Part 2<\/a> of their Ernie Haase interview. Part of it was just his sharing the backstory behind \u201cAny Other Man,\u201d which came out of some righteous anger towards people spreading gossip about the group on forums and such. No specifics were given, and I actually don\u2019t feel like specifics are needed. Some of us have seen such gossip ourselves, and it doesn\u2019t deserve the oxygen of publicity.
\nBut part of it was also a discussion of the group\u2019s entertainment philosophy, and I wanted to spark a discussion based on that. Ernie re-hashed some of his usual talking-points on the topic, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen him do it quite this candidly before. As he\u2019s done before, he addressed the danger of spiritual manipulation in a concert setting, and this time he specifically connected it with his philosophy of entertainment. He said that he\u2019d rather be \u201cblatant\u201d about \u201cjust\u201d entertaining someone than entertain someone under the guise of having a fake \u201cspiritual moment\u201d on the stage. This is something I\u2019ve always respected him for.
\nHe also revisited something he\u2019s been saying for years in response to the accusation that Signature Sound is nothing but empty flash, which is that it\u2019s never been his intention to give that impression, and it comes from a very sincere desire to simply bring one\u2019s top game to the table when presenting this music. When he looks at the production quality of secular music, he wants to aim for that bar because he believes Southern Gospel deserves the best in production and presentation.
\nBut it got me to thinking\u2014they didn\u2019t really get into a lot of specifics in the interview on exactly what that \u201ctop shelf\u201d production looks like when you break it down into its component parts. Obviously one huge component is the live band. That\u2019s something that definitely sets Signature Sound apart from the pack. They also have a light show and the occasional fog\/dry ice\/whatever you call it.
\nThe thing is though, I\u2019m not sure how much the quality of entertainment really rests on those things, with the possible exception of a live band. It seems like if you\u2019re bringing quality singing and quality songs, with quality emceeing, you\u2019re already presenting southern gospel well. I think the Booth Brothers are a great example of a group who consistently delivers top-notch entertainment with pretty much no \u201cextra\u201d stuff\u2014they even get away without having a live band. Lights and fog are nice, but I wouldn\u2019t say they always add something.
\nSo I would say that Signature Sound are definitely great entertainers, but at the same time I think there\u2019s more than one way to skin that cat. And since Southern Gospel IS different from pop or rock, one can only \u201cborrow\u201d so much. And frankly from a purely musical perspective, there\u2019s a lot of poor quality junk out there in the secular arena too. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s automatically good just because it\u2019s on American Idol (and I\u2019m not even getting into issues like lyrical content).
\nWhat do you think?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, it turns out that Absolutely Gospel didn\u2019t really mean anything that specific by \u201caddressing rumors\u201d in Part 2 of their Ernie Haase interview. Part of it was just his sharing the backstory behind \u201cAny Other Man,\u201d which came out of some righteous anger towards people spreading gossip about the group on forums and such. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3595,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\n
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