I am always amused when discussion turns to where our music is headed and how it is going to die out if we don't go back to the traditional ways and sounds. I realize that we do have a problem gathering a crowd at concerts today, but it's not really the fault of our music. I guess I have to go back to past days of Southern Gospel Music's ability to draw real crowds and fill auditoriums. As I remember, in the late 60s and early 70s, we were still packing out concert halls and doing it with a mixture of traditional and progressive artists.
If you booked the Backwood Brothers, the Happy Goodmans, the Florida Boys, the Statesmen or say the LeFevres, among others, you could expect to have a great crowd with people staying until midnight or after soaking up the great music coming from these groups. Fans willing bought tickets to spend their Friday and Saturday evenings clapping their hands, tapping their feet, giving boisterous AMENS, combining entertainment and worship.
About this time a couple of other things were happening. Secular music was becoming more progressive and some really big name Southern Gospel artists followed suit. At the same time some family groups were also bringing a new country sound to the genre. This new progressive style and the family country sound were joining the traditional artists on stage and the fans were loving it. The churches and concert halls were still packing out with standing room only.
Groups like the Oak Ridge Boys, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, the Imperials, the Speer Family, and a new group called the Downings were putting out great sounding music keeping the solid Southern Gospel message, tempos, and basic sound, but adding some more progressive chords in the tracks and in the vocals. The Stamps took songs like the old standard that the LeFevres sang, "Must I Go And Empty Hands", and the old classic "I Just Steal Away And Pray" and made hits of them with the new progressive sound. The Imperials took new songs penned by Bill Gaither like "He Touched Me" and classics like Doris Akers "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" and gave them a new updated sound and got standing ovations every night. The Downings came on the scene with that progressive sound and had huge hits with "Greater Is He" and "Sheltered In The Arms Of God". Even the long time family group, the Speer Family broke out with songs like "God Gave The Song" and "For Those Tears I Died".
Then you had some family groups like the Rambos and the Hinsons who just broke all the rules for Southern Gospel structure, but the fans embraced them and they were filling auditoriums everywhere. These two groups especially were selling their sound with songs they were writing themselves. The Rambos rocked the SGM world with "I'm Gonna Leave Here Shoutin" and "Remind Me Dear Lord". The Hinsons leaped into the scene with songs like "The Lighthouse" and the old standard "I Never Shall Forget The Day". Country music sounds were officially in the Southern Gospel Music genre.
Let's not forget that a little black group called Teddy Huffam and the Gems, was also making an impression in our genre. Teddy took songs like "I Can't Even Walk Without You Holding My Hand" and made them classics that people are still singing today.
No, our problems are not style of our music today, for we still have plenty of tradition sounding groups, and plenty of progressive sounding groups. We sure have our share of country sounding groups and you don't have to look far to hear some good black groups at our concerts.
I have some ideas of what our problems are, but I'll get to those next month.
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 11/01/2009
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Category: Editorials
Comments: 11
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Deon,
Deon and I agree on more things than we disagree, but I might disagree with him just a bit on this one. When we had groups like the Statesmen, the Blackwoods, and the Imperials, we had well rehearsed, highly talented individuals, involved in the groups. We also had men like Mosie Lister and a handful of others writing songs that today have become iconic standards. Bring this to modern times, and we don't see for the most part, that dedication to the artform as we did in those days. Today it seems we have the need for instant gratification. IN other words, men and women who really want to sing badly, and by listening to the proof on SG radio, they seemed to have reached that goal.....they sing badly. Of course there are exceptions and there are bright corners all over SG Music today. However, radio and the labels as a whole do not reflect our best and brightest, and thus an evermore savy audience doesn't find much to hang their hat on. Until we as a genre accept the idea that we must quit embracing the un-talented simply because they "do it for all the right reasons" and look for the talented individuals and groups who can hold their own against the secular music of today in terms of musical quality, we will continue to decline. Sure SG will be around for a long time to come for we have enough of a niche market to keep it going for a while yet. However, when those aforementioned groups were traveling, they competed with secular acts toe to toe in terms of the music quality of the day. We have not kept pace in that regard. That does not mean that we should throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. Our audience literally demands a certain decorum that we must follow. Being innovative within the confines of the SG umbrella is one answer. We should not be venturing so far afield that our audience is left wanting something they cannot find, for that is certainly not the answer to our problems, as time has literally proven without a doubt. Talented and well rehearsed men and women of God are.
