Perhaps their grandmother had some old LPs by the Blackwoods or their mother-in-law raves about a concert by a group called ‘Signature Sound’. Other than some cursory Googling for background before they write, most lack any personal connection to the genre. So, by nature, their approach becomes tentative and exploratory.

As our host points out, their approach is either sweetly sentimental (like casually leafing through Grandma’s copy of Guideposts while they chat during those all-too-infrequent visits) or clinically analytical (quoting statistics, sales, any notable mainstream accolades, etc.) to try and connect themselves to the subject and then, the reader.

I’ve had the experience several times of
being asked by writers who have no clue about any religious music - CCM, SG, P&W, whatever - to explain it. Try that with someone who is doing a story they were assigned to, in which they have little or no real curiosity or interest.

Good writing requires context. It seems fewer mainstream writers understand that; with the exception of long-form articles written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, some major newspapers or scholarly journals, most writing these days is superficial and lacks context because the writers and even their editors don’t have any. Add to that a topic as remote in the popular culture as southern gospel music and you can’t expect much.