a chance to take my seat in the back row of a Southern Gospel concert.  I attended a concert in Lenoir NC featuring the Kingsmen, Soul’d Out Quartet, David Johnson & Dixie Dawn and Steve Warren.  I don’t want to add too much to what friend and fellow blogger David Bruce Murray had to say.  It is always great catching up with David.  Here are a few of the highlights.

*David Johnson & Dixie Dawn - I was awe-struck by David’s talent, not only as a musician, but the man can also sing.  It is always great when you get a chance to hear live musicians in a concert setting.  If you’re a fan of straight ahead Gospel bluegrass, you would’ve loved David Johnson’s group.

*Steve Warren – His vocal acrobatics reminded me a lot of Michael Combs, even though Steve had a very distinct ‘twang’.  Certain times, it was like something I had never heard before.  In a time when so many groups will stage Rusty Goodman’s “Who Am I”, I was glad to hear an artist perform probably one of my favorite Rusty Goodman tunes, “Had It Not Been”.

*Soul’d Out Quartet - I would venture to say Soul’d Out Quartet will probably win horizon group at this year’s Singing News fan awards.  I thought the group started their set strong with their latest single, “Who Is This Man”, following it up with “I Have A Story To Tell” and then going into a nice up tempo number.  I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t hear some of my favorite tunes the group has had to close out their set.  Most notably, “On My Way Home”, “Ain’t Nobody” and “He’s Coming Back Soon” was missed.  Maybe next time.

*Kingsmen - Finally, the Kingsmen closed the program.  I thought they were sounding great as a unit.  Their blend was nice and their set had a great pace of slower and up tempo numbers.  “God Saw A Cross” has to be the best post Hamill era Kingsmen song the group has had.  It has become Harold Reed’s signature song.  One that he will, or at least should, be remembered for.  I also enjoyed the Kingsmen’s tried and true ‘go after it’ up tempo numbers; “Traveling Home”, “Someday” and “When It’s All Said And Done”.

On a purely personal note, my father was down visiting from West Virginia.  I convinced him to come to the concert.  It was the first time he has attended a Southern Gospel concert in nearly 30 years.  Lets just say the last group he ever saw in a live concert setting was the Happy Goodman Family.  So all in all, and if for nothing else but that happening, it was a good night.

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.