Regarding, “Don’t Let The Sandals Fool Ya”…I think it’s a very cool song and I turn up the volume every time it comes on.

Dianne, that was a great collaboration on “What Salvation’s Done For me”. Wonderful song. Frankly, no one in SG is cranking out more solid material than you are right now. I hope you win the songwriter award at NQC this year. You deserve it.

Regarding Avery’s post, I can tell you that a lot of groups like the fact that using their own material means not having to pay out royalties. They like it that they have fresh songs no one has heartd AND that they aren’t having to pay 9.1 cents per unit to a publisher/songwriter.

And then there are those (many) groups who won’t pay any royalties at all….don’t get me started….It’s theft.

There’s probably just as much sgm that could be placed in the same category, if we just look for it.

We have a lot of hymns in our hymnals (remember those antiques?) that are just as repetitious, or have irregular meter and/or phrasing, too. So, it’s nothing new, and not exclusive to CCM/P&W.

Frankly, I grow weary of this debate over which is better, SGM or CCM. Either can be done well or not-so-well. And I think we’ve discussed that fact on the SGM side here.

Even as prolific as B&G are/were, they’ve almost always included songs from other writers on their recordings. They seemed to understand that they weren’t the only ones who could craft a good song, and say what they wanted to say.

Libbi Stuffle is a prime example of non-writers who know how to “sell” a song. Ben Speer and many others have have been successful at that for a long time. While God doesn’t give all songwriters great voices, he also doesn’t give all great singers the songwriting abilities.

And while I agree that, in most cases, no one can FEEL the song the way the writer can, there are a lot of singers who’ve LIVED those words other people have crafted, and therefore may be able to feel (and therefor “sell”) the song at least as well, if not better.

(1) I’d be curious to know how many average southern gospel fans actually know when a song is being sung by the actual writer. I’m guessing most of the time only sg wonks know who actually wrote a particular song–with only a few exceptions, such as the small handful of well-known songwriters that have been mentioned. And, for the purposes of this question, does it count when the Crabb kids sing songs written by Papa Crabb? Does it count when Gerald Wolfe sings Rodney’s songs? Did it count when it was Kenny Hinson singing Ronny’s songs?

(2) I’m not convinced that the term “singer-songwriter” is really as applicable to southern gospel in any sense comparable to what it generally means in other genres–where it’s usually a soloist doing (or “interpreting”) her/his own songs, and often accompanying herself/himself with live instruments.

(3) The great hymn tradition of the Church provides a wide variety of songs that give testimony to various sorts of religious experiences, but it doesn’t seem that it hinders either us corporately or soloist/ensemble performers from given full emotional expression to the contents while singing them–even though clearly we aren’t Charles Wesley or Isaac Watts or Fanny Crosby or Bill Gaither.

I’m sure that’s part of the reason so many Daywind artists use songs from Daywind’s publishing companies….

Recently, Rodney has sent one of his best songs to another artist — “I’ll Do the Miracle” that Ivan Parker recorded.

(Counterpoint: I do admit that “Don’t Let the Sandals Fool Ya, He’s heaven’s hallelujah” is one of the most irritating rhyme choices ever made, but that’s the effort to be clever gone awry. He dumped that one on the Triumphant Quartet, and I cringe every time it’s on the radio.)

Still, I would have to say that “It Pays to Pray” and “You Were Faithful Yesterday” off their latest CD are very good songs.

There are singers who can take a song and sing it and who HAVE lived the lyrics even if they didn’t write them. Face it, we humans have a lot of common experiences in life. If a song deals with an experience that is rare, I suspect the song won’t reach many people. Tell me that when Michael English sang Lord, Feed Your Children on the video nearly a decade ago, he hadn’t lived the words “barren and dry.” Tell me that when he sings about “trading his shackles for a glorious song I’m free praise the Lord free at last” that he didn’t identify and hadn’t lived those lyrics.

Duane Allen, lead singer of the Oak Ridge Boys says he has to feel a song to sing it. Sometimes he has said the lyrics don’t reflect his life, but he has to find common ground with it to sing it. In the song Jonah, Job and Moses, he never literally “shook his fist at Jesus”, but he could find common ground with the song.

On the other side, some writers simply write. They get or are given an idea, and write that theme. It doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t believe the lyrics, but a writer writes. They get inspiration or an idea and they write.

As far as winners for songwriting awards, no offense to people, but often it is just who the voters know. Unfortunately many know the artists and not the writers’ names. Now, if the song itself is mentioned it is more likely an accurate reflection, but even then a songwriter’s award should be based on more than a current song. So, someone could write an excellent song and that be it whereas the Bill and Gloria Gaither, Dottie Rambo , Dianne Wilkinson, Sue Smith, Joel Lindsey’s etc. have several. I know I am forgetting many and will regret it, but I wanted to mention a few.