averyfineline

JG’s experience seems like a good way to begin a discussion about the A&R infrastructure within sg. I doubt that the kind of behavior JG describes is substantially different from what young artists encounter in mainstream music industries, but I also wonder if the close-knit nature of […]

I was 17 the first time I attended the National Quartet Convention. The group I was playing for had just done its first date or two after spending a year in rehearsal and a lot of time in the studio. Though I had played hymns and old-school SBC church music all my […]

Every generation has its misty-eyed John Conlees, wearing rose-colored glasses that “show only the beauty” of the past but also “hide all the truth” of the present - in this case, mistaking the great accomplishments of bygone legends for a high-water mark that our own […]

Wow, third day in a row that we’ve added a new feature. At this rate I’ll have to bring on more interns. A sampling of your letters over the past weeks is on the new letters page (link at left too), including this stunner:
[The] National quartet convention […]

(I of III)
I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days about a song the Cathedrals recorded fifteen or so years ago for their 25th-anniversary celebration album. The project as a whole is by no means the […]

Insistent reader JJ writes to rightly remind me that Keith Urban has nothing on Karen Peck: “What about , ‘When he’s four days late, he’s right one time,’” JJ asks. Just so. A very fine line, that one. In fact, I think that’s what we’ll call these intermittent entries […]

I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days about a song the Cathedrals recorded fifteen or so years ago for their 25th-anniversary celebration album. The project as a whole is by no means the Cathedrals’ best studio work (that would be High and Lifted Up). The 25th anniversary […]

One morning not too long after rediscovering “Life Will be Sweeter,” I put in the “Cathedrals Alive: Deep in the Heart of Texas” and turned it up (I lived in the far northern reaches of Minnesota at the time and my very unsouthern neighbors must surely have wondered). By the time I […]

I remember Ernie Haase at the quartet convention’s Catherdals reunion a few years back, describing what George said to him once when he, Haase, complained about having to sing “Oh What A Savior” night after night: “George told me,” Haase said, “’some singers go their whole career […]

Barring any breaking news that would demand comment, I’ve said about all I can or want to regarding more openness and transparency in sg. Rereading my last post on the issue, though, I do feel the need to say this, by way of conclusion: there’s a very […]