I must take issue with your disdain for custom recordings, though; I think some of the custom projects coming out today are on the cutting edge of the best stuff in SG right now.

Regarding the impromptu-ness of the Kingsmen, hardly. A group at their level with their success and consistency in creating a rise in the crowd hardly ever does anything on the fly. I believe that Hamill was very calculating in most of that stuff he did. What you heard on a live recording had been rehearsed, no doubt, at Mt. Pisgah Separate Baptist Church or Ringgold High School gymnasium the previous night, and the previous weekend, and the weekend before that.

Someone mentioned the “Shout” CD series. These were the very best compilations of SG music in the 2000s, and it’s a dirty rotten shame Spring Hill quit putting them out. I’m hoping someone else will step up and start giving the fans great double comp discs like the “Shout” CDs. I miss ‘em.

Avery you crack me up. I died laughing reading your version of how the KQ sang that song.

I saw the Kingsmen recently with the new lineup and they sounded great. Brian Hutson is doing a fine job as the emcee and baritone and Harold Reed is hitting some tenor notes that I didn’t realize he could hit. They’re good, but there will never be a better master of the stage than Big Jim Hammil!

The Speer boys, Harold Lane, the lovely alto voice of Jeannie Johnson, and the talented piano and and soprano vocals from Linda Robinson formed one of the finest and most cohesive gospel groups I’ve ever heard. Although this was never one of the most heralded group of Speers, nevertheless, it was one of the finest.

Although I’m a quartet guy at heart, the Speer Family from that era was always one of my favorite groups.

It might have been in part because of the period of time when the children Steve, Marc and [Hottie Alert!] Susan were with the group, although that was relatively short-lived. It may have been the vocal ability of Dianne Mays, whose voice had a wonderful character that lent itself to other genres of song. It wasn’t just doing Gaither songs - they were singing songs by writers not associated with Southern Gospel, like Phil Johnson’s “I Wish You All Could Know Him” and Carolyn Gillman’s “And He’s Ever Interceding”. Whether this mix of inspo and southern gospel worked or not (sales, concert revenue, etc.) in the long run I don’t know, but they were one of the few groups of that era that seemed to reach outside the traditional boundaries of southern gospel to bring something fresh and different to the scene.

Listen to some of the songs from the Heartwarming albums like ‘A Family Affair’, ‘Between The Cross and Heaven’, ‘Cornerstone’, ‘Interceding’ and ‘Something Good Is About To Happen’ and you’ll find a rich variety of styles that were a precursor for what was to follow in the years to follow.

As for the cuts, I think that “Love Will Roll The Clouds Away” came from the Kingsmen’s “Big & Live” album (I know that song was on that album, anyway)…