I made a comment in the Crist Family SWOT analysis feature a couple of weeks back regarding Southern Gospel music becoming irrelevant. The statement read as follows:
**Irrelevance: This is a threat for the entire Southern Gospel music industry. Are we entering a time in the history of this genre where Southern Gospel music (or Gospel music as a whole) is becoming irrelevant in today’s society/culture? As more and more individuals in our society leave Church, doesn’t that also translate to giving up music that centers around the Christian lifestyle?**
I received an email that same week asking I elaborate more on this particular point. I have spent the last couple weeks coming up with some talking points regarding the topic. I rarely use this blog for commentary, but I thought this may be a good topic to discuss and allow my readers to add their input. Lets answer the question together; is Southern Gospel music becoming irrelevant?
In order to understand irrelevance, lets quickly look at the word relevant. To be relevant is simply to be pertinent or important. Irrelevance would then mean Southern Gospel music is no longer pertinent or important to today’s Christian culture (listening audience).
Many factors can be attributed to the decline in the Southern Gospel listening audience or concert attending crowd. I want to touch on a few in this post. Please add your thoughts in the comments.
- Church attendance decline: The one issue I brought up in the original post regarded the decline in church attendance. It would make sense that a decline in church attendance would also correlate to a decline in other Christian related events. This would include Southern Gospel music related events (mainly concert attendance). I understand there are always exceptions to the rule. I know several Southern Gospel music events are still drawing large crowds (mainly the events in Myrtle Beach SC/Gatlinburg TN and several other promoters in the country are still seeing good crowds).
Some statistics regarding church attendance show that in 1990, 20.4% of the US population attended church services on a regular basis. That number dropped to 18.7% by 2000 and down to 16.6% in 2010.
- More to occupy our time: In the year 2013, the average individual is given a multitude of options regarding things to occupy their free time. From movies, to television, to computer time, to sporting events, to kid functions; the list is endless on any given weekend on what will take our priority. In most cases, unless it is a concert that we planned weeks ahead for, the likelihood of attending one last-minute is no longer plausible.
Even a Southern Gospel concert fanatic like myself have not attended as many concerts over the course of the last couple years that I had in the past. I am finding more things are taking precedent on deciding whether or not I am able to attend a specific concert.
- The death of ‘live’ music: This topic has been hashed and re-hashed many times before, but it belongs here. I don’t know of any other musical genre (Barbershop included) where a concert attendee does not expect to hear live music when they go see an artist in concert. Artists have valid arguments that from a financial stand point, they would have to call it quits if they had to pay a band to travel with them every night. If afforded the luxury, I am sure the majority of Southern Gospel artists would prefer to have live music in their concerts.
I for one would prefer just piano and bass guitar as the only musical accompaniment in a live concert setting if that is all an artist is able to afford. One of the biggest artists in the history of this genre (Cathedrals) were doing that for many years, to success. If an artist has to ask the listening audience if they would be disappointed if they came to a concert and didn’t hear the big production tracks with full orchestras and brass instruments, then that shows you just how ‘dumb downed’ the Southern Gospel listening audience has become. The live performance of the song doesn’t have to sound exactly like it does on the album (from a musical accompaniment stand point). When did the vocal stop being the star of the show in Southern Gospel music anyway?
**TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK….**
Southern Gospel Views From The Back Row 
Im not a big fan of canned or orhceatrated music, give me a live band anyday of the week. I know its sometime a financial thing for the band but, looking back some of the best groups of their day had a full band souind and I would choose those over just a bass guitar and piano everytime (one exception-The Cathedrals). Some of these bands included The Nelons, Hinsons, Hemphills, Kingsmen, The Hoppers and several more. In my opinion, the live band sound would keep the younger Southern Gospel music listener interested, just my opinion.
I really can spell orchestrated! 🙂
As a former member of The Weatherfords, one of the things we did almost every night was to take a break from the tracks. It was a chance for us to play stump the band. We enjoyed it because we could let the crowd call the shots and we got the chance to sing songs we hadn’t thought of in years. Tracks have their place in the musical merry-go-round. I like to hear somebody do their own version of whatever the big song is at the present time. The fact that they can pull off some of this stuff live is even more of a plus. Don’t ever let live bands versus tracks be the deciding factor in whether you see a group or not. You never know what the end result will be. You might even be surprised.
