Southern Gospel Concerts

Hosted by Phil Cross, this is a showcase where writers are invited to share the stories behind their songs and then their songs are sung.  This was the first NQC writer’s showcase I have attended and it was the highlight of the NQC for me. 

First up was Jim Brady and he remarked how his song is probably the only Southern Gospel song ever written that includes sweet iced tea!  (I’m sure he’s right!)  The name of the song is “Welcome to the Family.”  The Booth Brothers sang this very fun song.

Phil talked about Southern Gospel music and its impact on the world.  Phil emphasized his belief that the most important part of the song is the message!  He encouraged us to listen closely to the words of the songs presented.

Next up was The First Baptist Church of Atlanta Choir (FBC Choir), directed by Rodney Brooks.  Not only did they look terrific, but their sound was wonderful!  They were backed up by the church’s orchestra and what a treat.  They sang a medley that included “Let the Rocks Keep Silent.”

Mitchell Jon, formerly with Three Bridges, sang “He Is Mine,” backed up by the FBC Choir.  It was absolutely wonderful!  And when you’re really concentrating on the words, this song will knock your socks off!

Dianne Wilkinson talked about her song, “Safe on the Glory Side.”  She said that after she finished writing it, she sang it for Mark Trammell and watched his eyes “light up.”  Mark told her he would “break her legs” if she sang the song for anyone else!  He wanted it for his group.  Even though Mark “pretends” he doesn’t like the song when the Trio sings it, it is obvious that the entire group really “gets” this song!

Rebecca Peck introduced her song, “His Life for Mine.”  It was wonderfully sung by the Talley Trio.   It has very powerful words.

The Johnson Family came to the platform next.  This “Family” group includes a Dad and four daughters.  Their harmony was great as they performed “All Who Honor Me.”

Tommy Moseley, a man who is disabled and is in a wheelchair, sang an appropriate song, “I Will Stand.”  He has an absolutely beautiful baritone voice and his testimony in song was very touching!

Legacy Five sang “I’ve Been Changed.”  Great song and Glenn Dustin does such a wonderful job!

Brian Free & Assurance sang “Praying Man.”

In introducing his song, Ronnie Hinson talked about how he grew up close to the ocean, but he didn’t like the ocean.  One day he saw a young man in uniform coming home from a tour of duty.  He remembered looking at the young man in awe and admiration.  The next day he found out the young man had been killed in a drowning accident.  That’s when he wrote “The Lighthouse.”  Ronnie sang the song and it was a very tender moment!

Tracy Dartt (The Dartts) wrote and the group performed his song, “Let Me Be a Rock”

The FBC Choir sang “Who Can Satisfy My Soul Like You?”  Absolutely beautiful!

Mark Bishop sang his song, “Workin’ for Me,” that talks about how when you do something for others, you’re working for the Lord!  Loved the song!

By this point, there had been many deeply emotional, touching moments in the program and many people were wiping tears from their eyes.  Phil quipped, “If your eyes don’t leak, your head will swell!”  Loved it!

Mallory Ledford, a 12-year old young lady, sang an unbelievably beautiful a cappella rendition of “Amazing Grace.”   She continued to change keys to a higher key on every verse.  It was a flawless performance and the audience was very hushed in awe!

Gary Casto and Barbara Huffman introduced “Grace Will Always Be Greater Than Sin.”  Then Kim and The Hoppers sang it.

Next up was Greater Vision singing “My Name Is Lazarus.”  That song always gets the audience involved.

The FBC Choir sang “I’ll Fly Away,” The Schaffers sang “Amazing Love,” and the Webbs sang “Bells of Heaven.”

One of the youngest writers was Scott Inman.  He talked about how Dianne Wilkinson had helped him in his song-writing endeavors and he encouraged new writers not to be shy about letting others hear their work.  Scott said, “If God gives you a song, let people hear it!”  Then Triumphant Quartet sang his first song, “Hey, Jonah,” (co-written by Dianne Wilkinson).

