Rogers Exits Cross 4 Crowns, Replaced By Felts

In a move that is sure to stoke the rumors of the demise of Monument Quartet, Dallas Rogers has departed Cross 4 Crowns and is being replaced by Matt Felts, formerly of Monument.  Cross 4 Crowns has really genereated some nice inertia in the industry as of late, and their latest CD with Rogers at tenor garnered some pretty high praise.  Hopefully they will be able to keep the momentum going even with the personnel change.  Best wishes to all involved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful readers, you know who you are.  I’m very thankful for another year with all of you, hope you’ve enjoyed the ride as much as I have.  Take the time this year and thank the Father for all the blessings you can count.  I’m thankful for my family, my home, my job (especially in this economy!), and most of all for Christ and the salvation he brings.  Consider this a place to talk amongst yourselves.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Happy Birthday Lily Weatherford

A little birdie told me that Ms. Lily Weatherford is celebrating her 80th birthday today.  Happy birthday to one of the classiest ladies in SG music, and one of the best altos to grace a stage.  She is truly a living legend in Southern Gospel music.  (hat tip, DJM)

Digital Christmas Music From Crossroads

Crossroads Music has a new digital only release called A Crossroads Family Christmas.  It’s actually a two volume set that is available.  This quote about the songs on the project is a little interesting:

These are Christmas favorites taken from several artist Christmas projects and radio singles and put into 2 volumes. Also featured is a great new version of Jingle Bells done by the Crist Family.

If some of these songs were simply radio singles recorded for Christmas time, they may not be commercially available elsewhere, which puts an interesting twist on this project.  It appears that Crossroads and Canaan are going to lead the rest of the SG industry kicking and screaming into the digital age.

Canaan’s CD Sampler

I’ve been noticing on both this blog and on Daniel Mount’s blog that there have been reports of problems with downloading the Canaan sampler.  Daniel emailed Canaan about it, and the result is here.  For the record, I was able to successfully download the sampler CD, but I only requested the sampler, not the subscription to their email list, as I have been subscribed to it for quite a while now.  I think that is where the confusion came in, when people would sign up for both.  I also agree with Daniel, it’s well worth the effort for the download.

One interesting thing I noticed is that there is a cut of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by the Cathedrals.  It was recorded by the Kirk Talley version of the Cats, and is almost note for note the same arrangement as the one on the Funderburk era A Cathedral Christmas, Acappella.  A major difference is that this version has instrumental accompaniment.  It’s a great listen, I’d never heard or known of this version of the song by this version of the Cats.

A Couple Of Interesting News Items

First, Canaan is offering a free sampler download.  Head over to their website and you will find a place to enter the code “FREEGIFT” to get the download.

Secondly, enLighten is rebroadcasting the SN fan awards a couple of times over the next few days.  The first will be Monday night at 8PM EST.  There will be an encore presentation on Thanksgiving Day at 6PM EST.  I’m sure this is a way to “break in” the new listeners on SIrius and Dish, and is a very good idea.

The World’s Youngest Singing News Reader

OK, I’ve so far refrained from posting family stuff, but this was too cute and too priceless not to share.  We were listening to enLighten last night, and I went and grabbed my November SN to look up something when my daughter, Erica (who will be 2 in February) did this.  Christy ran and grabbed my camera and snapped these shots.

Then she heard a song she liked…”Oh My Lord, What A Time” by the GVB and did her best David Phelps impression on his sustained note on the bridge.

See honey, I told you she was going to be a Daddy’s girl!

Rare Dove Brothers Recording Available

According to their latest newsletter, the Dove Brothers have found a very small quantity of the CD “You Can’t Stop God From Blessing Me” with the original lineup of Rulapaugh, Dove, Dove, and Porter.  This CD was actually released with Jerry Martin replacing John Rulapaugh’s tenor vocals, so this offer is interesting in two ways: 1) that the original lineup recording actually did exist, and 2) that it is being released now.  Again, the newsletter said there were only 23 copies, so if you want a copy, you’d better get it from their store soon!

Christmas Music On The Radio

We have a station here in Memphis that plays continuous Christmas music during the Christmas season.  They started their all Christmas music format last week.  Really?  A little early don’t you think?  I love Christmas music too, but a month and a half worth will get old.  Granted they play everything from Clay Aiken to Alabama to Andy Williams to The Beach Boys and everything in between, but still.  Do any of you readers have radio stations that do the same thing (an all Christmas music format)?  Have they started it yet?

Thoughts On GVB Reunion Clip

Several bloggers have posted their thoughts on the GVB Reunion clip.  I fall more into DBM’s camp than AVFL’s.  Yeah, English seemed to struggle with the high notes, and yeah Lowry was a bit over the top (when isn’t he??), but it’s still very much enjoyable.  I totally disagree with AVFL on Hampton, I thought he did a fine job filling in the tenor part, and tried to put his own spin on his spotlight chorus, instead of just blandly filling in the part.  To me, it looks like these guys are really enjoying themselves, and I’m looking forward to the release of the DVDs.