For this concert attendee, no one will ever convince me that tracks beat out live music in a concert setting. My opinion of course, but if I had to choose between two separate concerts in one night, I would always choose the artist that had live music over the group that uses only tracks, even if that ‘track’ group was the biggest artist in the industry.
Also, thanks for stopping by. I like to hear input from artists who are out there week after week, doing what we as listeners enjoy.
I hate tracks! They’re phony! When I go to a Southern gospel — or ANY concert of any kind, I want every sound I hear to be done right there in front of my eyes — that includes all music, instrumental and vocal. I want to see as well as hear every instrument being played live. I don’t want to hear any recordings — of any kind!!
I read this yesterday, but didn’t have time to respond. You hit on the head two reasons I think this has happened (the first two) and the second one (too many choices) affects the first. People seem to have lots going on and church gets the short end of the stick sometimes. Used to schools and such showed respect and didn’t schedule things on Sundays or Wednesdays. That is no longer true. There is often sporting events and such on Sunday mornings even and school and such also keep people up on Saturday nights sometimes. Another reason that you haven’t put down yet is that so many churches and people act like if the music is older than a few years old, it is irrelevant and antiquated. So many churches have pushed out the hymns, southern gospel etc. in favor of the Praise music.
I love live bands and I am sure that affects things some, but I don’t know if it is a big part of the problem. SG has been mostly about the words and then vocals, that I am not sure many care about the bands. I think most have accepted the tracks (right or wrong). It might affect our ability to get new people though because younger ones might not take “Karaoke” seriously. I am not sure though.
That is the tragedy isn’t it? Your statement about concert attendees are at a place that they just accept the tracks or don’t care about bands solidifies my point about a ‘dumb downed’ Southern Gospel listening audience.
I grew up in a time before the death of ‘live’ music in Southern Gospel. If you attended concerts during the ‘live’ music era of Southern Gospel, would you be able to confirm that concert experiences were stronger than they are nowadays.
I was able to attend the Cathedrals when they used piano and bass some, but not really in the band era so much. (Although I saw the Crabbs who used live instruments and Gaither Homecomings which did too). I did get to hear the Stamps, but even though they used the keyboard, the other instruments were pre-recorded as midi I am sure).
On one hand, some people want to hear re-creations of what is on CD. However, with the right band (or instrumentalists) there are times they can do better (not always). I maintain that songs like “Champion of Love” and “Midnight Cry” (probably) need tracks or additional instruments. However, groups like the Oak Ridge Boys (“Jesus Is Coming Soon”, “King Jesus”, “What A Time We Will Have Over There” etc.) and Cathedrals (“We Shall See Jesus”, “Because He Lives” etc.) all sounded better with the live or at least “In Concert” versions / fixed or added live versions versus the studio versions.
Having the right band that can jam and interact with the singers and change arrangements etc. feed off of each other, pull songs out of the blue or even sing one they haven’t done so much, and the vocalists able to put more life and energy into the songs (or change the ending) really adds a lot. Groups can somewhat change the endings and put extra feeling and passion into a song with tracks, but they are more confined.
To add to my previous comment, there seems to be a mindset not only with churches, but people that tradition is a bad word and that you must always be “progressing” and changing in order to be relevant or valuable. To some degree there is truth in the relevant thing since too many have that mindset, so it becomes true. It is difficult for me as a music director to see so many traditional things not being valued by the current generation (with exceptions).
Steve, I have to take exception to your comment about those of us who comprise the “dumbed-down” Southern Gospel listening audience. I am a church musician who doesn’t particularly care for tracks — for years, I called it “Christian Karaoke” — but my favorite group is tracks-only, and yes, it doesn’t bother me at all that they use tracks. The reason I prefer them above others has more to do with their exquisite harmonies, their inspired and in-your-face lyrics, their clear sincerity in the gospel they share, and the work ethic they display in providing the best possible performance within the constraints of the financial realities they face, than with the admittedly less desirable instrumental means by which they choose to deliver the Message. And I have to say that the same is true of my “runner-up” groups, all of whom are exclusively track-only or only use a pianist for all or part of their presentations. If you and others use the live band or lack of same as your criteria to determine what concerts you attend, I’m afraid you’re gonna miss out on some mighty fine gospel singing in the process!
