averyfineline

That was one commenter’s assessment of NPR’s piece on the bass singer Roger Menees’s world record for singing the lowest note. The print story is pretty much phoned-in boilerplate (you can listen to the on-air interview here), but the comments are definitely entertaining:
Woah. This subwoofer on the multimedia computer didn’t even pick the lowest frequency […]

Please note, if you’re trying to perpetuate this deadend debate about homosexuality - the same one we’ve had around here schmillions of time -  your comments probably aren’t getting approved. That’s by design.
In threads where I’ve started a conversation about sexuality, I usually let the discussion go where it will so long as it remains largely civil. […]

In a discussion about southern gospel bass singers, a reader takes issue with the cult of J.D. Sumner:
JD Sumner was a castastrophe, both spiritually and musically.
Spiritually, dude had no fruit, the most glaring example being his atrocious Singing News columns. And spare me the whole “he had fruit in his personal life” nonsense. That argument […]

I gather from all the commenters wanting to hijack threads with off-topic comments lately that it’s time for an open thread. So here we go.

It’s hard for me to tell if Amber Nelon Thompson is going to Hollywood for American Idol or not (I mean, I wasn’t aware there was even a new season of […]

Longtime readers will recall my NQC pal (originally acronymed MNP … yeah yeah … so I’m not that creative). She wasn’t able to join me in Louisville last year (quelle tragique!) but we’re back on for this year and have been making plans via email. From our latest back and forth comes this data point […]

In response my thoughts on Triumphant’s ensemble sound, a reader writes:

I wonder if Gene MacDonald had been with Triumphant QT, if the appraisal of his performance would have been the same as Eric’s? Is it really the singer, or the group you don’t like.

A fair question, I think, even if I take exception with […]

Via longtime reader NG, a blog where you can download old music that, as the blog’s title puts it, you possibly won’t hear anywhere else. The site includes lots of gospel but not usually southern, according to NG. The downloads are evidently only available for a limited time. NG particularly recommends the downloadable package devoted […]

Reader Bryce on Triumphant:
Some of [Sutton’s] placement here sounds as though it’s focused directly behind his tonsils, which may be his trademark. Inman still has the vibrato that made it possible for Won By One to sing in multiple keys at once.
Ouch.
But there’s more to this than snark, I think. At least when I read […]

Via Adam Edwards, a clip of Triumphant covering “Whiter than Snow.” Take a look and listen:

Some thoughts in no particular order.
1. David Sutton, I see from a recent press release, just celebrated 20 years in gospel music. The version of the release I read in the ShowPrep was pretty boilerplate stuff, listing every group Sutton […]

Reader Jim identifies some song types that there might yet be room for in the song mix of your garden variety sg album:
Most SG artists feel they have to include two blood songs, one every knee shall bow song, a couple of heaven songs and a slap in the face song to other religions, then a patriotic […]