Song Garden
So what’s going on with Song Garden, the newish music label fronted by Rob Hiner and Nick Bruno and home to, among others, the Lesters and Paid In Full? In the last week, I’ve been hearing some noise that the label’s investers/owners (who may or may not be Amish Mennonite [hat tip, T (see comments)]) may or may not have stepped in and ousted Hiner and Bruno. The lead singer for the Mike Lefevre group may or may not be sorta running the show for now (he’s been doing radio promotions for the label, if I understand correctly, as well as squeezing in some chest thumping about how spiritually courageous it was for him to stand up in a room full of white evangelicals and taunt Muslims). I’m hedging so heavily on all this because while the info seems to be coming reliable channels, the whole Song Garden thing was always presented to the world as Hiner and Bruno’s baby. If they weren’t the money behind it, nobody made any effort to discourage the rest of the world from thinking they were. Certainly if it turns out Hiner and Bruno are gone, it raises an interesting set of questions about the future of the label’s roster, since Hiner and Bruno seemed to be the label’s reason for existence and the experience meant to draw new artists in. Say it with me now: only time will tell.
www.southerngospelblog.com » Song Garden Music Group, the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet, and Mennonites in Southern Gospel on 04 Oct 2006 at 4:33 pm
[…] One group that has had a particularly noticeable number of dates at Mennonite-sponsored events is the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet. This isn’t the only connection that the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet had in Mennonite circles. The group’s founding member, tenor Robbie Hiner, partnered with Nick Bruno, Mennonite pastor and evangelist Dale Keffer, and Dale’s brother Lynn and sister Marilyn to found Song Garden Music Group. (Incidentally, this information is on Song Garden’s home page, which Doug Harrison at Averyfineline must have forgotten to check before posting his recent comment about Amish involvement with the label.) But I’m wondering if the original Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet had yet another Mennonite connection. The cut of his suit on the OTGHQ debut album cover makes me wonder if Christian Davis is or was a Mennonite. […]
www.southerngospelblog.com » Robbie Hiner and Nick Bruno leave Song Garden on 04 Oct 2006 at 9:03 pm
[…] Averyfineline was right; Robbie Hiner and Nick Bruno have left the label they founded, Song Garden. Song Garden has sold its recording studio and has moved its non-creative departments to Chesapeake, Virginia. […]