I never leave a reply on a blog without wishing there was a “try, try again” button… In my comment regarding my second-favorite groups using tracks, let the record show that in my reference to groups who “only use a pianist for part or all of their presention”, I meant those groups who only have a pianist (rather than two or more other instruments) to supplement the tracks, either for part or for all of the concert. Sorry for the confusion; that’s what I get for writing these things and trying to work at the same time.
Melissa,
Everyone has a preference and I don’t attend exclusive ‘live’ music only concerts because that is not the reality in 2013. I enjoy Southern Gospel music in its entirety but my preference lies with ‘live’ music when attending concerts.
As far as ‘track only’ groups, I enjoy their music everyday in my home listening to their current or classic recordings. And I would venture to say that if you asked your favorite ‘track only’ group if they had the luxury of traveling with ‘live’ musicians they would answer yes.
I suppose I wasn’t very clear, Steve. My issue wasn’t so much about the pros-and-cons of live music over tracks, as it was the unfortunate implication that those of us who don’t choose to make that aspect an important component of our concert-going decisions are somehow lacking in intelligence. I don’t fault those who prefer a live band; it is, as you say, a matter of preference, and I have no doubt that most, if not, all SG groups would prefer a live band over “Memorex”, so to speak. My preferences in the matter no doubt show that I am in the minority on the matter; that they demonstrate that I am a “dumbed down” concert goer for feeling that way, however, they do not.
Okay, delete that second “on the matter”. One of these days, I’ll learn to type these on Word and cut-and-paste my reply, instead of typing my replies directly into the reply block. Mistake like that doesn’t do much for my argument that I’m not “dumbed down”, does it!
All the ‘dumb downed’ statement meant was that today’s Southern Gospel listening audience has come to accept tracks as the norm and don’t care if it ever changes.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t attend concerts to support your favorite groups, even if they are ‘track only’ because they need our support.
My statement was to back up my argument that the death of ‘live’ music is a contributing factor to the decline of Southern Gospel concert attendance.
I want nothing more than for Southern Gospel to survive another generation, that is why I think it is important to discuss topics such as this to try to figure out how we go about making sure the music lives on.
Being a music director, does your church have a full praise band or do you perform to tracks? I know most of the bigger churches don’t accept tracks in their services because they have the luxury of using musicians.
Praise Band in a Southern Gospel Church????? What are we talking about, we have totally went into the mode of the majority of churches today. On the one hand we talk about keeping with piano and bass, then we want to know if we have a PRAISE BAND? I will take tracks with a big orchestration or country feel or just a five peice band over a praise band and a whole group of people all singing the same part and doing everthing on que!
I only mentioned ‘praise’ band when asking him about his church worship service, not about ‘live’ music in Southern Gospel. When I go to a Southern Gospel concert, I still want my music southern and Gospel.
And if you attend a church this day in age that doesn’t use modern praise and worship music, then you are truly in the minority. And if you ask, no I am not a fan of modern praise and worship music.
Ernie, it is hard to have a church anymore that doesn’t add some of the newer songs. We had a blended service before me and the push seems to be now to have a contemporary service. There is definitely a market for it, like it or not. I at least try to pick out good Praise music (and there is). I would rather though keep it blended or SG, but that is hard to do in these times.
I am the sole accompanist on piano for the congregational service music except every so often I have a drummer and guitarist(s) help (this is planned to become regular for one service). Soloists use tracks, I play, or the pastor’s wife plays (for the pastor). As far as choir, I either record midi tracks to play when I conduct (not as often anymore) I use a few the previous director made, the pastor’s wife plays, or most usually I used CD tracks.
Seeing as I’m promoting my very first concert next month, I sure hope it IS relevant…….:-)))
I think alot of people don’t know it exists. How exactly that gets remedied I’m not sure.
My concert will be at a local Christian high school. Is it exactly “high school” type of music? Probably not, but I’m trying to tie it in with Chrstian education, and expose the students to different types of music.
Matt, I pray you have success with this concert. Southern Gospel concert promotions can be a harrowing experience, even for the most seasoned promoters.
If you don’t mind, drop by and let me know how it goes. Thanks.
Thank you Steve. I appreciate the prayers, and any tips. Not to hi-jack the thread…..
Email me (swea215@yahoo.com) and I will provide you with some tips.
I wonder which came first…tracks or smaller crowds? I understand groups can’t afford to pay band, but did that happen because people stopped paying to see old men sing karaoke at church? If the genre never went to tracks would the attendance have dropped off…just ponderings and speculation.