SG History 101

SG History 101? Absolutely!

This month’s article will be a little different in focus than past articles here.

There are reasons for that.

One, I was hoping for more research information to come in on the topic I had originally planned to write about. Now when I do research, I don’t demand immediate attention from my sources. I realize that like me, they probably have lives of their own they have to live, and can’t always make me or my articles their #1 priority.

I understand that, and I’m always prepared to work around any situation their inability to meet my deadlines may cause. After all, the readers of this site are entitled to the most accurate information and best writing I can provide for them.

So like in a live concert setting when some members of a gospel quartet might have forgotten or mis-sung some of the lyrics of a particular song, a writer for these kinds of articles needs to make adjustments whenever circumstances prevent their “songs” from being sung, at least right away.

I hope by next month at this time, I’m able to obtain all the facts I need to write a good, informative article on the topic I had intended to write about this month. Given that Sarah Palin has been chosen to be a part of the festivities at this year’s National Quartet Convention, I’m sure you’ll all appreciate the relevance of the topic when I write in detail on it next month.

OK, so what do you plan to share with us this month, John? . . . you rightly ask.

Well, some of you may have noticed a subtle name change in this site, and wonder what changes might be in store for these articles because of it.

And honestly, I don’t know, I was as surprised as some of you to realize that we are now Absolutely Gospel Music, as opposed to merely Southern Gospel News.

I was not involved in the decision to change the name, and I only had one e-mail exchange with Deon Unthank regarding the change. So I readily admit to not being the ultimate authority on that question.

So will these articles continue to emphasize the history of Southern Gospel music?

With no other authority than my own judgment (a very faulty authority at times), I will take a giant leap of faith and answer the above question with a resounding “yes”.

After all, if one is going to deal with the historical origins of gospel music at all, one can’t get away from the southern gospel genre, which is predominant and preeminent in that discussion. For back to the original days of the sale of songbooks and the use of male quartets to help sell them to the public, this type of music was there from the outset, perhaps not exactly in the form we hear it in today, but it undeniably was the driving force in the beginnings of the ENTIRE commercial gospel music industry.

Regardless of whatever sub-genre of gospel music one cares to introduce into the discussion, inspirational, MOR, CCM, black gospel, or even the so-called “progressive” southern gospel music of today, it ALL can be traced back in time to the work of the early gospel quartets of the Vaughan and Stamps-Baxter companies.

And commercial music (which SG certainly is) is a huge umbrella term anyway. By that I mean there are all kinds of varieties of it, whatever flavor of this massive smorgasboard you like best, it’s all out there and available to you.

No less an authority than Don Butler (a former SG singer and past executive of the Gospel Music Association) once said, “music is music. The unique thing about the gospel music area is that we take any style of music-be it classical, jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, country or pop, and we take that style of music that appeals to a certain demographic and we couch the lyrics of Good News-the positive message lyric with those styles of music, and we reach all areas.”

And the southern gospel genre has been particularly receptive to all those aforementioned musical styles over the years, from the traditional sounds of groups like the Chuck Wagon Gang, the Blackwood Brothers, the Inspirations, and today’s Melody Boys Quartet, to more contemporary approaches (for their respective times) as epitomized by groups like the Oak Ridge Boys, the Imperials, and the Gaither Vocal Band, to the country sounds of groups such as the Rambos and the Isaacs, and finally, to the variety offered by groups like the Couriers and the Goss Brothers, who encompass all kinds of musical sounds, it’s all there, in the long history of the southern gospel genre, and available for any of you, whenever or however you want it.

So will these articles continue to be focused on the history of southern style gospel music? In a word, yes, or in an even more appropriate word, absolutely!

See you again next month to further examine our gospel music heritage.