averyfineline

I had to go way up into the hills of middle Tennessee, far beyond the reach of my cell phone’s signal, and use both new AND old Highway 53, but tonight dear readers, I can honestly report that I found the toughest gospel music crowd I have ever experienced. Well, technically, the McKameys experienced the […]

Some items to round up from the past few days:

The Lewis Family is retiring, though I gather Little Roy will continue doing projects and dates with Lizzy Long.

Mike Huckabee played bass for Legacy 5 recently while they sang “I’ll Fly Away.” Huckabee/Fowler 2012? I was about to do a little heheh e-laugh, but Post-Palin, anything’s […]

I’ve been driving a rental car the last few days, and it come with Sirius satellite radio. So I’ve been listening to enLighten a lot, though not exclusively. I gather they don’t really have a very historically deep collection - at least that’s the most generous way I can explain why they tend to play […]

Avery is now on FB. It’s taken long enough, God knows. But it makes obvious sense. Eventually, I’ll figure out how to sync WP blog posts with FB and stuff like that. But for now, feel free to “friend” me, if you haven’t already (somehow a handful of people already had requests in for avfl […]

Blogging will continue to be somewhat sporadic for the next few weeks, so round-ups and updates will have to suffice for the most part.

As you’ve probably seen by now, Eva Mae LeFevre has died. Tributes and notices here and here. And here’s a clip of her and the LeFevres in their prime. In addition to […]

This just in:  Kyle is still obsessed with the Oaks.

Marsh Hall has, as I’m sure you’ve seen by now, signed a solo deal with Daywind. Kyle wants to know why he didn’t sign with the Spring Hill, given Gaither’s involvement there, and there are some possible answers kicked around in the comments to Kyle’s post. […]

A while back I tried to provide a survey of key shifts in the structure of the southern gospel music industry that appear to creating an opening - whether it’s an an opportunity or an abyss remains to be seen. In this post, I want to think through some of implications of those shifts on […]

A reader writes:
Greater Vision - aka Gerald Wolfe - is very smart. They cover up their vocal inadequacies with stacks and orchestrations. If they’re not singing with stacks and orchestration, then they key it down and try to let the nostalgic nature of the “good ole hymns” keep them in the fans’ favor. Southern Gospel […]

More trouble for Bill Traylor and Homeland. (h/t, DP).

I meant to mention this yesterday: Crossroads has launched a digital downloads for radio singles. This in itself isn’t entirely new, but DBM has the details of why this particular development is worth noticing. I’ll say more about this sort of thing when I finally get around […]

Another note on V.O. Stamps and the early days of sg. A lot of folks like to point to the rise of southern gospel as a golden age of religious and cultural stalwarts holding down the fort of tradition and convention as they’re understood today. Because contemporary southern gospel represents culturally conservative worldviews and habits […]

Is Kirksey going to preach on gluttony next?  How many more advertisers would he alienate?  Maybe after that he could go to preaching on stealing, and alienate recording studio owners who pretend to be record labels.   Then adultery, using the Lord’s Name in vain, lying, et al.  Who’s going to be left to buy ads?  […]

Now that grades are in and the summer has arrived for me, I’ve been spending a lot of time researching and reading about the early origins of white gospel music – mostly filling in gaps in my knowledge and reading into adjacent contexts and traditions. Yesterday I was reading about singing schools and conventions and […]

Some items that don’t warrant a post of their own but are worth getting out there until we return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

The Steve Ladd thread has stayed remarkably on target for a post with comments running  up over a hundred. Some interesting ideas have cropped up along the way, including the suggestion that […]

Via regular reader NG, four reasons why there are so many Christian contestants on American Idol.

Jacob [Kitson] should not have been nominated [for SN fan awards in the tenor category]. If you sing for Greater Vision you win awards. Had he joined the day the ballots went out, he still would have been nominated. Steve is one of the best to come along in many years. Jacob is a good […]