Rodney Griffin took the stage to talk about his new song, “It Pays to Pray.”  About 14 years ago he met his wife.  His wife’s father was unsaved and would not go to a church for anything….Not a funeral…. Not even their wedding.  Many times through the years, Rodney tried to witness to him, but he was not receptive.  Rodney stated that he has prayed for his father-in-law every day for these 14+ years (that’s over 5,000 prayers).  His F-I-L became ill in the Spring of this year.  It was at his lowest point that he realized his need for salvation and turned his life over to the Lord and was saved!  The awesome thing is that Rodney WROTE THIS CELEBRATION SONG TWO MONTHS BEFORE his F-I-L’s conversion!  Then, Greater Vision sang the song.

The FBC Choir sang “Get On Your Feet” and had everyone on their feet!  Great song!

The Kingdom Heirs sang “What We Needed” which was written by Dianne Wilkinson.

At this point, Phil gave a heart-felt tribute to Dottie Rambo and the Pffeifers played and sang “He Looked Beyond My Faults.”  Wonderful tribute!

The Hemphills sang Joel Hemphill’s “I Forgive.”

Daniel Crews sang Gerald Crabb’s song, “Through the Fire,” backed up by the FBC Choir.  Beautiful!

Twenty years ago, doctors recommended that Jennifer Barton (a member of the audience) terminate her pregnancy.  She left her doctor’s office and went to her car.  She sat in her car and listened to Southern Gospel music, specifically the song “There’s a Miracle In Me.”  After listening to the song, Jennifer went back into the doctor’s office and told him NO!  A picture of her 20-year old son who is training to be Navy Seal was shown to great applause!  Then The Greenes sang the song.  We’re also praying for a miracle to be in Tony as he battles kidney failure!

Joseph Habedank was saved at 4 years of age, and says that he always wanted to sing, but that he has also been given the opportunity to write music.  He quoted the scripture to “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”  Then the Inspirations sang his song, “The Rose Arose.”  Beautiful!

Paula Stefanovich, writer of such great songs as Yahweh and Jerusalem, sang her song, “Behold the Lamb.”  Clearly, Paula felt every word of the song as she sang it. 

Phil introduced Elmer Cole as his mentor and hero.  Elmer has not been to NQC for 30 years, but came to this one!  Jim Brady and FBC Choir sang his song, “Ten Thousand Years.”  It was wonderful!

Mosie Lister was driving his car from Atlanta to Macon, GA when he penned the song, “Where No One Stands Alone.”  It was beautifully sung by The Crist Family, a group with seven members (4 ladies, 3 men).  It was absolutely incredible.

Kyla Rowland introduced her song with a story about her “whiny, doubting-Thomas Aunt Lillian, who says her husband “appeared” to her 6 months after his death and told her that “crossing” is exactly as the Bible says it will be.  The Perry’s then sang, “Holy Shore.”  What a wonderful finale to this showcase!

Final thoughts – It is amazing how when you are NOT concentrating on the group that is singing, but on the words, how life-changing the words to these songs are.  I was especially grateful that Phil Cross had encouraged us to listen to the words as the most important part of the song!  Because of this, I believe we really “HAD CHURCH” during this showcase.  I encourage everyone reading this review to pre-order the DVD and watch it for yourself!  I guarantee you will be blessed.

I do have one suggestion of how to make this type of session even better.  That would be to introduce each writer by name, with the song name and with the group or artist that sang the song.  This would definitely help newer SG fans. 

Here’s a video for you of some of the groups that performed in the showcase.  This is really just a teaser but an official DVD will be available from Phil Cross and can be pre-ordered here.

 —- Co-written by Donna Hefner and Diana Brantley

I was glad that instead of participating in the Parade of Pianos showcase this year, Dino had his own showcase.  I was happy for two reasons.  First, it is my personal opinion that Dino does not fit into the Southern Gospel “box,” and teaming him up on a program with “real” Southern Gospel pianists changes the atmosphere of the entire program.  Second, Dino is an extremely talented pianist and entertainer and taken in that way, I really enjoy watching and hearing him. 

