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Dave's Top Eight
1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars) Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.
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Most Recent Articles
Why blog? (Three years and counting)
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-----------August 30, 2005Anthony Burger Biography Anthony John Burger(June 5, 1961-February 22, 2006) After suffering third degree burns on his hands at eight months of age, Anthony Burger’s doctor told his parents he wouldn’t likely be able to move his hands in the future. Despite the odds, Burger was healed. At the age of five, he was accepted at the Cadek Conservatory in Chattanooga, TN. A child prodigy, Burger was playing classical piano repertoire within a few years. Burger’s first recording, Anthony Burger At The Lowry Organ was released in 1975 when he was 14 years old. He joined the Kingsmen while still a teen and remained with that group until 1992. During that time, Burger recorded nineteen projects with the group and was voted the Favorite Pianist in the Singing News Fan Awards for an unprecedented ten years. The award was renamed the "Anthony Burger Award" for several years after that. During this period, Burger presented the award to the winner each year, but was ineligible to receive it. In 1992, Burger left the Kingsmen Quartet to pursue a career as a solo pianist. He joined the Gaither Homecoming tour the following year and has since been featured on more than 65 Homecoming videos. Burger has continued to release piano solo recordings and headline concerts, but his solo schedule is now balanced by about 80 Gaither Homecoming dates per year. Adding more variety to his schedule, Burger formed an impromptu sideline group with Ivan Parker and Kirk Talley around 1998 called “The Trio.” The group performs at several events each year. (Shane Dunlap has since replaced Parker.) Burger’s piano folios are popular among keyboard players. The Hazelton Brothers piano company also honored Burger when they began offering an “Anthony Burger Signature” model. In late 2005, it was announced by Steinway and Sons that Burger was being added to their exclusive roster of endorsing artists, making him the only Southern Gospel pianist to ever hold that honor. On February 22, 2006, Burger died of a heart attack on while performing on stage during a Gaither cruise. He was 44 years old. Labels: biography August 28, 2005Nick Bruno Biography
(additional info contributed by Cliff Cerce)
----------- Nick BrunoNick Bruno was a key contributing member of several groups during in the 1960s and 1970s. As a teen, he was a member of the Keystone Quartet with Richard Sterban. He and Sterban moved to the Eastman Quartet in the mid-1960s, but later returned to the Keystone Quartet. Future Oak Ridge Boys member Joe Bonsall and future Imperials member David Will would get their first full time singing jobs with the Keystone Quartet. Bruno began producing, arranging and working as a session piano player at Baldwin Sound Productions when the Keystone Quartet was based in Harrisburg, PA in the late 1960s. He traveled with the Stamps for a year or so during their early Elvis years before joining the Kingsmen in 1972. Later, Bruno produced the novelty song “Excuses” for the Kingsmen. The song held the number one position on the Singing News chart for an unprecedented ten months in 1981-82. Bruno would produce another mega-hit for a former Kingsmen Quartet member not long after the success of "Excuses." The song was “Beulah Land” and the singer was Squire Parsons. Bruno worked in Branson, MO for five years producing live shows for some of the top secular acts there. He later returned to Nashville, TN where he produced recordings that helped elevate artists like Quinton Mills and the Booth Brothers in the eyes of Southern Gospel fans. In recent years, Bruno has become a mentor of sorts to many young artists. He writes a regular article for Sogospelnews.com that typically focuses on the business side of the industry. He also has written a book about the industry called The Gospel Music Truth. Meanwhile, Bruno has continued to record and produce. His most recent venture is a record label called Song Garden that is designed for up-and-coming Southern Gospel artists. Labels: biography August 25, 2005James Blackwood Biography James Webre Blackwood(1919 - 2002) James Blackwood formed the Blackwood Brothers Quartet in the 1930s along with his two older brothers (Roy and Doyle) and a nephew (Roy's son, R. W.). The group turned heads over the next twenty years, but their career really began to skyrocket in 1954 when they won a competition on Arthur Godfrey’s television program and were signed to record with RCA Victor. Tragedy also struck the group in 1954 when two members (R. W. Blackwood and bass singer Bill Lyles) were killed in a plane crash in Clanton, AL. J. D. Sumner and Cecil Blackwood joined the group at that time and Wally Varner soon became their pianist. James Blackwood and J. D. Sumner are noted for jointly designing the first bus for group touring purposes. They also started the National Quartet Convention, which grew to become the largest annual event in Southern Gospel music. Later Sumner and Blackwood purchased the Stamps Quartet and in time Sumner left the Blackwood Brothers to manage that group. Following the formation of the Gospel Music Association in 1964, Blackwood served on the GMA board of directors. In 1971, Blackwood found himself at the center of an ethical scandal over methods the Blackwood Brothers used when selling GMA memberships at concerts. Ultimately, the Dove Awards were nullified for that year and Blackwood issued an apology to the industry. After the GMA expanded to cover all forms of Christian music in the 1980s, Blackwood frequently criticized the organization for promoting what he deemed to be worldly influences. In the 1980s, Blackwood