Southern Gospel Concerts

On Sunday (August 10), I took the chance to see the Ball Brothers at Calvary Baptist Church in Ashland, Ohio. It was an annual event; though not all-day, it was otherwise my first time to be at an old-fashioned all-day-sing and dinner-on-the-ground.

The Ball Brothers are actual brothers; Andrew Ball sings tenor, Daniel Ball sings lead, Stephen Ball sings baritone, and Josh Ball, though not a bass in voice quality, sings what I call “choir bass” (think Bill Gaither, Claude Hopper). Their blend and harmonies are very tight, tight enough to make their sound unique among male quartets. In professional Southern Gospel circles, most family groups where all the members are related have at least one female vocalist; though Southern Gospel fans have become accustomed to tight family blends in mixed trios or quartets, this group is unique among male quartets.

They sang a mixture of new (orchestrated), acapella, and classic piano-and-bass-guitar convention songs. They did not have live accompaniment; however, they did have a sound man, Josh Gibson, Daniel Ball’s brother-in-law.

• My Lord and I
• He’s a Personal Savior
• I’m Already Living Forever
• There is a Mountain - A highlight of the set, even though it was a little odd to hear five voices. In the studio version (found on Vocalized) the group had a guest bass vocal from Daren Rust; that part was played.
• Walkin’ in Jerusalem
• Alright

During intermission, a church quartet and mixed trio each sang several songs. The church quartet, led by the pastor singing lead, sang “Damascus Road,” “I Rest My Case at the Cross,” “Glory Road,” and “Even Thomas Couldn’t Doubt It.” The mixed trio sang “I’m Happy With You, Lord,” “God is a Good God,” and “In My Robe of White.” The last song, “In My Robe of White,” was written by Genice Spencer Ingold, who was a member of the trio.

• I Wonder
• Somebody Loves Me
• Blessing Burden Bearing God
• A Comfort to Know - This featured Josh Ball on a solo.
• Promises One By One - This acapella song was fully acapella, with no drum track.
• Mercy Said No - This featured Andrew. I originally heard the song as recorded by Greg Long on CCM radio; I consider the Ball Brothers’ rendition to be superior. The song has finally found the genre for which it was written (perhaps unbeknownst to the author).

I had the time to talk with members of the group for a little while about some of their upcoming plans. Be watching for big things from the group.

On August 2, I had the chance to catch a set by the Dan Keeton Quartet at an outdoor sing north of Mansfield, Ohio. It was a fairly short set; they only sang eight songs.

• Saved to the Uttermost (featuring Dan and Nancy Keeton)
• Heroes of the Faith (featuring Dan)
• Movin’ Up to Gloryland
• Oh, What a Savior (featuring Dan)
• I’m Not Perfect, Just Forgiven (featuring Dan) - a Hemphills song
• I Must Be Getting Closer to the Cross (featuring Nancy) - a Hinsons song
• Saints Will Rise
• I Feel So Good About It (featuring Dan) - a Downings song

Perhaps partly because of the lineup change, the group stayed in mostly familiar territory musically, both as to who was featured (most of the songs featured Dan) and as to song selection (most of the songs were familiar classics, though the group did one original song and two relatively forgotten songs from the Hinsons and Downings repertoire.

“Saints Will Rise” was the high point of the set; the group ended with a sky-high three chords and a cloud of dust ending and got a response that would have made an encore fitting if they had had a track ready.

The group is in transition, so this brief set was probably not that great of a snapshot on which to rate them. But it did show their potential.

Yesterday, my family and I went out to Harrod, OH to see the Blackwood Brothers in concert. The Blackwood Brothers Quartet is run by Jimmy Blackwood, son of James Blackwood. Jimmy himself sang lead for the Blackwood Brothers for some time in the ’70s before leaving the road; several years ago, he brought the name back.

The Blackwood Brothers Quartet is one of the few groups on the road today to do their entire program with two old-fashioned microphones. Much of their program is done with light soundtracks (piano and perhaps some bass guitar), but for some of the program their baritone/pianist, Brad White, moves over to the piano (where a third old-fashioned microphone is set up) and accompanies the group live.