After encouraging everyone to relax and just enjoy themselves, Dino started his showcase with a wonderful medley of songs including Goodbye World Goodbye, When the Saints Go Marching In, When We All Get to Heaven, and the Hallelujah Chorus. 

Then Dino welcomed Kim Collingsworth to the stage.  She played a great arrangement of “Jericho” that brought the house down.  Then she talked about what a great country we live in when a “country girl like me has the opportunity to play the piano on this great stage—in FREEDOM HALL—on Sept. 11^th.”  She then played God Bless America and had the entire audience on their feet.  She followed with A Mighty Fortress Is Our God and the Hallelujah Chorus.

Much to the enjoyment of all, Dino then joined Kim on stage and they played duets with a lot of shenanigans (pushing one another off the end of the bench, reaching over one another, etc.).  They played Onward Christian Soldiers, At Calvary, and Standing on the Promises.  Lots of fun!  Clearly Kim and Dino have a chemistry and both have a great love of playing!

Dino then led the audience in the Greek song, I Love You Very Much (ompaa)!  If you haven’t seen this before, the song continues to repeat over and over while it gets faster and faster.  Just a fun song.

Cheryl, Dino’s wife, came onto the stage and sang “I’m a New Christian in Jesus Christ.”  I had never heard Cheryl sing before and I was very pleasantly surprised.  She does have a beautiful voice, with crystal-clear diction.  She talked with the audience about having grandkids and how much fun that is, talked about being a PK (Preacher’s Kid) and told stories of how her brother, Gary McFadden, always used to misbehave in church!  Then she introduced her next song, “What a Wonderful World” by saying that this is GOD’s wonderful world.

Dino played a beautiful arrangement of Edelweiss that I enjoyed very much.  He ended the program with a very dramatic arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.

This was a very enjoyable showcase with plenty of opportunities to laugh and to enjoy excellently performed music.  I hope Dino has a showcase next year, too!

- - - - Contributed by Donna Hefner

The 2008 installment of the NQC Parade of Pianos was ably hosted by Gerald Wolfe.  There was no Dino at the Parade this year — he had his own separate showcase.  The overall tone of the showcase felt a bit different to me.  The players didn’t sit on stage after they played.  There were only two pianos on stage instead of 3 or 4 and no big finish with all of the artists participating.  A couple of last year’s artists were missing.  Kim Collingsworth had a Gaither Homecoming date on Saturday evening.  And Channing Eleton didn’t play this year. 

But here’s my take on the pianists that performed:

• Andy Stringfield of the Kingdom Heirs led off the program.  He brought along his buddies from the KH band who played with him on Over in Gloryland and What a Friend We Have in Jesus.  Andy played very well but did admit to Gerald that he was a bit nervous.  He sure didn’t look it to me.   
• Josh Singletary from Tribute Quartet was up next and brought his own unique style with him to perform a jazzy and sometimes discordent version of Mansion Over the Hilltop.  Josh is always fun to watch!  
• After some amusing chit-chat with Gerald, Darrell Stewart played The Old Rugged Cross.  At the end, he directed the audience to sing the familiar hymn. 
• Josh Simpson from Gold City was next.  He played a traditional How Majestic Is Your Name and a jazzy Good Ole Gospel Ship.  I always enjoy hearing Josh play.
• Jeff Stice (Triumphant Quartet) played his medley of When We All Get to Heaven that is coupled with a few variations of the Do-Re-Mi song from the Sound of Music - a great, light-hearted selection from his repertoire.
• Stewart Varnedo (Dixie Echoes) played his jazzed-up version of Just a Little While to Stay Here.  You can tell that Stewart has a lot of fun playing that song.  Then he invited Jeff Stice back to the stage and they played a very spirited duet of Sing Your Blues Away that they had come up with after the sound check that morning. 
• Roy Webb played Just a Little Talk with Jesus and You Raise Me Up.   Of course, he also managed to talk with Gerald and get in a couple of jokes.   He probably connects with the audience more effectively than some of the other pianists.   You Raise Me Up was such a change of pace that I’m posting this video of it.
• Stan Whitmire just always makes it look like his performances are easy, which they aren’t!  Stan played a fast, jazzy version of Goodbye, World, Goodbye and then shifted gears and played Blessed Assurance in a very traditional style.  It was just beautiful.  Stan and Gerald then shared the bench for a fun duet of Just Over in Glory Land.
• Janet and Sharon from the Hayes Family performed two lovely songs for us from two pianos.  They played Old Time Religion and He’s My King.  What gracious ladies they are - the roses among the thorns!
• Tim Partin (Legacy Five) played Wonderful Grace of Jesus and I’m Bound for the Promised Land.   Tim always makes it look easy, too!
• Lari Goss was the very special, final artist.  He played a dramatic version of When i Survey the Wondrous Cross.  At the end of the song, Greater Vision came out and sang the last verse and chorus and the audience was on its feet.

