Another new series, this one like Daniel’s “Encore.” I look at songs sung by a gospel group that deserve to be revived, and you tell me whether you agree with my ideas about who should revive them, or not. We’ll start with a song by the Imperials. Now the Imperials sort of went all over the map, sonically speaking. They started off very traditional with Jake Hess, and they did some great work there. But after some member shifts, they... Read more
Alleluja, he is risen. *** “Seven Stanzas at Easter” by John Updike Make no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His Flesh: ours. The same hinged thumbs and... Read more
Today I thought I would present three songs of the cross that have moved me in honor of Good Friday. I suspect that while a number of my readers may have heard one or two of them, not many have heard all. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes and contemplate all three at some point today. Each song features a tenor soloist, and as it happens, these are probably my three favorite tenors: Steve Green, Matthew Ward, and... Read more
Why? It’s a simple question, but sometimes there isn’t much of an answer in sight. Many people think that’s sufficient reason not to believe in God. I wonder if they realize that Jesus Christ asked the very same question. When he took our sin upon him and was separated from the Father, he cried out asking, “Why hast thou forsaken me?” And when he was in the garden of Gethsemane, he asked that God might let the cup pass from... Read more
The gmctv team has put up their predictions for this year’s Dove Awards, and several have put in their bids in the southern gospel category. For vocalist of the year, senior editor Andy Argyrakis is rooting for Jason Crabb, saying, “He can sing country, soul, southern gospel and pop, nailing each note out of the park no matter what the style,” while managing editor Jenny Bennett has fingered out Doug Anderson: I’m going out on the limb here to say... Read more
This weekend I will be sharing some Holy Week music and meditations, but before we get serious, I thought it might be entertaining to ask my readers this question: What’s one Christian song, for our purposes preferably SG, that everybody talks about and loves, but for whatever reason just doesn’t click for you? The bigger the better. Try to think of something that’s very highly regarded by a lot of people, including critics. Then explain a little of your reasoning... Read more
Every Palm Sunday at my church, we read the story of the passion in preparation for Holy Week, with the different parts assigned to different members of our congregation. The pastor narrates, one guy gets Jesus, another guy gets Pilate, and some poor chap gets stuck with Judas. One year I got to be Pilate’s wife. The entire congregation speaks for the crowd. It’s always a slightly chilling experience when the fellow reading Pilate asks what the crowd wants him... Read more
I found this poster today. No comment needed. Special thanks to the emergent-see po-motivators for giving us such a powerful mission statement:Â Read more
This is not a normal album review, because I have not yet heard the album I am reviewing. It contains my thoughts on Doug Anderson’s upcoming solo album after hearing the lead single, hearing 30-second samples of the other songs, and reading complete lyrics. This gave me a good enough sense of what the project is like that I realized there were already a lot of things I could say about it. So I decided to share my impressions so... Read more
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Southern Gospel Music Videos
When was the last time you saw a really high quality music video from a professional southern gospel artist? My guess is you’re casting about for an answer right now, because the truth is that there really aren’t that many southern gospel music videos out there, good or bad. Here are a few that I have found, in no particular order. (Important note: We are not counting Mark Lowry’s many and sundry comedic masterpieces.) I’m a Jesus Fan (by The... Read more