First set:

• How About Your Heart (featuring lead singer Jimmy Blackwood)
• The Man Upstairs
• The Old Country Church (with encore)
• Group Intros
• Jesus is Coming Soon (featuring Jimmy)
• I’m Feelin’ Fine (featuring a piano interlude by baritone/pianist Brad White)
• This Old House (featuring bass Randy Byrd)
• The Lighthouse (featuring tenor Wayne Little)
• Since Jesus Came Into My Heart (Brad White piano solo)
• How Great Thou Art (Randy, Jimmy)

During intermission, Brad White played a second piano solo, “Tis So Sweet.”

Second set:

• Jesus is a Waymaker (Jimmy)
• He Bought My Soul
• I Get Happy (Randy)
• I’ll Fly Away
• I Wanna Be More Like Jesus

Then, they did a request time, taking several audience requests:

• Sweet Hour of Prayer (Brad on the melody)
• Prayer is the Key (Jimmy)
• Suppertime (Randy)
• Looking For a City (Wayne)
• His Eye is on the Sparrow

Then, returning to the program, they finished with:

• Learning to Lean (Jimmy)
• Oh, What a Savior (Brad)
• I’ll Meet You in the Morning (Jimmy)

The requests time was certainly one of the evening’s highlights. Much of their program was the same as when I saw them two years ago (with This Old House being a delightful addition), but the requests are different every time. In fact, the requests are perhaps the biggest reason to go see the group multiple times–even if the rest of the program remains the same, you can always ask for a favorite during requests.

After entertaining the thought of asking for “Excuses,” primarily to see what they would say, I settled on “Victory Road.” They didn’t know it well enough to feel comfortable doing it, but they let me have a second pick, and I asked for “Suppertime.” I had heard good things about Randy Byrd’s rendition, and I was not disappointed. He is one of the hidden gems on the Southern Gospel scene, and has both the voice and the personality to become a fan favorite once more fans get to know him

It was an enjoyable evening, and worth the nearly two-hour trip.

Last night, I had the chance to catch the Mark Trammell Trio in Shelby, OH.

First set:

• Won’t it Be Wonderful There (old one)
• I Still Believe
• Weary At the Well
• How Great Thou Art
• Moving the Hand of God
• Introductions
• There’s Something About That Name / In the Garden
• Hallelujah, I’m Going Home
• Glory Road
• Once Upon a Cross

The group got three standing ovations during their first set. The first was for Mark Trammell’s rendition of “How Great Thou Art.” Then they got back-to-back standing ovations for “Glory Road” and “Once Upon a Cross.”

Mark Trammell introduced “Glory Road” by explaining how he loved coffee and his wife didn’t care for it but fixed it for him anyhow since she loved him. He said he’d been singing “Glory Road” ever since he started in Southern Gospel thirty-four years before, even singing it at his first talent contest, and he’d performed it with every group he had been with since. He said that he was sick of the song, but like his wife making him coffee, he loved the audiences enough to do the song for them anyhow. Tenor Eric Phillips tore the song up, as always.

He commented that, interestingly enough, this was their first concert at a Lutheran church.

During the intermission, Dustin Sweatman played two piano solos, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and a quartet-style mid-tempo piano solo. The song sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it.

Second set:

• Thank God I’m Free
• Walking with Jesus
• When Compared to God
• I Know that I Know
• I Believe In a Hill Called Mount Calvary
• Won’t it Be Wonderful There (new one)

“I Know that I Know” will be on their next project. They had a great routine leading into it, with Mark Trammell asking lead singer Dustin Sweatman about the song’s title. Dustin said something, to which Mark replied, “I Know, but what’s the song title?” Dustin said, “I Know that I Know.” Mark said, “That’s all good and well, but what’s the song title.” Dustin replied again. Mark ended up saying he gave up, and “just tell me what key it’s in.” (They played it in F.)

Mark Trammell got a standing ovation for his performance of “I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary.” The final song on their set, “Won’t it be Wonderful There” (this time, the newer Chris Allman-penned tune), also got a standing ovation (which was partly for the overall concert).

On May 19, I went to a concert featuring Greater Vision and three soloists. The concert was hosted by soloist Greg Lockridge, who was recording a live video yesterday evening. He brought in Greater Vision and the other soloists to help draw a good audience. (The plan worked; I’d estimate attendance at 400 to 600.)

