averyfineline

1. As much I try to talk myself out of it (and despite having been struck by the sincerity of this* when I first read it), I can’t help thinking this is a big part of what’s wrong with gospel music. Sixteen albums from one producer in under 12 weeks! The mind reels, the ears […]

Perhaps the approach of the Crabb Family’s final concert has seeped into my subconscious because even though I haven’t been consciously thinking that much about it lately (in fact, hadn’t thought about it in months until I read this), I woke up this morning with “He Came Looking for Me” running through my head. […]

It’s the weekend and I thought you might like to free associate and ramble a bit. I’m especially curious to hear from anyone who has caught any of the sogospelnews Fan Festival. Isn’t the awards show tonight?

This one promises a prize … of some kind … to the winner.

1. David Bruce Murray has an  insightful post up about our tendency to assume that people who enjoy the same things we do think like we do too. Money quote:

People who align themselves with various groups usually don’t even agree with everything the group as a whole claims to represent. When we all meet […]

For those of you who are looking for a way to save your VHS player from obsolescence, Adam Edwards highlights a trove of gospel on VHS up for auction on eBay.

David Bruce Murray takes me to task for my comment in the Collingsworth review about the family’s “enviably easy blend that only comes from shared genetics.”

I’m rather surprised to see you’ve endorsed this myth.

This very thing was also said about the Martins for years and years, and it’s true they were excellent. However, […]

Via Joel Lindsey, a story that makes you think twice about just how much of a songwriter your favorite singer/songwriter really is. Money quote:

“How can someone look in the mirror and know they didn’t do something and their name is on it? For money? For credit? It’s a lie.”

This being the music […]

Via Martin Roth comes a story from the Scott County (Mississippi) Times about Bobby and Hilda Woods and their, uhm, considerable devotion to Ernie Haase and Signature Sound:

The Woods started their “tour” following Signature Sound [around the country] in 2003 and have not missed a concert since. The Woods have attended over 50 […]

I know the Collingsworth Family has a new album out, but I’ve decided to write about their 2005 recording because … well, for one, that’s what was at the top of the stack and two, because for whatever reasons my review may or may not matter, timeliness really isn’t of them.
The Collingsworth Family
God is […]

No, that’s not my sister-in-law’s cousin who lives in Paducah. It’s 1/3 of what Three Bridges used to be until … well … whatever. He’s going solo. And apparently decided, what better way to launch a solo career than to change his name. So now he’s Mitchel Jon.

I emailed a friend about this […]

So way back when, when I was futzing around endlessly with setting up the site, and then again when I was working to migrate the original hand-rolled avfl to wordpress, I remember crossing a few different discussions of how to get your website’s icon to appear in the URL bar at the top of the […]

Allison Lynn has just finished up writing about her week at this year’s SB School of Music. Among other things, it appears SB has added radio promotion to its electives. Interesting. I wonder if anyone is telling the SB students how broken sg radio is? Anyway, since we last left her, Lynn and her husband […]

I’m hoping by linking to this amgs discussion about USB turntables that will burn or record to digital, I’ll get someone who’s actually used one to weigh in, because (like everyone else over there) I’d love to have an easy way get decent quality digital surrogates of my LPs. A while back a friend of […]

From the ever eloquent CVH:
When politics, right, left or centrist, starts to permeate art of any form, it’s time to read, listen or look at something else. It’s hard enough (as numerous discussions on this blog indicate) to encourage good art in a narcissistic, culturally-entrenched, economically-challenged genre of music like southern gospel. Subverting […]

I was a bit rushed with work when I originally posted the query below, so I should probably say by way of full disclosure now that I have time: I really am no big fan of the politicized subgenre of gospel tunes of which “We’ve Got to Get America Back to God” is a representative […]

It appears I failed to burn a copy of the Kelly Thompson Nelon and The Nelons’ disc that included “We’ve Got To Get America Back to God” to my iPod before I packed away the cd and buried it under a mountain of other really heavy boxes. Anyone have the song handy and care to […]

Was Canaan really relaunched to imprint a bunch of compilations and distribute The Ride? I’m prone to be somewhat circumspect about an unposted interview with a sales rep, but it does make a person wonder. Why isn’t Canaan aggressively courting artists like, say, Jason Crabb or Anthony Facello and his new group (or paying a […]

Citing the spate of dissolutions, retirements, and other destabilizing changes over the summer, a reader writes to ask: “Will there be more groups disbanding and is there a cleansing of groups going on in the industry because of the financial climate of sg?”

Answer: I don’t know and I doubt it. The Three Bridges and […]

Dottie Rambo is now hawking her old clothes (i.e. “retired beaded dress”) in a contest built around the sale of her new book, Driving Ms. Dottie (hat tip, CVH). I typically get in a great deal of trouble for criticizing Rambo’s penchant for Do-Anything publicity stunts because of Rambo’s untouchable status as a gospel songwriter. […]