The day in numbers

Then there were two: Crossway is now a duet? Alrighty then. At the rate they’re shedding personnel, this group (that showed great promise not so long ago as a quartet) is one departure away from a solo career.
For whatever reasons, duets have never really worked in sg (or in many other genres for that matter). […]

Open thread

I’ll be an absentee landlord for the next several days, what with the fall term starting soon and a hurricane coming. It’d be super if the homosexual panic that erupted from a post about paying royalties didn’t spread to this thread.
There’s plenty of other stuff to talk about: “Get Away Jordan” went gold. Anthony Burger […]

Money Quote of the day

From reader dan:
[P]ublishing royalties, no matter how small should be paid if the product is sold. Nickels and dimes pay bills the same as paper money!

Question of the day

From longtime friend of avery, RK:
I am curious about the status of the recording rights of this [Rambo] “homegoing” celebration. Were the artists aware that their performances would be commercially marketed/sold? If so, did they sign away the recording rights or are they being paid a royalty? And were they paid an appearance fee to […]

Sincerest form of flattery

Responding to a post where I linked to some video series that are pretty clearly attempts to export the Homecoming framework to other areas of pop culture, reader dan writes:

you mention the other versions of homecomings as knock offs, as if the Gaither Homecoming is an entirely original idea; isn’t the Gaither […]

Greater Vision update

Did I miss all those promised concert reports on the big “Farewell Jason, we’ll miss you but thank God the new guy’s last name is easier for avery to spell” concert a week or so ago? Feel free to jog my memory or post your thoughts if you were there or know of published accounts […]

Your cries have awoken the blogger

In the past few months, I’ve noticed that every time the topic turns to Mike and Kelly Bowling’s big new song, “Your Cries Have Awoken the Master,” people get prickly. When I was in Nashville in April, I was with a group of sg types and they went at it for a good while about […]

Lame hooks

They’re not only in sg, of course: “He’s a good ole boy, bad ole boyfriend,” drawls the sounds-like-every-other-mainstream country male vocalist on the radio at the cafe where I’m working this a.m.

The Rediscoveries; Or, How Dean Hopper Found His Voice

Consider the difference between this:

And this:

I’m actually not sure I prefer the big symphonic too-muchness of the latter version (though that wood-wind descant in the first verse is pretty neat and the brass section is a classy touch), but I don’t think anyone can listen to that earlier clip and think that the Hoppers would […]

Mild dissent of the day

After reading my post on the death of Christian music, Glenn demurs:
I think that you try to make much more out of Southern Gospel music than it really is. You only attend the concerts you feel are relevant, the NQC or Mark Lowry, etc. However, there are many, many people who attend the […]