averyfineline

Since I flogged the switch at Solid Gospel radio in Nashville from sg to Praise & Worship pretty hard, I should probably say something about the recent purchase by Grace Broadcasting of WVRY 105.1, (formerly Solid Gospel). Grace promptly undid the P&W format and reinstated the Solid Gospel programming, putting sg back on the air […]

Janet Paschal
Sounds like Sunday
Vine Records, 2007
ALI: 100%

From her very early days with the Rex Nelon Singers, Janet Paschal’s career has been defined by stylistic dexterity: after her stint in southern gospel, she branched out into 1980s inspirational anthems as a soloist for televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, a style that morphed during her time on the […]

Roy Pauley’s June column in the Singing News has all the makings of an interesting read: “Gospel Music’s Biggest Blunders.” And indeed it’s arguably true that, as Pauley has it, prematurely parking the Gospel Singing Caravan and consistently inducting gospel greats into the hall of fame posthumously have lastingly diminished the long-term viability of gospel […]

So is it, as David Bruce Murray wonders, Austins Bridge (no possessive on that first word) or Austin’s Bridge? I initially thought the former, judging by the group’s website. But then in certain advertisements for the group (including the big World Vision* spread in this month’s SN), it’s Austin’s Bridge. Any authoritative, as opposed to […]

So “God has worked” in Josh Cobb’s “heart”, as Aaron Swain puts it, and dissolved his bitterness toward southern gospel (as Swain implies) because Cobb may have shaved and cut his hair and had his picture taken in front of an old upright piano?
Hmmm. Methinks Swain might be hanging out too much with Daniel “by […]

The various discussions about songwriting that have cropped here and elsewhere recently bring to mind a point that often gets lost in the cut and thrust of analysis, argument, and debate about a particular lyric’s merit or a given song’s artistry. Namely: lyrics are only half of the equation (and some times less). Music – […]

A few items worth noting that don’t warrant their own post.

1. David Bruce Murray reviewed Austin’s Bridge’s debut cd. He’s less obtrusive than I was and I would have taken at least another half-star off the grade for the flaccid songwriting that hobbles the project (plus two timeouts and one week of detention […]

It’s been a rumor kicking around for some time now that Anthony Facello (formerly of Mercy’s Mark and the Heaven Bound) was starting a new group. Now, it seems, it’s official.
Anybody know anything about who the other group members are (it’s difficult to tell who “Justin” is in the photos gallery, much less whether he’s […]

[Note: the dead-end, tangential “debates” about scripture have sucked all the oxygen out of this thread; comments are closed]
As admirable as it is for Daniel Mount to attempt an intervention into the obnoxious Sister Tenor schtick that afflicts so many hackneyed sg emcees’ repertoire or “jokes” (and I agree, these droolingly dumb jokes can’t stop […]

Ron Ronsenbaum explores the lyrical complexities of country music about cancer. This is not just good writing, great analysis of lyrics, and even better culture criticism. It’s proof that good lyrics stand up to scrutiny (and that, contra some of you who become so exasperated with my “over analysis paralysis,” I’m not the only guy […]

Martina McBride’s new cd includes what is perhaps my favorite song right now: “Anyway.” It begins:

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin’
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway
You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway
[Chorus]
God […]

So I bought Martina McBride’s and Lucinda Williams’s new cds last night at Target. McBride’s cd comes in your typical plastic hinged jewel case with liner notes stowed inside the front cover and the cd secured in the plastic tray with the little slotted button in the middle. But Williams’s cd … oh boy […]

I see that songwriter Sue Smith has just reupped her URL claim on the domain name for Write About Jesus, the annual songwriters conference she coordinates in St. Louis. Thus do I surrender my fledgling hope that the clunky name might give way to something more … well, writerly (even the acronym – WAJ – […]

Reader LeeBob has some questions for the new label:
1. Are they going to be like every other “promotional” company and only use the established good ole boy (and girl) groups? I get a kick out of the “promoters” who only use established groups. Essentially they are not promoting anybody. They are only using the groups […]

David Bruce Murray posted this comment in the Canaan thread and it seems worth promoting to the main page, lest the point get overlooked in the mix.
If a group like the Hoppers can create great music on their own, that’s well and good, but the reality is they have no decent distribution plan in place. […]

Act I: Contrary to conventional wisdom, I’m not actually much of an inside baseball guy when it comes to personnel changes. People work with someone until they don’t and then they work with someone else (the more interesting question for me is how 9 out of 10 of these guys survive on the money most […]

Austins Bridge
Austins Bridge
Daywind, 2007
ALI: 33%

This new group’s self-titled release could more accurately have been called Rascal Flats for Christians. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. Nor are the country currents coursing through the album that surprising given the visible (and sometimes audible) influence of the Crabb family on this young male trio […]

I was on my quasi-sabbatical from avfl when the Canaan Record deal was announced, but I’ve wanted to get around to commenting on it even if it’s later rather than sooner.

I’ve been thinking about this a while (the news has been an open secret for a few months now), and the first thing to […]

A charmingly candid description of producing custom recordings for “aspiring ‘aritsts’” from songwriter and sometimes producer Marty Funderburk at his new blog The Mundane Matters. Funderburk manages to be both humble and humorous about the downmarket realities of producing southern gospel’s “adequate” amateur talent. Money quote:
Some are genuinely talented, humble, God-fearing people whose church insisted […]

A hip friend of mine turned Averyfineline HQ onto Pandora, part of the Music Genome Project (the interns are also atwitter over the Roku, but that’s another story). The basic idea is that you plug in some of your favorite kinds of music or artists and Pandora custom builds an aggregating “station” that pulls music […]