averyfineline

So the NQC post-mortems have rolled in, including reactions to the announcement of NQC’s 2014 move to Pigeon Forge, and the responses range from mixed to meh, it would seem.
As for this year’s convention, comments here reinforce what folks on the ground and near to the heart of the NQC mothership have indicated to me: that […]

NQC 2012 kicks off this weekend and this will I think be only the second time in 20 years that I won’t be attending. This year, the externalities of real world obligations have come to encroach so mightily as to make a trip to Louisville  even impossibler than it normally is in the middle of a semester.
But […]

Or, goodbye to all that. Ok, not entirely. I will probably be back next year, but tonight, between a developing head cold and a general case of the musical malaise, I stayed “home” in Avery’s Undisclosed Location. Feel free to fill in the blanks here, to the extent that they are fillable. More conclusionary thoughts […]

You’re on your own tonight folks. Except for Chris Allman and a few bars from Wes Hampton, there wasn’t anything much for me to write home or blog about. If the morning brings new mercies or insights, I shall declare them then.*
*In the light of a new day, the only amplification I might add is […]

Tonight I made an executive decision to cut out early and get some rest. Watch this space for more tomorrow a.m. on what I heard this evening. In the meantime, feel free to supply your own thoughts.
Update: Last night it seemed to me the less said about Thursday’s lineup and experience the better, and sleep […]

Regarding the evergreen gripes about the NQC sound from the main stage, a commenter makes this salient point in reply to my remark last night about deviating presets and wild swings in sound quality from one group to the next:
 Presets on the console are of no use when the group sound man tweaks and […]

Well nigh onto two decades now, I’ve been making this journey to Louisville, and for the last seven years, I’ve been copiously documenting the full immersion experience of listening and processing and posting online for the long three-day weekend (Thursday-Saturday) that my schedule typically allows. Regular readers will have doubtless become accustomed to the tiered […]

I refer of course to the delectable ice cream at Freedom Hall. The Averyfineline bus rolled into town just a few minutes ago after a raucous hours singalong roadtrip (h/t, JC). The interns are arranging the blogging suite as I type, then it’s off to Freedom Hall.
This is the first year I’ve made a Wednesday […]

A week and counting to NQC!
Several of you are itching to talk about personnel changes in the context of NQC, so here is your chance. And of course you can talk about other things, too (person trying to post about Jonathan Pierce’s decorating stint on HGTV, here is your chance!).
Have the floor.

So John Ashcroft, former governor of and senator from Missouri, former Attorney General, as well as that great lover of southern gospel who wrote  “Let the Mighty Eagle Soar” and was part of the Singing Senators, will be this year’s keynote speaker at NQC. Last year, you will recall, Sarah Palin gave the keynote.
Evidently, the […]

One of my favorite moments at NQC 10 (h/t, KC):

Now if someone can just find a clip of Jason Crabb at NQC on Thursday night …

So what are the takeaways from my experience this year at NQC? I don’t have any grand narrative or essayistic reflection to give you. Just some thoughts that have surfaced after a day or so of sleep, reflection, and return to the ordinary world of everyday life.
The absence of the Fan Awards left NQC without […]

The spirit mostly seemed to keep its own counsel apart from me on this final night of NQC 10, save for some lovely moments in Stan Whitmire’s accompaniment of Chris Allman on “Blessed Assurance.” Tonight was a marked improvement over last night, but that only meant that things were mostly serviceable and ordinary, though I […]

I may or may not decide to weigh in at my usual length tonight. I’m going to let the spirit move. In the meantime, feel free to talk amongst yourselves about what you’re hearing, whether in the hall or from afar.

I took no notebook and made sure MNP insisted I surrender the extra ink pen I keep in my pocket in case I tried to jot notes on my hand (h/t, Sarah Palin) and just sat and listened. Which is just as well. The event wasn’t about music as much as memories and reunions, a […]

There are basically two types of NQC fans: the True Believers, a varietal of the Joyful Noisers, for whom the music matters to the degree that it affirms bedrock beliefs about gospel music’s religious superiority and cultural uniqueness (and for whom technical or artistic proficiency matters less than celebrating the tried and true), and what […]

From one of our most esteemed Canadian readers, NG, offers a historical perspective on the strange segues between acts that I commented on last night:
Enjoyed your report on Thursday’s doings.  I’m wondering if these time wasters between acts is to reduce the amount of competition between groups.  In the 70s, groups came on one after […]

Reader MM locates a handheld video of Josh Cobb and Gold City reprising Cobb’s signature tune during his debut with L5 ten years ago:

Via MM, a few thoughts
1. Daniel Riley asked Scott Fowler if they could sing this song.  Good thing he said yes or the brand new track and stacked vocals would have been […]

Lots of twitter activity yesterday (#NQC) leading up to the Sarah Palin event … and mostly silence after the fact. The NQC finally issued a press release this afternoon that celebrated her inspirational remarks, including the influence that Gaither music had on her.
Sue Smith, the songwriter, found her reflections on faith to seem sincere, but […]

Good morning, gospel music fans. By now, most of you surely know this drill. I listen and write, you read and tell me how dumb/wrong/stupid/sinful/add-your-own-complaint I am. So there’s no need to make the preamble all that preambly, except to say how great it is to have MNP back with me this year. I’ve already […]

Day 3.
The mono thing seems to be fixed with the streaming feed, and the sound seems at the very least to suck less than in year’s past, perhaps even improving a bit.
As for the instrument pit (the doughnut hole where live musicians have been positioned on the mainstage), it doesn’t seem to be a hit. […]

So the house sound may (may) be improved this year? And the subscription-only streaming feed is mono. Win some and lose some, I guess.
Meanwhile, whilst you wait for our intrepid correspondents from the field to report in, go over and check out David Bruce Murray some other NQC related items.

The other day James Fallows noted that “Usually you regret the harsh things you say more than the harsh things you decide not to say. At least, that’s how it usually turns out for me.” And that’s true for me too.
But, also like Fallows, it’s my experience that sometimes there are times when you […]

And so it begins again.
I’ll be arriving in Louisville in time for Thursday night’s concerts (sorry, Sarah!) but will be posting open threads daily here in the meantime for NQC related reports, comments, feedback and general chattery. Who lights up the stage? Who’s got a new toupee? Where are the longest lines in the Exhibit […]

I don’t want to alarm anyone accustomed to the generally deplorable state of southern gospel online, but the National Quartet Convention has redesigned its website. And it is now abnormally attractive, uncharacteristically intuitive (though beware of getting rabbit holed in the PRODUCT pages, which launch as a separate site with a completely new home base), […]