Click HERE to see where a charge has been made regarding Southern Gospel legend Joel Hemphill’s unorthodox views on the deity of Jesus Christ. Click HERE to read Hemphill’s original quote in full context. It appears the charge is true. He has taken the position that Jesus wasn’t the incarnation of God and attempted to defend that position with certain scriptures that show Jesus to have been less than omnipotent (to Hemphill’s way of thinking).

I haven’t figured out exactly how Hemphill manages to ignore the first chapter of the gospel of John…specifically that part that reads, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” (Clearly, the Word means Jesus in that chapter.) Then you have that earlier part of the chapter that reads, “and the Word was God.” It’s strange that Hemphill quotes the book of John extensively to support his theory, but doesn’t address the very first chapter of the book.

Please say a prayer for my mother. She is scheduled for cancer surgery this coming Wednesday. The doctor doesn’t believe he will be able to get all of the cancer, but he’s going to remove as much as he can.

She’ll face chemotherapy treatments next, which sure doesn’t sound like fun to me. Your prayers are appreciated.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – July 18, 2008 – The Gospel Music Association (GMA) will begin making healthcare more accessible and affordable for its members with the launch of GMA Sound Healthcare, a new and exciting benefit which will offer domestic GMA members access to worldwide comprehensive health insurance coverage, announced John W. Styll, president and CEO of the GMA.

There’s more to the press release. Learn all the details HERE.

It’s encouraging to see GMA taking the initiative to offer their members health care coverage. Health care for music professionals has always been an issue, especially when it comes to groups operating at the periphery of “professional” (ie. grossly underpaid). Of course, I have no idea how competitive GMA’s rates will be versus going to Blue Cross or some other company and buying it for yourself. At the very least, it’s worth checking out. They do offer a high deductible/HSA option, which, in my opinion, is a no-brainer for any young, healthy single person. (An HSA allows you to be covered while also saving any dollars you don’t use for medical bills for retirement.)

If you happen to own a Southern Gospel group, you may be interested in this line from the press release:

In addition to individual, group coverage is also available for companies and their employees who are looking for affordable coverage, custom-tailored for GMA members.

The Dark Knight opens tonight at midnight. So far, all the reviews have been raves. Some are saying all the positive vibes are due to Heath Ledger’s untimely death. If the the quality of Batman Begins was matched or surpassed, it should be a good ride. In addition to the same team of writers, producers, and actors returning (sans Katie Holmes), this one has the Joker, arguably the most popular comic book villain of all time.

For contrast, TNT is airing 1997’s Batman & Robin as I type this. That’s the one with Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, the future governor of “Kah-lee-four-nee-uh” as Mr. Freeze, George Clooney as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Chris O’Donnell as Robin, and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. Oh yeah, the character of Bane was included as well…too many heroes and too many villians, plus the directing was terrible.

I had forgotten just how utterly awful it is to sit through that movie. What a shame to be reminded of it on the eve of what many critics are calling the best comic book movie ever.

Tweety Bird sez a BLUEGRASS song will be number one on the monthly Singing News chart very soon. Will this cause an uproar? I don’t think it should, but we’ll wait and see.

Aussie rockabilly meets Southern Gospel. For once, I’m at a loss for words…

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

Label: Daywind Records
Producer: Steve Mauldin
Website: www.legacyfive.com

Song Titles: “In A Million Years,” “The Moment I Get Up There,” “Goin’ Home Day,” “Hello After Goodbye,” “Every Morning,” “God Will Go,” “What Faith Does,” “Heavenly Signs,” “Roll On,” “Take It To The Cross,” and “God’s Been Good”

Legacy Five would be the classiest sounding group in Southern Gospel if they would focus exclusively on songs that emphasize a fine vocal blend. Few groups can touch them when it comes to a song like “Every Morning.” On God’s Been Good, they take a scatter gun approach. 

“In A Million Years” launches with some of Nashville’s best pickers featured in the track. Gold City would have knocked this one out of the park, and wouldn’t have needed to tack on an encore. Up next is a cutesy cut titled “The Moment I Get Up There.” A more aggressive arrangement might have worked better for this particular song. On “Goin Home Day,” Frank Seamans takes a shot at soul singing. He does a decent job, but I don’t envision Bill Gaither calling him up to take Stephen Hill’s place in the near future. Fans of Legacy Five will love the next song. It’s in a style they do very well, plus this group has always embraced songs that pay tribute to fallen gospel singers…either directly (”Heroes Of The Faith”) or indirectly like this cut. ”Hello After Goodbye” was written by Jim Brady and Barry Weeks to honor Legacy Five’s founding member, Roger Bennett.

