Christian music–Southern style or contemporary?
This article will be a little different than some of the others I have done. It is about one of the things I enjoy most in life, music. I play bass guitar in our church and I love to listen to good Christian music. A lot of it is southern gospel and some of it is contemporary. These are just some thoughts I have had about Christian music. If you read this and you are a Christian music fan, please stay tuned. I plan on writing another article that will talk about some of my favorite songs, both southern gospel and contemporary Christian music.
When I was growing up in the 1970′s, my Mom used to take us to the Fort Smith Municipal Auditorium to listen to the Souther Gospel groups that would come and sing. Some of you may not realize this, but The Oak Ridge Boys used to sing southern gospel music, instead of country and many was the time we went to one of their concerts. The Happy Goodman Family was also popular. My Mom really liked Vestal Goodman.
As I grew older, I became acquainted with the music of The Cathedral Quartet and I still have a lot of their music on cd today. There was nothing better than listening to Glen Payne, George Younce, Mark Trammell, and Danny Funderburk do harmony like no other group could do. I remember one time, at the big southern gospel concert in Springdale, AR, they actually did an acapella Christmas song, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, in the middle of the summer. They received a standing ovation for it. I promise you, no other group could get away with that.
It may have been about the same time when a new group started showing up on the southern gospel concerts. That would be The Gold City Quartet, later shortened down to just Gold City. The group consisted of Tim Riley, Mike Lefever, Ivan Parker, and Brian Free. This lineup gave us some of the best quartet harmony southern gospel music has ever seen. I have heard a lot of talk about JD Sumner and The Stamps Quartet and The Blackwood Brothers, but in my honest opinion, the music I have listened to from both groups could not hold a candle to the likes of The Cathedrals and Gold City.
Over the years, I have not liked the direction the southern gospel groups have headed. It seems to me they are more about showmanship than singing. I like a good show as much as the next fella, but when the show overruns the music, then the show is too much. Also, much of the music seems to not have much of a message. Without the message, the music is hollow. Just this past week, we were listening to a song by the Dove Brothers that was written by the brother of a preacher friend of ours. The song is You Can Pray and it really has a strong message about how we can all have something to do for God. Our youngest daughter, Randi, made mention of the fact that she liked some of the older quartets, such as The Cathedrals and Gold City, but the newer ones just didn’t do much for her.
During this time, my daughters were growing up and while they have always enjoyed the quartets I listen to, they also enjoyed some of the contemporary Christian music. Alisha and Randi have introduced me to artists like Phillips, Craig, & Dean, Mercy Me, Avalon, and Point of Grace. I also came across another group, Casting Crowns, after hearing one of their songs, Who Am I, at my wife’s aunt’s funeral. It has to be one of my all time favorite songs and many are the times I have listened to it and cried as I heard the message in the song. I have came to really enjoy listening to some of the contemporary Christian music. You notice, I said some of it. A lot of it is entirely to rockified for my taste.
I suppose the point of all this is to show where my taste in music is now and where it used to be. Trust me, I still like good southern gospel music, but it just doesn’t seem to be as much of it around as there used to be. So, most of the time the music I listen to winds up being contemporary Christian music.
More than once, Alisha and Randi have told me I was too picky when it comes to my music, but I can’t help it. There have been times when I have been requested to play in weddings and once in a home-school graduation service. I just about drove my family crazy because I practiced so much. I wanted it to be good, not just for my sake, but for the sake of the people for whom I was playing. The same thing goes for the music I listen to. Not just any old cd gets put in my music drawer. Southern gospel or contemporary Christian, it has got to be good, or I don’t bring it home.
That’s my take!
Larry
Hello all,
up until Sept 1998 i use to be 110% contry, this is when I met my now wife.
She would go on & on about the Blackwoods… enough it almost made you sick…her parents use to golf with them, helped with bookings was at there house alot… little did I know they grew up just 40 miles from my door, but did not know who they was…
In 2004 we went to a FL Boys concert & did not know until about 1 hr into the concert THE BLACKWOOD BROTHERS WAS THERE JIMMYS GROUP. http://www.blackwoodbrothers.com/index.html
They sang maybe 5 songs sine there was several other groups there, I was hooked on the tenor MR Wayne Little, I booked the group at our very small church that very night, ( to surprize my wife ) & manybe… help our small church grow.
We had 550 attend our concert in a town 150 pop.
I did not tell my wife anything about it until about 2 weeks before the concert, I really THOUGHT… I did something nice for her, she lite into me like a money on a cup cake…. our church, our town was way to small for them…. but ended up with a great turn out about 75% remmbered the old blackwood brothers & most said they was as good or better then the group was with Jimmy dad back in the 40′s.
Since then… We have helped them book a few concerts, by doing this other groups & fans, churches ect. has asked us to help book a concert for them. We have really thought about doing this fulltime, but then it would turn into a JOB…
We have worked with alot of groups out there, there is so much wonderful talent. We have put together our own concert calendar which covers the whole USA & have about 1000 on a e-mail list, anyone wanting on our list it is FREE Also thank you for passing the concert information along to others! Some have asked if they may forward the Concert Updates. Absolutely yes! We want to let as many as possible know where all the wonderful concerts are being held. Thank you for all your help, your attendance, & support of Southern Gospel Concerts! Without you the concerts could not be possible!
kEN
I certainly miss the Cathedrals! Another Southern Gospel group that is not about showmanship is Greater Vision. The Collingsworth Family is another artist I would recommend in the Southern Gospel genre who have some depth to their music. I haven’t seen Legacy V since Roger Bennett died, but they were another solid group.
Thanks for your post.
Chris,
Yes, The Cathedrals are greatly missed and I really miss the Gold City lineup of Tim, Ivan, Mike, and Brian. That was the best lineup they have ever had, in my opinion. I really liked the first lineup that Legacy V had with Josh Cobb on tenor. He reminded me a lot of Danny Funderburk.
As I said in the article, there are some of the contemporary artists that I enjoy as well. Casting Crowns has a new song out called East to West that is very good and Point of Grace has a new cd out that has some good songs on it as well. How You Live (Turn Up The Music) and All The World are especially good. I have come to appreciate their music a lot. Some of the contemporary music is a little wild, but some of it is really good.
I love Casting Crowns … good choice. “Who Am I” is an amazing song. My particular favorite singers are Rich Mullins and Andrew Peterson.
Wickle,
Yes, “Who Am I” is one of my all time favorite songs. I can not listen to it without tearing up and realizing just how big our God really is.
Okay. I am obviously an odd duck out. Oh well. Gotta have one in every crowd don’t you!
I tend to go for Andre Crouch or Anointed type music.
I am definitely going to check out Casting Crowns, though.
BTW – love the rocks and water scene. My favorite place in the whole word is on the beach at sunset! It looks great on your blog.
As a musician I thought I might enjoy being in a gospel group feeling that they would be more tolerant of letting me play what I feel in the music.
The first group audition I strummed a couple of chords and the leader said “what song are you playing, we have to make sure everything we play is for Jesus”. When I mention I wasn’t playing a song but just warming up he asked me to stop playing until we played an actual gospel song.
The next group I played with for about 6 months every Sunday service but became aware that some in the group would give me occasional odd looks. Finally the organist asked me if I was aware that playing lead guitar was not proper in a gospel band. Lead instruments (to spite the fact that we had 3 rhythm instruments) were considered a distraction from the vocals. I tried bring a classical guitar thinking that would help but was told that it was the same way.
I went back to playing in a non gospel band. God gave me my desire to play music. I now make a joyful noise.