The Ruppes, RIP
With just about as little fanfare as possible, the Ruppes have dissolved. The dissolution didn’t even warrant its own announcement. Rather it got squeezed in between the lines of a press release announcing matriarch Brenda Ruppe is now available for solo appearances.
What a shame. In the first place, as genuine and earnest as Brenda Ruppe is, she’s simply not solo material, unless by solo you mean “preaching,” which she may well end up doing before it’s all said and done. Her voice is perfect for ensemble work but is not the stuff of which marquee performers are made, much less a stand-alone solo set. Too much warble and weeping. I’m sure her teary pietism will play well with a certain faithful church crowd, so she shouldn’t have trouble staying busy. But it will be the kind of work that virtually guarantees a slow drift into obsolescence.
But the real loss here is the Ruppes as a group. I can still remember hearing Seasons for the first time. It was an epiphany to me, the kind of sound and skill that epitomized what people mean when they refer to artists as “a singer’s singer.” There are few artists who can sing flatfooted and take the top of your head off with a smile and a pitch-perfectly sung passing tone the way the Ruppes could in their prime.
Meanwhile, I see while I was grieving for the Ruppes’ demise, Lordsong – the group formed when Kim Ruppe Lord left the Ruppes several years ago and started singing with her husband, Michael – have bon-voyaged soprano Amber Balltzglier. The timing makes a curious soul wonder if the remaining Ruppe daughters – Valerie and Heather – aren’t working on something that involves the Lords now that they’re free agents.
Anyway, if LS is scoring as big as it appears they are on tour with Mark Lowry, perhaps this is their chance to rescue the other siblings in a reconstructed and expanded LordSong (maybe, a la TK&McCrae, they’ll rename themselves LordSong, Day, and Ruppe, or somesuch … we can only hope not). I confess I don’t keep up with LS as closely as I did the Ruppes, mainly because their sound has gone a bit stylistically flabby since their partnership with Lowry – part P&W, part CCM, part southern, part pop, but without a defining center to hold it all together or give it a graspable shape. It’s smart bidness, this smorgasbord approach, given the Gaitherized crowds Lowry & Friends play to. But it puts LS in a unique position of not really having a home genre to roll their Lowry success into and not having enough stature or growing room to really establish themselves as a genuine crossover act. Thinking about this from a record company’s perspective, I’m hardpressed to see a label with whom LS would clearly fit at the moment – unless Lowry can convince Bill Gaither to sign them or, just as likely, Lowry sets up his own label.
Now, when is the Ruppes commemorative album coming out?
Update: Comments 1-3 make me out to be both a soothsayer and asleep at the switch. Looks like an expanded LordSong debuted recently at Branson and the Ruppes announced their disbanding a bit ago (told you I’ve been busy lately). The new LS included a husband, Greg Day, whom I hadn’t factored into my theory, but close enough for hand grenades and horseshoes, not to mention your average praise and worship team - let’s all sing harmony in unison.
Later update: Reader TK writes of the new LordSong lineup: “I saw [them] w/Lowry their 3rd night out about a month ago. They did a few songs with all of them–some with cool 5-6 part harmony expanded off their trio arrangement of “Lord of the Dance”. The 3 sisters did a song together. Mark, Michael Lord, Greg Day and Stan Whitmire did a quartet song. And there were other vocal configurations that made it a very interesting concert though nothing quite gelled.”
Even later update: Here’s an interview Chuck Peters did with Brenda Ruppes agent.
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wv wrote:
Actually, that’s already happened: Val and Heather, along with Greg Day, have joined Lordsong. They debuted at Mark Lowry’s Senior Trip in Branson last month.
Posted 07 May 2007 at 10:56 pm ¶
David Bruce Murray wrote:
You’re two months behind on this one, Doug.
The announcement regarding Valerie, Heather, and Greg Day joining LordSong was made at the same time Lordsong announced Amber Franks Balltzglier’s resignation. Chuck Peters reported this on March 8, and I it on March 9. See:
http://www.musicscribe.com/2007/03/another-group-merger.html
(And here I thought you read my blog religiously!)
It looks like the change happened sooner rather than later, though, as the press release initially stated that the Ruppes would continue through August.
I had thought Brenda would most likely retire, given her husband’s health issues last year, but I suppose a solo schedule makes sense if she’s not ready to stay at home.
Posted 07 May 2007 at 11:33 pm ¶
Daniel J. Mount wrote:
Doug, the changes with the Ruppes have been a while in the works. It wasn’t news when Chuck posted it. I’m not quite sure where I read it first, but it may have been somewhere else on Chuck’s website.