“Every Morning” is lighthearted and simple, but one of the highlights on the CD as I’ve already mentioned. “God Will Go” puts me back into wish mode…as in, I really wish Tim Riley was singing bass on this song. Glenn Dustin does a good job on the low stuff, but Riley would have cemented those “I know God” lines in place with greater authority. This is a brass punctuated arrangment in the same style Steve Mauldin frequently used when he was Gold City’s go-to producer. Mauldin shifts to a choral style orchestrated accompaniment for “What Faith Does.” For “Heavenly Signs,” a piano driven arrangement is used that’s similar to many cuts the Cathedrals recorded during Bennett’s years with them. Legacy Five is very effective…not particularly unique…but still quite excellent when tackling songs in this style. Fowler seems particularly comfortable, probably because he’s sung this sort of song more frequently over the years. A similar mood carries over to the next cut, “Roll On,” a Dianne Wilkinson song. Wilkinson, you may remember, wrote quite a few songs for the Cathedrals and again, the style of this arrangement is well suited to Legacy Five’s strengths.  

It’s back to the orchestra for “Take It To The Cross,” a slower paced track that gives Scott Howard an opportunity to paint a picture in rich tones for three and a half minutes. I wish Mauldin had allowed Howard to finish the song rather than hiking up the key and giving the melody to Frank Seamans. The CD closes with another nostalgic song, sung and played lightly on piano by Tim Parton. This is the one cut on the CD that I really want to see performed in front of an audience. With one spotlight on Parton, I think a crowd should immediately go crazy when it’s over…or maybe they’ll be so struck by it that the applause will begin lightly at first before building to a huge standing ovation.

As you can tell, God’s Been Good has some special moments. Two things are lacking. The first is any sort of over-arching theme. The lack of threads running through an album isn’t an automatic minus, but in this case, it’s a noticeable drawback. When a group goes in multiple directions and those directions happen to be styles that other groups often use, they need to blow those groups away. Legacy Five doesn’t. With comparisons to other groups being part of the issue, a sense of musical consistency would tie the CD together and give Legacy Five an advantage. When Legacy Five shines, though, they really shine.

At Joy FM, our staff pastor is Dennis Collins. He comes in regularly to answer questions from a Biblical perspective.
Friday was his birthday. In passing recently, he asked “so which special guest are you going to have call me on my birthday?”
Little did he know who we had up our sleeves… Talley-ho!

-Daniel Britt

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars

Label: Horizon Records
Producers: Jeff Collins and Roger Fortner
Website: www.mckameysonline.com

Song Titles: “Oh How Precious Is The Flow,” “Remember The Mountain,” “Oh What A Trade,” “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us,” “Without Him,” “I Believe,” “Look How Big My God Is,” “Something More,” “I’ve Made Up My Mind,” “I’ll Keep Trusting You,” “Between Twelve And Thirty-Three,” and “I Thought You Ought To Know”

Nutshell Analysis: “Lord, I know that you giveth and I know that You take away.” That’s how the chorus begins on “I’ll Keep Trusting You.” Are there any King James English professors out there who want to explain the problem with this phrase? And yes, the McKameys did record “How Deep The Father’s Love For Us” by Stuart Townend. “Ashamed, I hear mah mawking voice, call out among the skaw-fers.” Have mercy… On the positive side of the equation, there’s “Between Twelve And Thirty-Three,” a well written song by Rusty Golden, Jerry Salley, and Jim McBride. I like the simplicity of the rhyme, “Eighteen years are a mystery. His last three years, He made history.”

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

Producers: Jeff Weaver, Bernie Nau, The Rarely Herd
Website: www.therarelyherd.com

Song Titles: “Every Knee Shall Bow,” “Come And Dine,” “Fields Of The Harvest,” “Safety Zone,” “Gone Long Gone,” “Feed My Sheep,” “Walkn’ On Holy Ground,” “Heartbeat,” “New Born Soul,” “Just Want To Thank You Lord,” “Nothing Can Hold Me,” “Drivin’ Nails,” “Keep On Walking,” “Look Down That Road,” “He Is I Am,” and “If God Be For Us”

Fields Of The Harvest is bluegrass with a few twists. The banjo case is only opened once on the first five tracks, and that’s for the most stereotypical upbeat bluegrass arrangement. The Rarely Herd mixes in more slow paced tunes than the typical bluegrass group. They also cover “Safety Zone” using an a cappella arrangement similar to the Fairfield Four’s, and return to sing a couple more a cappella arrangements by the time you’ve heard the full CD. “Walkin’ On Holy Ground” has a Texas swing treatment. I’m trying to remember what artist recorded “Heartbeat” originally…”Oh Listen to His heartbeat such a different heartbeat.” I know I’ve heard this song before. Do you know? Remember that Mike Payne song Gold City recorded titled “If God Be For Us?” Gold City’s version had some banjo in the mix, but The Rarely Herd dives in with a full bluegrass treatment. The biggest drawback of this recording is the mix. I wish the engineer had EQed the bass guitar to sound fuller. The treble is always heavy, making the mix somewhat harsh even on tracks where the bass player is in the background pounding away. Maybe it’s the bass player who is supposed to be The Rarely Herd….bad pun…I know…

UPDATE (July 13): “Heartbeat” was first recorded by the Singing Americans in 1988 on a project titled Sing Out. If I had checked my own website (SGHistory.com), I’d have known…