joined Hovie Lister, Jake Hess, J. D. Sumner, and Rosie Rozell to form the Masters V. The group was very popular on the concert circuit. Blackwood frequently performed “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” and “More And More Like Jesus Everyday,” going out into the audience and delighting them by ending the song in tenor territory. Blackwood was in his mid-60s at the time. After that group disbanded, he started the James Blackwood Quartet which included several former Blackwood Brothers members. Blackwood was also a frequent guest on the Gaither Homecoming videos in the 1990s until his death in 2002. He was inducted into the SGMA Hall Of Fame in 1997. Labels: biography August 23, 2005Eugene Bartlett Biography Eugene Monroe Bartlett (1884 - 1941) E. M. Bartlett was a noted songwriter of hymns and Southern Gospel songs. In 1918, he became a founding partner in the Hartford Music Company. Like many music publishers of the day, Hartford began sponsoring traveling quartets who in turn promoted their products. In 1926, Albert E. Brumley joined the company and Bartlett served as his mentor. In his career, Bartlett wrote a number of songs that are now Southern Gospel standards including "Everybody Will Be Happy Over There" and "Just a Little While to Stay Here." Bartlett also wrote the occasional novelty song, including “Take An Old Cold Tater And Wait” (later popularized by Little Jimmy Dickens). His best-known song was one of his last, the classic hymn “Victory In Jesus.” It was written in 1939 just two years prior to his death in 1941. Bartlet’s name was added to the SGMA Hall Of Fame in 2000. Labels: biography August 18, 2005National Singing ConventionNational Singing Convention
(1936-present) The most prominent publishers of shape note hymnals established the National Singing Convention and held their first event in Birmingham, AL in 1936. These publishers all used Jesse Aikin’s seven-note system of shape notes. [See Shape Note Method (Solfege).] Publishers initially included Morris-Henson Company, the Vaughan Quartet, James D. Vaughan Music Publishers, the Hartford Music Company, A. J. Showalter Company, Denson Music Company, Theodore Sisk Music Company, Tennessee Music and Printing Company, George W. Sebren, W. P. Ganus, and the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company. The first convention president was Adger M. Pace. Initially operated exclusively by the hymnbook publishers, the National Singing Convention’s constitution was revised in 1949, permitting state singing conventions to appoint representatives with voting privileges. Stella Baughan wrote a historical article in 1961 for Vaughan’s Family Visitor titled “History of the Twenty-Five Years of the National Singing Convention.” The organization’s annual meeting is typically held in a different small Southern town each year. In 2005, the event was scheduled to be held in Hamilton, Alabama on November 18-19. At the two-day meetings, the president of the convention calls on individuals to lead in the singing. The leader then selects the song and the pianist who will play. Songs are taken from newly published books, which participants have the opportunity to purchase at the end of the convention. Primitive Quartet Biography Primitive Quartet(1973-present) The Primitive Quartet was formed in 1973. Two pairs of brothers were in the original group: Reagan and Larry Riddle and Norman and Furman Wilson. The group formed after the four went on a camping trip together and ended up picking and singing around the fire at night. After singing together in church, they began to get requests to sing at other churches in western North Carolina. The group was originally known as the Reagan-Wilson Quartet. Larry and Reagan’s brother Mike Riddle replaced Furman Wilson in the late 1970s. The group became full time in 1978. They also had changed the group name by this point to reflect their characteristic style. Two other members have been added to the group since the 1970s. Randy Fox joined in 1986 to sing and play various instruments. Jeff Tolbert joined in 1997 to play banjo, fiddle, and sing. The group is best known for the song “Fallen Leaves.” The Primitive Quartet hosts a singing each summer during July. At this event, the top gospel bluegrass groups in the country come together for several days of singing in Hominy Valley near Candler, NC. They also have a singing in the fall. Labels: biography August 13, 2005Handy Site for Live Music
www.sgmupdate.com
-----------There's a website that lists the upcoming concerts for many of the major Southern Gospel groups at the link above. Big deal, right? Yeah, but this site has a handy feature no one else is offering. Here's how it works...you check the boxes beside all of your favorite artists. Then you enter your email, your zip code, and how far you'd be willing to drive to see them. SGMUpdate then sends you an email with concert dates that's tailor made for your tastes and geographic location. How cool is that? And it's not a one time thing...you'll continue to get the same tailor made updates every few weeks. I held off on posting about this until the site worked out some technical bugs, but they seem to be doing great now. I'm impressed enough with the service they're offering that I'm adding them to my Useful Links, which is located to your left. Check it out. August 10, 2005Mark Lowry Biography Mark Lowry(June 24, 1958-) Mark Lowry was born in Houston, TX, the middle child of Charles and Beverly Lowry. Lowry’s mother is a noted songwriter whose songs include classics like “I Thirst” and “The Ground Is Level” as well as more recent songs like “Monuments” (Wilburns). After graduating from Liberty University in 1980, Mark began his career as a solo singer, but he soon began telling jokes to fill in the gaps between songs. The comedy routines he developed ultimately came to be as much a part of his act as the singing. In 1988, Lowry’s popularity took