David Bruce Murray
Nov 17, 2008
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Some Artists CAN Play And Sing Well
Recently, Doug Harrison posted a blog article titled “Double Threat.” The question raised is why Southern Gospel artists don’t play their own instruments. It’s been interesting to watch the comments pooh-poohing the idea.
Tanner Stahl says it’s difficult for him to do both well at the same time; he’d rather focus on doing one or the other really well. Fair enough, but surely there are some artists talented enough to do both.
John goes off on a tangent about how bad the singers are in Country music. He has a point, I suppose, but their fans don’t seem to mind when they’re spending $50-100 per ticket and more to see them in concert.
Art thinks a live performance requires at least 16 instruments before tracks can be replaced in Southern Gospel.
I was thinking about drawing a comparison to the early iterations of the Crabb Family, back when the band was mostly made up of family members. But then, I read today’s blog article by Kyle Boreing. He features a YouTube clip of Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives singing “The Unseen Hand.” In this clip, one group member is playing a guitar while Marty and two other guys sing inspired trio harmony around a single microphone. This clip doesn’t demonstrate the full scope of what they can do. On Gaither’s recent pair of Country/Bluegrass DVDs, all four members of the Superlatives sing and play instruments with an emphasis on blending vocal harmony that isn’t too far from Southern Gospel. See below.
So, it CAN be done. The idea just isn’t considered by most Southern Gospel artists. If it’s due to lack of musical ability, that’s fair enough. If it’s mostly due to the fear that fans will miss hearing all the brass and horns in your Milton Smith production, though, that’s a sad reason to opt for not including instruments. Adding instruments is one way to make your group stand out in a genre where most groups are satisfied with the status quo.
