RATING (overall series): 3 Stars

Daywind’s Live At Oak Tree series offers fans an opportunity to see artists performing in a pseudo-studio setting. You can see mics, headsets, and wires running around, and you can see the drummer and the engineer in their respective rooms isolated from the singers and other musicians. I’ve watched a couple of the DVDs in the series from beginning to end and another couple in bits and pieces. The titles I’ve seen at least in part are those by the Booth Brothers, Legacy Five, Aaron & Amanda Crabb and Crabb Revival. I also have Greater Vision’s, but I haven’t got around to watching it yet. There’s at least one more title in the series featuring Austins Bridge, but I don’t have that one.

The novelty of Live At Oak Tree is that these DVDs were recorded in a studio rather than on a stage in front of a group of fans. The studio is merely a backdrop, though.  The performances are  mostly “live” (hence the series title), meaning the singers and musicians start and stop songs at the same time rather than laying them down piece by piece as they’d typically do with a studio recording.

I’m puzzled as to why the concept of recording in a studio is only marginally revealed. I saw no shots, for example, of an engineer doing a ProTools edit or a singer explaining why they prefer a certain microphone over another or a drummer tuning his kit. Because it’s “live,” there’s no opportunity to see a song constructed. There’s certainly talk of the studio being the place where songs come to life, but we never get to witness a birth.

You’re in the studio. You have the tools. Show us how it works!

All that to say, this series is most disappointing due to the fact that the studio is merely used as the backdrop. It’s really too bad the studio itself was never included as one of the characters in the drama.

Speaking of “live,” I noticed a glaring drawback on the Booth Brothers DVD. The only visible instruments were drums, guitars and a pianist. I noticed, but didn’t mind so much when I heard a few horn fills and some strings. The illusion crumbled completely, though, when a prominent harmonica was featured throughout an entire song with no harmonica player anywhere in sight. What’s the point of calling it a “live” recording if you aren’t even going to pretend? I know this sort of thing happens all the time on “live” audio projects, but this is DVD. We can plainly SEE that the musician isn’t there. Half Live At Oak Tree isn’t such a great title for a series, but it would be more accurate.

One other issue is the lighting. I’m all for artistic license, but it makes no sense for one singer’s face to be washed out throughout most of the shoot due to a bright light glaring up at him from the floor. That may be intentional, but it sure looks like a mistake.

Of course, with any Southern Gospel project, video or otherwise, what matters most is the music. In this series, we get to see how these artists make the most of a setting that is neither stage nor truly studio oriented. Lest I seem too discouraging about the series, let me say there ARE several terrific moments.

The Crabb Revival DVD has the most spontaneous “live” elements of the four DVDs I’ve watched. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the musicians appearing with them here also tour with them. I came away from the Booth Brothers DVD completely impressed by Jim Brady’s ability to communicate a lyric. Previously, I had considered Ronnie Booth to be the defining voice of the group, but I’m reconsidering that assessment. Brady tweaks their sound when he’s on harmony and commands attention when he has a solo. I enjoyed the humor and testimonies on Aaron & Amanda Crabb’s DVD, particularly the bit where they were trying to determine how old Aaron was when he wrote his first song. There’s also a special segment on Legacy Five’s DVD where we meet Frank Seamans, Jr, and he shares the challenges he faces with cancer.

I really like the idea of a series like this. As several artists mention, the studio is a place where fans can’t typically interact with artists. Unfortunately, this series fails to illuminate what the process of recording in a studio entails. Instead, fans are treated to watching the artists do the same sort of thing they’d do on stage. That’s good in and of itself, but this series could have been truly unique if the concept had been more focused on exploring what really happens in the studio.