I heard several people comparing previous showcases.  Some liked this version (like me!) and others preferred prior years.  I’m content to let each of them stand on their own merit.   And I enjoyed this one very much!

I saw the Tribute Quartet on Friday, September 5 at the Line Creek Baptist Church.  This church did something different - during intermission, they served dinner! It was very nice getting to fellowship with the other concert-goers as well as the men from the quartet, who are so very friendly! The church pianist, who had played for several congregational hymns at the beginning of the evening, took Josh Singletary “under her wing” and made sure he got what he wanted to eat since he came into the dinner after most people had served themselves.  (She even took something off of Gary Casto’s plate to give to Josh!)  Then during the second half of the program, the church pianist and Josh played duet style on another congregational hymn.   

The sound setup in the church was excellent - even from the third row where I sat.  The program contained quite a variety of songs and included three solos from Josh Singletary on the piano.  He played “How Great Thou Art” on the church’s 9 foot concert grand piano and “Every Day with Jesus” and “Goodbye, World, Goodbye” from his keyboard.  The newest member of the group, Brian Alvey, has been singing tenor for Tribute for 2 or 3 months now and I think he’s great with the group.  I detected a few changes he’s made to  his part in several of the songs and I liked them! 

The first half of the program had a number of upbeat songs like “Brother, Don’t Lose the Shout,” “Is It Good News,” “Over On the Other Side,” “Beulah,” “When the Gates Open Wide,” “I’m In That Crowd,” and slower songs “Safe In The Shelter of His Hands” and “Who Am I.”  The second half featured a couple of fun songs “Waiting On The Water to Part” and “You Better Have a Boat” before turning more meditative with songs like “Give the Gift,” “Mercy Walks A Road That Never Ends,” “Be Still and Know,” “The Other Side of Calvary,” congregational hymns “The Old Rugged Cross” and “Because He Lives,” and a song I don’t think I’ve heard but really liked called “When We Sing Together Again.”  The last song was a reprise of “I’m In That Crowd” and it had the audience on their feet until the end of the concert!   I was very impressed that almost all of the people that came to the concert stayed for the dinner and the second half of the concert.  I think that is a wonderful indication of how well this group was received.

Here are some videos I got from the concert:

A Medley of songs

Be Still and Know

Goodbye, World, Goodbye

I attended an Imperials concert on Thursday night at the Top O’ The River Restaurant in Gadsden, Alabama.  As always, the food was great and the singing by The Imperials was excellent.  The venue is a difficult one for the singers because there is a very tiny space set aside for them and their equipment and it is an extremely difficult location for photographers because the lighting is terrible!  It is, after all, a restaurant not a concert hall. 

A local quartet named Unbroken performed four songs to open the concert including Gotta Go Back (Poet Voices), Dead Man Walking (Won By One), Anchored in the Rock (Kingdom Heirs), and Trying to Get a Glimpse (The Cathedrals).  

Perry Jones (tenor) was making his debut with The Imps and he a gave an impressive first performance.  He fits into the blend very nicely and unless you were told that it was his first performance, you probably wouldn’t have known it.   The rest of the group consists of baritone Jason Morales (Armond’s son), bass Ian Owens, and lead Scott Allen.  This is a very versatile group stylistically.  They sang mostly songs from their Back to the Roots CD which is mostly Southern Gospel but they did sprinkle in some of their contemporary songs.  They were very well received by the crowd. They even sang two songs after they had closed out their set because of crowd requests.  Here’s a partial list of what they sang. 

