averyfineline

Reader TE asks:
I don’t understand why you limit your observations to one genre of music. It would seem that the more general, vague lyrics found in today’s AC Christian music allow for an even more personalized constuct of meaning and it happens to a larger audience numerically.
A good point. Two reasons why I limit my […]

And as if to prove my point in the post below, Martin Roth (whose site I clicked over to just after I posted the last entry) links to this story about a Catholic who finds the Gaither’s gospel mainstay “Because He Lives” the best expression of Easter sentiment.

I was at an academic conference last week presenting some work of mine on gospel music and the function of religious sentiments in artistic works. It’s part of a professional effort I’ve been dabbling with for several years to better understand my personal affection for the evocative harmonies and self-abnegating lyrics of gospel music. I’m […]

I am snowed under here in Sunny Florida with projects and deadlines and end-of-term stuff, so I won’t be able to properly or adequately synthesize all the smart comments building up in the recent radio threads. But if only to put a finer point on my remarks about ideas and the sg blogosphere, allow me […]

By far the most common criticism I hear about gospel music blogs from industry insiders and decision makers is that there’s too much carping and not enough ideas. Looking through my file of nasty-grams and other love letters from industry types, I see that I am regularly challenged to (as one email I selected more […]

Reader TLS imagines what an extended (and amusing) rewrite a la the SN might look like, in extremis.

Original:

The newest recording by Bubba and Ethel had my ears ringing. I thought for a second that I was stuck in hell (like the SNL sketch with Paul Simon stuck in an elevator hearing “elevator music” […]

For a while now, I have, evidently, been banned from receiving Chuck Peters’ SGShowPrep newsletter (he didn’t, it seems, care for this too much). So I didn’t see this until it showed up on musicscribe blog recently. Chuck is a veteran gospel music radio type and though his skin may be a bit thin when […]

I’ve had to travel this weekend, my first time on AirTran. The airline has XM satellite radio hook ups on each armrest, so I was able to listen to XM’s sg station for three hours in flight. It was my first extended listen since the free trial way back when.
The song selection was decently, […]

A mountain out of a molehill? So says David Bruce Murray himself of my comments on the SN editing his review to soften his take on the McKameys latest project (and he suggests I’m an opportunistic flip-flopper to boot).

Doug,

As I recall, you were a lot more easy going than me a couple of […]

A disappointing account from David Bruce Murray about how the SN’s changes to his review of the McKameys tests the limits of reform and improvement at the magazine. Take a look at DBM’s post for the full account, but the upshot is, some editorial tinkering pretty much completely changed the meaning of DBM’s review so […]