Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

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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January 13, 2007

Schedule Snapshot

As a follow-up to my Thursday post, I decided to run a few numbers for the sake of comparison.

I chose to compare the schedules currently posted on the official websites of Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, the Kingsmen, the Perrys, Young Harmony, McKameys, Inspirations, Kingdom Heirs, Gaither Vocal Band, Crabb Family, and Greater Vision. Every experiment needs a control for comparison, so I threw in a couple of Country artists who sing gospel music as well: the Oak Ridge Boys and Randy Travis.

Multiple appearances on the same day weren't considered to be separate dates unless the locations were different. I listed the number of months in addition to the number of dates...realizing that some artists only list dates that are in the near future (or recent past). Not knowing how often an artist might perform on a multi-day cruise, I decided it would be simpler to leave cruises out of the data entirely. Almost every group on the list had at least one cruise scheduled. Greater Vision has two.

I listed the percentage of "big dates" based on appearances that were part of a multi-group tour and/or in large venues with seating in the multi-thousands. This is the most subjective column on the chart, because I had to guess at some. I also listed the percentage of dates where the artist made more than one appearance at the same location over consecutive days. (I didn't count multiple appearances at the same location on the same date, however.)

I did all of this just to see which groups are working the hardest and for what level of potential return. Here's what I learned:













GROUPDATESMONTHSDATES PER MONTH"BIG" DATESMULTI-DAY EVENTS
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound54105.474%9.2%
Kingsmen Quartet36490%0%
The Perrys3448.515%6%
Young Harmony112129.318%14%
McKameys2839.37%0%
Inspirations3631211%0%
Kingdom Heirs3749.252.7%11%
Gaither Vocal Band40104100%12.5%
Crabb Family4776.710%8.5%
Greater Vision3949.80%5%
Oak Ridge Boys70107100%17%
Randy Travis1125.5100%0%


Some results don't tell the whole story. Several websites had a number of months listed, and then just one or two dates for a later month. Others had been updated since the first of the year, so their January schedule was partial. In these cases, the average dates per month would have been even higher. Of course, there were some who had all of 2007 up, and these groups may add more dates as the year progresses.

Also, I wasn't able to find the 20007 Dollywood schedule for the Kingdom Heirs, so their numbers don't really give a true reflection of how much they travel. Their multi-day percentage is probably in the 75% range. The fact that people regularly go to them rather than them going to the people as a general rule speaks to their popularity.

While the chart isn't perfect, some conclusions can still be drawn.

The only true "world class" Southern Gospel group examined in this survey is the Gaither Vocal Band. They never perform to a small crowd and they work fewer dates per month than any other group including the Oak Ridge Boys. (Though the chart indicates otherwise, Randy Travis probably works less than the GVB. The dates listed here were for March and April only with nothing listed for January or February, so it appears his tours are sporadic.)

Groups like Young Harmony, who may not be considered by some to be "top tier," actually appear to be working more big dates than some of the others. Their percentage was boosted by their participation in a 20-city tour with other artists. I don't know how popular the tour actually is, unfortunately.

The Inspirations are like a machine. They work every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, averaging 12 dates per month, and they do it without working on Sundays. When you consider that most other groups in this survey are doing a number of dates at churches on Sundays when the crowd is "built-in," you have to conclude that the Inspirations are one of the most popular groups in the business...despite their lower percentage of really big dates.

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 5:55:00 PM


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