The concert started with Lockridge taping his live video. (The rest of the 3.5-hour-long concert was also taped, but it was unclear what would make onto the finished product.) Lockridge performed nine songs and did two audience sing-alongs:

• So Good to Be with the People of the Lord.
• All You Need is a Need.
• Blessed Assurance.
• I Am the Way.
• He Sent Angels. Introduced by a touching story of how he played it for his grandmother shortly before her death, and she commented that she liked the song. It was the first time she had spoken in several weeks.
• I Know He Lives.
• I’m Guilty.
• I’ll Fly Away. Audience sing-along.
• He Touched Me. Audience sing-along. These two were done without soundtracks; John Darin Rowsey played piano.
• Written in the Scars. A well-written play off the astrology-influenced phrase “written in the stars.”
• Just Stand. Lockridge asked the audience to stand during the song’s intro. The song was good enough that the audience probably would have stood anyhow, but perhaps not until the chorus.

There was no assigned seating, and I arrived early enough to get a front-row seat. The cameras panning the audience were positioned toward the middle of the audience most of the time, since they also were recording the performers. So if you purchase the DVD, you’re unlikely to see my face in an audience pan. However, based on what I saw in the monitors, since I am not exactly short, you will probably get quite a bit of time viewing the back of my head. Fortunately, I remembered to comb my hair before the concert.

After an intermission–during which Gerald Wolfe made the day of this blog’s contributor Sony Elise by calling her and wishing her a happy birthday–the audience returned for the other three artists. John Darin Rowsey was up first and sang seven songs:

• Home is Always Where I’d Rather Be.
• Singing With the Saints. He introduced the song by commenting that he had written it for the Gaither Vocal Band.
• Lucky We Met.
• Let the Healing Begin. He introduced the song by telling how he wrote it for his wife as she was working through the trauma of memories of childhood abuse.
• Jesus Loves Me / Oh, How I Love Jesus. Audience sing-along.
• Ain’t No Grave. This was the same song recorded by the Isaacs and others.
• I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel. This was the song recorded by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir (and possibly others, whose names are escaping me at the moment).

Soloist Mike Allen (who also sings bass with the Prophets Quartet and the Gaither Homecoming series) was up next. He sang:

• God is With Us.
• Roll Away Troubled River.
• Child of the King. He did this one as an audience sing-along.
• The Love of the Lord. Allen recovered well from a microphone malfunction mid-song, even making a joke about it between lines after it was back on.
• Forgive Me when I Whine (a well-done recitation).
• Way Down Deep.
• So I Love Him Dearly.
• What I Have. While it might be hard to envision this Bishops trio song being done by a bass singer, it was well done.

Greater Vision finished the evening with an hour-long set.

• He’d Still Been God. Though the first three artists had been well received, the audience enthusiasm unmistakably went up a notch or two when Greater Vision took the stage with this song.
• Tell Me the Story.
• As I Am.
• We are so Blessed. Wolfe introduced the song by commenting on Mike Allen’s recitation “Forgive Me When I Whine,” a recitation done earlier by George Younce. Wolfe said that the first time he heard Younce do the recitation, he followed it by singing “We are So Blessed.”
• My Name is Lazarus. The song got the most enthusiastic response of the night. Audience enthusiasm kept building throughout the song, and broke into a round of applause leading into a standing ovation during the final chorus. About halfway through the second and final chorus, it occurred to me that this the was song that put Greater Vision at the top, and it was the last time I would hear the lineup that made it famous performing it. So it was special to catch it live one more time.
• Redeemed Medley. Well-received with an audience sing-along.
• A Mighty Fortress. Gerald Wolfe introduced the song by saying how they recently performed their first concert at a Lutheran church. The only Lutheran song they had recorded was Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Though they had never intended to stage it, they did that night, and it brought down the house. Wolfe said that he decided that thereafter, every time he did a concert and a Lutheran was in attendance, he would sing the song. Two were present, so they did the song.
• It Means Just What it Says.
• Till the Storm Passes By. Host Greg Lockridge introduced the group by commenting how Gerald Wolfe’s rendition of the song was the first Gospel song that broke through to his heart. Greater Vision pulled out all the stops with this rendition and brought down the house. This song got their second standing ovation of the night.
• God is So Good. This was tied in with an altar call, delivered by Rodney.

Since Jason Waldroup was recovering from walking pneumonia, Gerald Wolfe arranged the program so as to not tax his voice; other than incidental lines here and there, his only solo was his verse on “My Name is Lazarus.”

Random fact of the day: By my sister’s count, during the concert, Wolfe, Griffin, and Waldroup tapped their feet 1,597 times.

Concert photos can be found in the SouthernGospelBlog.com gallery here.