• No Shortage
• First Day in Heaven
• He Touched Me
• I Believe
• He’s Everything to Me
• Water Grave
• Because He Lives (this one got a standing ovation)
• Wrap My Arms Around the World
• Praise the Lord
• Arise, My Love
• We Have a Great Big, Wonderful God
• Closer Still

On Wednesday, August 27th, I attended a gospel concert in my hometown of Central City, Kentucky. Labor Day weekend is always the big event weekend in Central City with activities going on every day and night from Wednesday through Sunday. It’s kicked off every year by a Gospel Fest featuring an outdoor concert by the Crabb Family. This year, however, we were also delighted to have the quartet Gold City here. But since I had church and choir practice, I missed all but their final two songs. From what little I got to hear if them, they were fabulous!

This was our first year hosting the Crabb Family as different groups, as they are now not traveling and performing together anymore. I was a little sad about this because I’ve always enjoyed the entire Crabb Family singing together, but I knew it would be a wonderful night of music nonetheless. This year we were fortunate to have almost all of the original Crabb Family with us, which was very nice. We saw performances by Crabb Revival, Aaron and Amanda Crabb, and Jason Crabb. Mike & Kelly Bowling were performing in Florida that day, so we missed them.

The Crabb Family portion of the evening began with Aaron and Amanda Crabb performing two songs off of their debut CD, After the Rain. They first sang the title cut of the CD, After The Rain, followed by a very passionate rendition of Miracle. Aaron then shared a story about God’s provision in his family’s life and how God can perform a miracle in all of our lives if we just ask Him. He shared about how it has been his experience that God always shows up in the places we least expect Him to be and how beautiful that is. He they prayed a prayer that God would touch each person there and perform a miracle in their lives. After his prayer, Aaron began to sing There’s Power in the Name of Jesus which really put the audience into a worshipful mode. Following that he led us in singing the Bill & Gloria Gaither classic, There’s Something About That Name. That was my one of my favorite moments of the night. Hundreds of people singing that stunning, powerful song a capella. Nothing compares to voices uniting in song praising their Father. What a sweet incense rising up to the Lord. It was a sweet moment. You could really feel the Holy Spirit moving in that place.

I was somewhat disappointed to not see Amanda Crabb more involved in the Aaron and Amanda set of songs. She sung harmony a bit with Aaron, but that was basically all. Aaron took the reigns for most of it and did all of the lead vocals and all of the talking/praying.

The concert continued with performances by Crabb Revival (featuring Adam Crabb and Terah Crabb-Penhollow). They began with the following four songs off of their debut CD, Runaway Train:

• Runaway Train - a rousing, upbeat song that got the audience a little bit energized.
• Carry On
• The Journey - Before singing this, Adam Crabb shared a bit of how God has strengthened him and matured him during the process of forming Crabb Revival and how He has opened so many doors for their ministry.
• Smiling Down On Me - This song was performed differently than recorded on their project. Amanda Smith took the lead vocal spot for the first verse and chorus of the song, followed by Terah Penhollow singing lead on the second verse and harmonizing with Amanda on the final chorus. Amanda Smith, formerly of the McRaes, is wife of Crabb Revival lead guitarist Zach Smith.

Crabb Revival finished their portion of the evening by performing two of the Crabb Family’s most beloved songs, Greater Is He and The Reason That I’m Standing. These are the songs that got the most response from the audience, which was not very surprising to me. Although Crabb Revival is a great band with a quality sound, they have strayed away from the Crabb Family sound we’re all used to. Their sound has gotten a little more progressive with more contemporary and rock influences. In a traditional southern gospel loving community such as Central City, the newer sound of Crabb Revival took some people aback.

