Southern Gospel Concerts

On Sept. 19, 2008, Brian Free, Garry Jones, and Ivan Parker got together in Bessemer, Alabama to sing and reminisce - and they let an auditorium full of people join them!  This is the second time these gentlemen have reunited for a “Golden Moments” concert to recall their time spent together in the Gold City Quartet.  Each man (or group, in the case of Brian Free and Assurance) performed a short set of songs in the first half of the program and the second half was devoted to some very golden moments. 

Here’s the song list for the first part of the program:

Garry Jones played:

• I’m Getting Ready to Leave This World
• How Majestic Is Your Name
• Blessed Assurance (ala Andre Crouch)
• Patriotic Medley

Brian Free and Assurance sang:

• Keep Looking Up
• Deep, Deep Sea
• What a Beautiful Day (For the Lord to Come Again)
• Praying Man

Ivan sang:

• Hit the Ground Running
• Best Hallelujah in the House
• I’ll Do the Miracle
• I Choose

Then came the really fun stuff!  This year the guys organized their fun around the Pillars of Faith video that they were all a part of.   The presentation started with a big screen opening shot of that video with Mike LeFevre introducing Gold City and their siging of an a capella version of ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.  Toward the end of the song, Ivan, Garry and Brian walked onto the stage and gathered around a single microphone and took over singing the rest of the song!  WOW - what a way to start things off!   They continued by singing and sharing funny stories about each other and just being themselves.  I’ll just say that it was a joy to watch.  Here’s what else they sang (or showed on video):

• Shouting Ground
• I Think I’ll Read It Again
• There Rose a Lamb
• I Want to Walk Every Day With My Lord (from their appearance on Hee Haw!)
• Moving Up To Glory Land
• The Lighthouse
• I Will Serve Him
• Beulah Land
• The Only Word for Grace is Amazing
• John Saw
• and the closing — of course it was Midnight Cry!

Here’s just a little taste of the Golden Moments. 

According to promoter Norm Basden, we can look forward to another Golden Moments concert next year in the August/September time frame.  And Norm is hoping to have a few more tricks up his sleeve for that concert that will make it even more special. 

Oh how I wish that I lived down south!!!!!!!! Someone tell the promoter to do this event in Ohio sometime. And to get Tim Riley in on it. Oh my…………what a concert that must have been! I’d rather be at one of these concerts than just about any other Southern Gospel event.
I’m excited just thinking about this.
I’m one beleives that Gold City from the 1980’s and into the early 1990’s is amongst the best Southern Gospel has ever had. This was a very wise decision to start promoting events of this nature.