a quantum leap when he joined the Gaither Vocal Band to sing baritone and provide comic relief during concerts. Within a year, he had released a solo comedy recording on the Word label called For The First Time On Planet Earth. Following in his mother’s footsteps, he began to receive recognition for his songwriting ability in 1990 after Buddy Greene set music to a lyric Lowry had composed in 1984. Since Michael English’s initial recording of “Mary, Did You Know?” in 1991, more than 30 major recording artists have released their own versions of the song, including Kenny Rogers, Kathy Mattea, Natalie Cole, and Donnie Osmond. When the Gaither Homecoming video series exploded in popularity in the 1990s, Lowry had a recurring platform for his creative output. Bill Gaither became the straight man for his comedy. Lowry was regularly featured on solos with the Vocal Band, and developed close friendships with a number of the legends that appeared on the series including J. D. Sumner, Howard and Vestal Goodman, Jake Hess, and others. During the 1990s, Lowry was quick to take advantage of the then emerging Internet. He launched his own website where he developed a personal connection with fans (which he came to call “reMarkables”) and also published an email newsletter he titled “reMarks.” During the same time period, Lowry wrote a series of children’s books featuring a hyperactive mouse named Piper and hosted a television talk show with Kathy Troccolli. In addition to touring with the Gaither Vocal Band, Lowry did a number of concert tours to support his comedy releases on the Word label. He ultimately moved to the Spring House label in 1998 to release But Seriously, a recording that had no spoken comedy and very little musical comedy. In 2001, Lowry left the Gaither Vocal Band, but continued to maintain close ties with the Homecoming video series. A two-volume set of videos called The Best Of Mark and Bill was released in 2004. He has four videos that are certified Gold (50,000 units) and two that have reached the Platinum level (100,000 units). Lowry’s tours in recent years are typically booked through one concert promoter and featured a select cast of performers such as Stan Whitmire, Lordsong, and the McCraes. In 2005, Lowry launched another unique venture, a multi-day, multi-activity “Senior Trip” to Nashville, TN…where no one under 50 years old is allowed to attend unless their spouse is over 50. Labels: biography August 7, 2005Lee Roy Abernathy Biography Lee Roy Abernathy (August 13, 1913 - 1993) Lee Roy Abernathy was born into a sharecropping family that frequently relocated during his teen years. He began singing at the age of five in his father’s group, the Atco Quartet, and learned to play piano by the time he was 14. In addition to sitting under shape note instructors like James Vaughan and Adger Pace, Abernathy studied at the Conservatory of Music in Atlanta, GA. Abernathy wrote a number of gospel classics including “He’s A Personal Savior,” “A Newborn Feeling,” “Wonderful Time Up There (Gospel Boogie)” and a parody of that song called “Terrible Time Down There.” He was also noted as a Southern Gospel music instructor, particularly for his "Modern Gospel Piano Course By Mail." Abernathy is credited as being one of the first to introduce sheet music and mail order piano courses to Gospel music. Along with Dwight Brock, Abernathy was one of the first to play “turnaround” type introductions on songs. He also served as a vocal coach to individuals (like London Parris) who went on to have great success in the industry. Abernathy was also well known as a performer. He pulled stints with the Rangers and the Homeland Harmony Quartet. Abernathy and Carroll “Shorty” Bradford also performed together as the Happy Two, billed as a “two man quartet.” In 1983, a recording titled Command Performance paid tribute to the songs of Abernathy, with performances by the Rex Nelon Singers, Gold City, the Singing Americans, the Hemphills and others. In addition to gospel music, politics also had an attraction for Abernathy. He composed songs for Franklin Roosevelt’s 1936 campaign and was a candidate for governor of Georgia in 1958. Labels: biography August 3, 2005Bob Terrell's The Music MenA few months ago I mentioned my increasing preference for Amazon.com as a source for used books and CDs. Back in April, I bought what is probably the most referenced historical/anecdotal collection for classic Southern Gospel . . . Bob Terrell's The Music Men. I read it from cover to cover one time and have since referenced a number of articles using the book's index. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in SG history. Terrell's writing style is generally easy to read. One thing that makes history difficult to swallow is too many cold hard facts in a row . . . this guy left the group, and formed a group with persons 1, 2, 3, and 4 . . . meanwhile the original group replaced him with guy number 5. Six sentences like that in a row will leave you saying, "So?" Terrell gets into that type of a rut briefly in a few spots, but mostly he writes in a more conversational tone. Most chapters focus in on just one character or a particular entity that warrants attention...the crash of the Blackwood Brothers plane, for example. Other chapters consist of short recollections and/or humorous events that transpired between popular performers...Hovie Lister addressing an audience while not realizing his pants were unzipped, for example, and thinking Jake and Big Chief were just trying to play a gag on him and refusing to look down while the audience roared with laughter. Along with the narrative, there's a nice collection of photographs...though the print quality in the Mountain Church version of the book I purchased isn't the greatest. I especially appreciated the captions under the photos, which explain more than simply who's in the picture. Labels: History 
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