We were then delighted to see Jason and Aaron Crabb join Adam and Terah, who remained onstage after Crabb Revival finished. Jason began the final portion of the concert by talking about how much he enjoys getting to be back onstage with his siblings as the Crabb Family whenever he can, since those times do not occur very often nowadays. He shared that he feels honored that God has shown favor to their family by allowing them to branch out into their own seperate areas of music ministry and be successful at reaching lost people. He shared that he is often amazed at the fact that God took one family, one ministry, and branched them out to have five separate ministries (Gerald Crabb, Jason Crabb, Mike & Kelly Bowling, Crabb Revival, Aaron & Amanda Crabb) answering the call to spread the gospel of Christ. He said that he often realizes that there are times that all five ministries are onstage at exactly the same time in five different states, performing to five different groups of people. But the incredible thing is, Jason shared, is that they are all communicating a single message of hope and sharing the Gospel that unites us all. The group went on to perform some more of the Crabb Family’s most beloved songs.

The first three songs were all upbeat and got the audience excited and on their feet.

• Sacrifice of Praise
• Something Going On in the Graveyard
• The Lamb, The Lion, and The King

They then performed my personal favorite Crabb Family song, Through The Fire. After singing the song, Jason shared the story of how their father, Gerald Crabb, came to write that amazing and powerful piece of music. The first lyrics of Through The Fire that came to Gerald were the first two lines of the chorus: He never promised that the cross would not get heavy, or the hill would not be hard to climb. Jason shared that his father struggled with finishing that song for a good year. One night at a Crabb Family concert, Gerald met a young woman’s who shared a part of her testimony with him. She was in the midst of a terrible time in her life and was struggling. But she told Gerald that through everything and her family were going through, she was still trusting in her Jesus to carry them through. That was the inspiration it took for Gerald to finally create this powerful, inspiring song which has touched countless numbers of people. The Crabb Family continued their set by performing Please Come Down To Me.

After the song, Jason asked everyone to close their eyes and search their hearts to see what was standing in the way of enjoying a rich life in Christ. He encouraged everyone to ask God to come to them and forgive us for all that we have done to fail Him. Jason prayed and then asked people to raise their hands if they needed God to make a change in their life. He invited those that raised their hands to come down in front of the stage so they could pray for them. So many of those people got incredibly emotional and you could almost see the Spirit working on their hearts. Adam and Jason Crabb, along with guitarist Zach Smith and drummer Micah Schweinsberg, all went down offstage to pray with those people at the ‘altar.’ After a few moments, Jason and Terah began to sing the hymn, I Surrender All accompanied by keyboardist Jedidiah Richardson. It was a very special time. It was incredibly moving to see what was happening there.

Jason continued by saying how much they enjoy performing in Central City because it’s only a few miles from the Crabb Family’s hometown of Beaver Dam, KY. He shared that many of their family member and friends were in attendance including all of their spouses, children, and the Crabb Family’s grandmother and mother, Kathy Crabb. Jason’s wife’s parents were also there. And at the request of her Dad, the Crabb Family performed Please Forgive Me.

They ended the concert by performing Andrae Crouch’s rousing song Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus. They even brought their mother onstage to sing the verses. I enjoyed hearing her sing, as I never had done so before. She has a very deep, very powerful voice. It’s no wonder that her children are so talented!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable concert. I have seen the Crabb Family perform many times over the years, but this was my first since they have begun traveling and performing separately. I honestly thought it was better than I had seen from them before. I’ve always enjoyed them and the songwriting of their father, Gerald Crabb. But there was something different. I have always thought that part of their appeal was that they seemed to genuinely love what they did and love doing it together. Perhaps that is what I can attribute the change and improvement to. Since they do not get to perform together very often anymore, I’m sure they treasure the times when they are able to. It was a sweet experience to witness.

Whether they’re Aaron & Amanda, Jason, The Crabb Family, Crabb Family, or whatever, they’re still fantastic. So if any of them are ever in your area, make it a point to attend. You’re sure to have an enjoyable experience full of worship and wonderful music!

To view my photos from the concert, follow this link to Daniel J. Mount’s Southern Gospel Blog photo gallery:

Crabb Family Concert Photos