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Prejudice and Southern Gospel Music
Following up on the problem of prejudice, I want to take a pot-shot at my generation of Christians. If there is one thing young Christians are prejudiced against, its gotta be Southern Gospel Music.
For many of the contemporary Praise & Worship crowd, Southern Gospel is just too old to be relevant. Its the music of your parents and grandparents. Its the music that you play at Billy Graham crusades, not for people who talk theology at Starbucks.
For many conservative Reformed thinkers, Southern Gospel is too akin to the revivalistic Pentecostalism and the Arminian worldview from which it sprang. It is too performance-driven and performer-centered to be spiritually edifying. Or perhaps, it’s just too southern to be taken seriously.
Speaking by telephone from a hotel room overlooking the Staples Center where the Grammys will be awarded tonight, Bishop said, “The greatest thing about this recognition is having opportunities to share the message of grace with so many people.”
Being nominated as one of the recording industry’s best “is a great blessing,” Bishop said, “but my music is all about spreading the good news of grace.”
“I got to sit down (Friday) with editors and writers of Billboard magazine to talk about my music, and one of the them said, ‘Tell me what grace is.’
“I got to tell them that grace is knowing the goodness of God and enjoying his favor even though you don’t deserve it,” he said.
What I’m referring to are those large black 12” discs ... you know, the one with the tiny hole in the center. But it’s not the vinyl circle that I miss. Instead, it is those album jackets, particularly the liner notes that appeared on practically every LP ever produced.
I cannot tell you the number of times I’d stand in a music store or at a group’s record rack and read the comments of someone like Marvin Norcross (or another member of his family), Ken Harding, Herman Harper, J.G. Whitfield or Eldridge Fox. Remember?
In the words of Jerry Goff, “Yes, I see those hands.” (Jerry Goff wrote his share of liner notes, too.)
Those liner notes often brought the album to “life.” With just a few paragraphs, a successful writer could either talk the reader into taking the album home or have a made-up mind chomping at the bit to get the record on the stereo. Along with mentioning the merits of the artist, some liner notes called attention to particular songs or perhaps, a theme that coursed through the recording. Sometimes, you’d find one artist endorsing another. Regardless of what was written, it added greatly to the anticipation of hearing what was in the paper sleeve inside the cardboard jacket.
The Best of Russ Taff officially releases February 6, along with his brand new album, Now More Than
In an industry where new faces tend to come and go with the seasons, it is important for some of those faces to stay around long enough to sing of eternity with a sense of permanence that just can’t be communicated on a whim. Russ Taff is one of those artists, with a career that spans generations and genres. Russ is embraced by audiences and artists alike - he is the epitome of a performer’s performer. His voice at once embodies the contemporary and the timeless, and he emits authenticity without sacrificing one spark of the dynamite he packs.
Spend almost 10,000 nights on the road and you’re bound to see the downside of singing for your supper. “I could do with a little less traveling,” says Ed O’Neal. Yet without the voyage, the veteran gospel music singer couldn’t ferry his quartet to the journey’s end that makes it all worthwhile.
Almost every seat in the fast-food restaurant was filled as J.C. Gholdston stepped on stage to pray into the microphone.
“Thank you that you’ve allowed us to come to McDonald’s,” he said with eyes closed.
After a hearty chorus of “Amens,” Mr. Gholdston and the other members of the McDonald’s Singers pulled out their Heavenly Highway Hymns and led the crowd in “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” at the Dayton, Tenn., McDonald’s restaurant on Thursday evening.
David Bruce Murray posted some schedule observations on his blog. We just wished we could figure out exactly what he is trying to say. Maybe you can have better luck.
Great article! I spoke with Kenny shortly after his CD was released and the thing that stuck out most to me was how straight forward he was about how God had used his past mistakes to bring him to a place where he could reach out with the message of…
WOW!!! What a wonderful Blessing !! What else can you say after hearing this video? I could listen to it over and over again. God bless you Mark and also the singer and songwriter of this awesome song.Thanks for giving it to us so we can all enjoy the blessings.…
My, My what a blessing. Thanks so much Mark for allowing me to be able to get this video. It took me quite awhile to get it to play all the way through. It would play a few seconds and would stop for a few seconds after it finally made…
