averyfineline

Prospect Magazine catches up with the Freedom Cruise, an evangelical Republican political rally at sea, set to the sound of southern gospel:
The irony of a Christian gospel gathering on a steroidal pleasure boat is not lost on the Freedom Cruisers (for one thing, Southern Baptists don’t drink). While they sit in this darkened theatre, their […]

Several readers have been emailing me asking a)have I seen the full page Roy-Moore-for-Alabama-Governor ad in the SN that includes an endorsement from Gold City’s’ Daniel Riley (Nov. 2009) and b)what do I think of it?
In that order then: Yes, and Meh.
Southern gospel is a deeply politicized subculture, both in terms of its own internal […]

From the left: Ralph Stanley endorses Barack Obama. I’m not kidding. One more way bluegrass is not like southern gospel (h/t, M). And, uhm, can we trade Rick Hendrix for Ralph, please? Can someone make that happen? 
From the right: Gerald Wolfe’s recent e-letter urging people to remember that Barack Obama supports abortion seems to […]

Speaking of politics, Chuck Peters reports that Rick Hendrix, the music promoter everyone loves to hate, is thinking about running for Congress in North Carolina. Judging by his comments to Peters, I think it’s safe to say Hendrix will be running in the great southern neo-Dixiecrat tradition:
As a Democrat, I have strong beliefs against abortion, […]

So we all know that Scott Fowler took a ride on the plane of the now defunct Huckabee campaign and schmoozed with the Huck himself back during the Iowa swoon for the other man from Hope. No shocker there. Fowler’s a long time conservative political junkie (and, one assumes, a generous enough contributor to get […]

From the ever eloquent CVH:
When politics, right, left or centrist, starts to permeate art of any form, it’s time to read, listen or look at something else. It’s hard enough (as numerous discussions on this blog indicate) to encourage good art in a narcissistic, culturally-entrenched, economically-challenged genre of music like southern gospel. Subverting […]

I was a bit rushed with work when I originally posted the query below, so I should probably say by way of full disclosure now that I have time: I really am no big fan of the politicized subgenre of gospel tunes of which “We’ve Got to Get America Back to God” is a representative […]

Reader Charles Brady chimes in with a note about politics and the law that’s worth promoting to the main page.
Many of the artist in southern gospel have their ministries set up as 501(c)(3). I think if the politics continue as they have in the past it will only be a matter of “when” and not […]

They don’t mix (shhh don’t tell Martin Cook and Jonathan Wilburn). More at sogospellovers. That clunky phrase “potential listeners” is unfortunate (if they’re gonna be alienated – or not – by politics, they have to be real listeners first), but the poll perhaps confirms what many of us have known for a long time.

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I don’t think I’ve ever done so little to start so much of a conversation, and I’ve a good mind to just stay out of it, but of course I won’t. And before going in any further, I want to say (again) how delightful it’s been to be the host of such […]