Ben, I don't think that we disagree as much as you might think. The problem comes when we compare all groups today to the cream of the crop of yesteryear. We always bring the attention to the Statesmen and Blackwoods who were the Cadillacs of groups back in the old day. We seem to forget that even back then there were many more groups floating around singing. Many of these groups were nothing near the quality of the Statesmen or Blackwoods. We must compare apples to apples. When we compare the greats of today with the greats of yesterday, it's a pretty even trade. When we compare the not so goods of today with the not so goods of years ago, the trade is again about the same. Are there some groups who tend ot make me cringe when I hear them? Yes, but when I go back and listen to some of my old records, I do a little cringing there also.
The same is true with the songwriters. I have a good collection of songbooks from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Most of those writers names as well as their songs are not recognizable today. There are, however a few names of writers whose songs we still sing today. In a few years we will not remember most of the songs or songwriters who have Top 40 hits, but a few will separate themselves and our kids will be singing their songs for years to come.
We totally agree about not taking the sound of our genre to far away, however we must keep in mind that radio stations were breaking Statesmen records on the air, because they thought that they were destroying the music of the day. We do NOT need to think that we have to compete with the CCM sounds, but we cannot be afraid of change either.
I will be interested to see if you agree with me when I give some of my solution ideas next month. I think we may be closer than you think.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog
Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown
I can not find much fault in what you say at all Deon. My point is and was, that comparing years past and today, radio and labels tend to push far more "less than stellar" groups where once what we heard on the radio was in large part, only the "Cadillacs" as you call them. One only needs to tune into any Southern Gospel broadcast to understand exactly what I am referring to. Back in the day we had no such things as tracks and therefore to start a group you had to have someone to back you up, whether on piano or guitar. This day and time the advent of pre-recorded tracks have allowed people that otherwise would have no business singing in front of an audience, let alone be presented to the world as the best we have to offer, to have a place alongside the truly best in the business. It is a disparity that troubles me greatly. It has watered down the average talent level to the point that many churches simply will not give a Southern Gospel Group a chance based on what they think all Southern Gospel is about. Just a week or so ago a minister of music told me, "We don't want that twang stuff at our church". So instead of giving a group a chance there, he has everyone sing in unison to words on a screen, 7/11 style. Go figure! And groups like the Statesmen, Blackwoods, etc were also on real record labels like RCA. Today we have many SG labels but most, most mind you, are little more than custom album houses where you pay a steep price to have their logo on the lower right corner. How's that for not being politically correct?
I don't fault tracks for the vocal quality of groups. I think it's just a case of human pride. We probably all think that we are a little better than we really are. I think that we have lost some church dates, because nursing home level groups have managed to get booked in churches, leaving a bad taste in the mouth if the attendees. Likewise, church level groups have persuaded to give them a chance, on stage, and then some artists have become promoters (guilty) and of course will always sing on their programs. Many groups have done this, and some have honed their talent and become excellent singers, while others assume that they have arrived because they are sharing the stage with Gold City.
Sometimes it's a hard thing to accept where you belong in Gospel Music.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog
Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown
Hmmmmm, we have shared the staged with Gold City, Maybe its time to re-evaluate?
I agree though its not a fault of the tracks as much as those who use them. It has opened up the possibility of virtually anyone starting a group. Go buys somes tracks and have at it....regardless of talent or not.
I do think you might be wrong about "most of us think we are better than we really are". I don't have any illusions that there are many lead singers who can far surpass what lowly talents I may possess. I think most simply hope the audience doesn't notice. And you know, 9 times out of 10, they don't.
Ben, I agree that the talent level needs to be more. Too many artists have marginal talent but available funds and manage to squeeze themselves into a record deal. We're also too quick to put a local or regional group on a big event with a pro group. Sad thing, sometime the talent levels are really close.
