Label: M2.0/Total Living Network
Producer: Cindy Montano
Narrator: Charlie Daniels
Website: www.MoreThanTheMusic.net and www.tln.com

More Than The Music . . . Life Story is the first in a new video series. It is a complimentary product to the music series of the similar title, More Than The Music . . . Live, which was introduced earlier in 2002. Both series have similar cover graphics. Don't get the two confused, though. MTTM . . . Live is a collection of musical performances and interviews with current Christian singers. You can read my review of that project by clicking here.

MTTM . . . Life Story is a completely different animal. This DVD presents the histories of the Blackwood Brothers and the Happy Goodman Family with narration by Charlie Daniels. 70 minutes are devoted to the Blackwood Brothers and 80 to the Happy Goodmans. Each section provides a more or less chronological account of each group's history, including the trials encountered and the significant goals that were achieved as the years progressed.

A number of visual elements enhance the narration. As you'd expect, there's plenty of historical footage of the groups in action on stage and photographs. The video and photographs are shown as interviews and narration trace each group's history. James Blackwood, Duane Allen, Terry Blackwood, Cecil Blackwood, Gordon Stoker, Ron Blackwood, and others provide context and background for the Blackwood Brothers section of the DVD. Howard and Vestal Goodman, Johnny Minick, Tanya Goodman, and other family members were interviewed for the Goodman section.

Perhaps the most unique visual elements in this series are the re-enactments of key moments. The style of the re-enactments is a vintage sound stage look, like that of 1970s era sitcoms. When the Blackwood story reaches the point about the fateful plane crash that took the lives of two members, we see actors portraying James Blackwood and Jake Hess as they watched the plane burn, with Jake holding James to keep him from running into the flames for a futile rescue attempt. Howard Goodman is shown as a twelve year old visiting a neighbor who allowed him to practice the piano in the Goodman story. Vestal is portrayed during a private prayer time when she was needing an answer about the direction the group should go in signing a recording contract. These and other re-enactments help us visualize how some of these events might have actually been.

The DVD doesn't shy away from the tough times either. Ron Blackwood's troubles with the law and Billy Blackwood's drug issues are confronted directly, including their own perspectives along with those of James and Jimmy. In the Goodman section of the DVD, Howard and Vestal give a very candid commentary on why they left the group in the 1980s, and the bittersweet reunion that came 10 years later when it was discovered that Rusty Goodman had incurable cancer.

Often in Southern Gospel, we're only presented with the glamour and glitz of what it's like to be a gospel music artist. It's encouraging to see a video like this that has a very honest and realistic approach to telling the life stories of these singers. The high points are emphasized, sure, but the low points are also acknowledged. The dramatic re-enactments, family photos, and video footage enhance the stories, and the production quality of the DVD, including the transfer of old video to the digital format, is excellent. The video is also available in a VHS format twin pack.

I rate it: Highly Recommended.