Posted 07 May 2007 at 11:47 pm ¶
Alan wrote:
I too will miss the Ruppes. They filled a niche that was unique, and when they were on, which was almost all of the time, they were awesome. I also have no doubt but that Brenda will be as busy as she wants to be. My main thought, though, concerns your remarks about LS. I see your point, looking at them as you have; but to my way of thinking, their amazing versatility is a plus rather than a negative. I agree that it’s hard to pin them to one genre, but chances are if they were so monochromatic, they wouldn’t be on the Mark Lowry tour. His songlist is very eclectic, and so it only stands to reason that he’d carry people with him who can sing whatever they need to at the time. Now as a quintet, I can’t wait to hear what they can do, as much as I liked and admired Amber. I’ll always think of them as one of the classiest and most diversely talented of any groups traveling today. Just my two cents….
Posted 08 May 2007 at 2:49 am ¶
Trent wrote:
The Ruppes were awesome, especially when the whole fam was still together. Their cut of “Angels In The Room” on Gaither’s “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” video was one of the all-time highlights of the series. That one song is worth the price of the video, along with Gold City’s greatest cut ever, “God’s Building A Church” on the same video. Go over to youtube sometime and check them out.
Posted 08 May 2007 at 3:24 am ¶
Practical Fellow wrote:
I’ve been waiting for all three Ruppe girls to sing together. This feels like an early Christmas present! Does anyone know when a record is coming out?
Posted 08 May 2007 at 12:52 pm ¶
RNGfreckles wrote:
I’m pretty sure LordSong has a note on their website regarding Heather, Valerie, and Greg joining them on tour. I figured, just as DBM, that Brenda would want to spend more time with Leo. They will be sorely missed in SG. I don’t know of any other SG female trios that come close to the sound those ladies’ had.
Posted 08 May 2007 at 12:56 pm ¶
thom wrote:
i remember the night they first did “Under His Wings” at NQC - it was a magical few minutes akin to the sound of angels singing!
That entire project was great.
However, the next few projects never quite measured up to the bar they set with that song. Yeh, “Angels in the Room” was good, and probably the best one after that, but I can’t honestly remember a project after that one that created quite the same wonderment.
Posted 08 May 2007 at 4:29 pm ¶
scchick wrote:
Man, I can’t believe I won’t get to hear the Ruppes in concert. I can still remember the first time I ever heard “Under His Wings.” I was in the car and I had to pull over because the harmonies were so beautiful that I was weeping from sheer auditory ecstasy! I mean I really believed at that moment that those voices together in that configuration must be as close as we’ll ever hear to angel choirs on this side of heaven. So I am bummed BIG TIME. They just seemed to have something unique amid all of the other family groups of Southern Gospel. I hope that the new group of husbands and sisters and others does well but ah, to hear “Under His Wings” live…
Posted 09 May 2007 at 1:31 am ¶
Chuck Peters wrote:
So,.. if Daniel hears about it before someone reports it.. it is no longer news?
Posted 09 May 2007 at 11:31 am ¶
Pat Avery wrote:
The Ruppes are special people that live what they sing and know how to sing at the same time. Brenda is a lady in touch with God in a special way. I believe that never in the history of SG has there been a ladies trio that can match The Ruppes. The wonderful thing about all of this is the family loves and supports one another in this time of change. I think it is also refreshing to see a group make a change without making some lame excuse. This is just a natural transition. By the way Leo Ruppe is doing very well and he and Brenda are looking forward to traveling together just the two of them. It is that time in their life.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 8:56 pm ¶
penny yoder wrote:
it’s now September and when I go to Lordsong’s web-site it still has all of the old info from last year! I am a big big Lordsong fan! I’ve been listening to the Ruppes forever, but found I only enjoyed the songs where the the “girls” were the focus. (as much heart as Brenda has, her voice and style just don’t speak to me at all.)I am so excited about the new nmix with the 3 sisters!
It seems like since Lordsong has traveled with Mark Lowrey, they just don’t make any effort to produce new music, or make cd’s! I am ready for a new Cd, and an updated web-site! I like Mark, but let’s hear more of those awesome voices and harmony of Lordsong!!
Posted 20 Sep 2007 at 11:49 am ¶
mary e. wrote:
i disagree with your opinion of mrs. brends voice. there will never be a better song than redemption domplete.
Posted 22 Jun 2008 at 4:31 pm ¶