Talent level needs to be more? We have GREAT talent. We have just as much talent in the pool of singers today as we did in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The problem is you weren't around in those days to go to concerts and hear some of the groups back then. We talk about the cream of the crop from back then. We don't mention the hundreds of groups that were mediocre. The only ones that we remember are the 4 or 5 top groups of the era. It's the same today. In 30 years, the people who are young folks today, will be talking about how all the talent was in the early 2000s, and they will only remember and talk about the 4 or 5 top groups of today.
No great songs today? Again the same argument. we have some great songs today that will still be sung 30 years from now. Will it be all of them? certainly not, but there was plenty of fluff written back in the good ole days. I have piles of old songbooks that prove that point. Classics are songs that were written years ago and have stuck around in the hearts and minds of fans today. Some of the songs of today will be classics in 30 years, but it will be about the same number of songs as we tend to remember from 30 years ago.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog
Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown
We tend to want to blame everything else except ourselves. I don't buy the poor economy excuse. Secular concerts are sold out by the droves. We can't fill a stadium for free admission. If we have the talent, we have the great songs, we have the best tracks, we have, we have, we have, then why don't we have good record sales, good concert attendance, and good radio/TV representation? Why do our artists struggle to stay on the road while other Christian genres are doing well?
I'm not blaming anything on anybody. I have just stated some honest facts. There are some major problems with Southern Gospel Music, on this we agree, but they do not revolve around the talent. I have opinions about your questions, but they are part of my article for the 1st of December. Stay tuned.
Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog
Some people are like Slinkys… Not really good for anything, but they
still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a flight of stairs - Author Unknown
Family Man is correct in some of his comments. We have far more groups today than were touring in the golden years of the 50's and 60's, and the current individual top tier talents do not seem in my view to be on par with the those of the golden years of gospel music. I think Deon is right too, we have some great talent today. The disparity comes from the fact that there were so few groups back then that the groups could pick and choose from a huge talent pool. Many of those groups were made up totally of star talent. When Jake Hess formed the original Imperials that was his exact goal, and he succeeded in forming at the time, a great selection of star quality talent. Today, there are so many groups that you would be hard pressed to find a group where all of the members are star quality. The talent pool has been picked to death. I can testify to that personally for we have been searching for a couple of months for a baritone replacement, and we have had many apply, but only a handful capable of replacing the talents of Trevor Haley. We have so many groups touring today, yet the audience is actually less than the audience of that time era. In 1972 when I auditioned for the Statesmen they offered to pay $275 per week, or roughly 3 times what I was then making. Bring that to modern times, and for Southern Gospel to have kept pace, groups would be paying at the top teir, $150,000 per year. (average salary 1972 $5,000 per year, average 2009 salary, $50,000 per year. 3 times average is where the figure came from) Much of the problem is the industry as a whole understanding their fan base. I wish radio, labels, agents and group members would at every concert this coming year, go down the aisles and ask people warming the seats what kind of music they want to hear. I can guarantee you it would be a totally different view of Southern Gospel than we now have. I started singing with my family when I was very young. The audience then was for the most part gray, and they still are. As people age they tend to migrate toward things more stable. Buick, LIncoln and Cadallac are the vehicle of choice for this crowd. YOu would be hard pressed to sell them a Corvette or even a 380Z. Yet the music they hear is more and more progressive in this confused attempt to reach a younger audience. Not knowing your customer is the first rule broken in having a business fail. Southern Gospel as a business does not know who their customer is. Thus the audience is dwindling. Give the audience what it wants and the audience will return in droves, and when they do they will bring the young members of their familes as well. It does not mean that we will ever be the entity with a 20 something crowd. But, return to quality music with a Southern Gospel message, and the young folks will be there too. Signature Sound is a good example of traditional music done with flair. Now, I am not saying everyone needs to wear short ties, have their hair spiked and learn dance routines (I would look totally stupid as such), but each group needs to have an indentity of their own. Today we have cookie cutter groups where much of our music sounds the same. Ask an music minister of a P & W church what his thoughts on SG is. That is a good example of what the rest of the Christian world thinks of our genre. We have work to do.
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