I know that I haven’t had the chance to post in a while but I have been really busy. There have been a lot of changes and life has been happening really fast. A lot of times we get so caught up in life that we don’t take the time to just sit back and rest. I am very guilty of overworking by doing church, singing in groups, Bible study, going to concerts, running a website, and the list goes on. With doing all these things it is very easy to loose sight of the real reason that you do them. One of the many things that I have done while being so busy is singing in church. Me Mike and another guy that I have known for a long time sing as a trio at our local church. In a church that is not a strong southern gospel church, we make it a point to do everything southern gospel. We do everything from Gaither Vocal Band to Poet Voices to Greater Vision.
With the Christmas season starting out it was time to pull out the Christmas music. For whatever reason, I have not really listened to a lot of Christmas Music this year. I’ll flip through the radio stations and all of them are playing their versions of Jingle Bells and The Christmas Song. I did pick up 3 new Christmas CDs: Diamond Rio, David Phelps One Wintry Night, and Jason Crabb Because It’s Christmas. Of course David Phelps was the best one out of the bunch. It was mostly an original in the fact that he had a hand in writing the songs. The ones he didn’t write he arranged. His first Christmas CD was more traditional with the brass and big orchestras. This Christmas CD was done as if David were writing the music so he was allowed to put his own touches. The other two were got but not quite as good.
Back to my point of singing. We always like to pick music that is southern gospel first of all and second of all we pick music that says something. This year we picked a song called Give the Gift by Tribute Quartet. This wasn’t on a typical Christmas CD but was a bonus cut on their first CD, My Tribute. The guys are friends of mine and you won’t find a better group of guys out there. They have the right heart for what they are doing and it shows. We had the opportunity to interview them for our first podcast, so if you want to know a little more about their ministry head on over to http://www.southerngospelva.com and listen to the podcast. (Now that I have put in my plug we can move on)
A lot of times we get so busy with Christmas that we forget the real reason for the season. I know that phrase has become cliché now but there is a lot of truth there. I was in Walmart for a couple things well before Thanksgiving and they already had up Christmas décor. The real meaning of Christmas is being forgotten and things like black Friday or the fact that a certain store says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas” has taken over. The more these kinds of things take over I think the more applicable the words to this song become. Take a look at the lyrics.
Give the Gift
Verse 1:
Seems Christmas starts earlier each season
The stores light up for all the wrong reasons
Displaying all the latest things to spend your money on
That only lasts a moment then their gone
Chorus:
Give the gift that keeps on giving
The one that makes this life worth living
The one that won’t wear out or ever fall apart
Give the reason for the season
Give them something to believe in
Give the gift that keeps on giving
Share the Jesus in your heart
Verse 2:
There’s lots of things we could buy each other
But to really show our love for one another
This year why not share the gift God sent to you and me
The One He left hanging on a tree Chorus
Chorus 2:
Give the gift that keeps on giving
The one that makes this life worth living
The one that won’t wear out or ever fall apart
Give the reason for the season
Give them something to believe in
Give the gift that keeps on giving
Share the Jesus in your heart
Give the reason for the season
Give them something to believe in
Give the gift that keeps on giving
Share the Jesus in your heart
So this season and throughout the rest of the year remember that the most important thing you can do is give someone the gift of Jesus.
Jeremy
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Old vs. New music
As I sit in my living room, I watch Hovie Lister, Big Chief, Doy Ott, Jake Hess and Denver Crumpler, better known as the Statesmen Quartet. In the 1950’s they did a lot of promotion for Nabisco. They had a weekly television program where they would sing songs and advertise for Nabisco (National Biscuit Company). In their day, this was unheard of and way ahead of their time. Just like in a lot of other areas, they were way ahead of their time and probably the most innovative gospel group to ever be on a southern gospel stage. Hovie Lister’s standards in having a group was to have the best singers he could find, the most spiritual he could find, and the best performers that he could find. That sounds like the making of a pretty good group to me.
Not only were they innovative in the way they presented themselves, but they were also innovative in their singing. When I listen to the early Statesmen LPs, Denver Crumpler era and back, I hear so many things that a lot of groups just don’t try today. I hear inverted harmonies, modern harmony, and key changes in the middle of verses without warning or intro. (Just imagine they did all that around just one mic and without a lot of fancy equipment.) And like all changes in music, there were a lot of Christians who didn’t take to well to their music. They still had a good message but because of the type of chords they were using and the instruments they were using, it was somehow less spiritual or couldn’t be classified as “Christian.” Does this struggle seem at all familiar in today’s culture and today’s music world?
So many of the younger southern gospel artist and contemporary artist have this same struggle. Their music does not fit the exact mold of what is the norm for that day and they become outcast in the Christian music world and are not seen as viable Christian musicians. I think back to another Statesmen story. They released a song called “Head’n Home.” Personally this is one of my favorite Statesmen songs. It has a simple message of I’m weary, I want to rest, and I want to go home to heaven. When they released this to radio they had DJs breaking it on the air and saying that they would never play it again. Now roll forward about 40 years to the 1990s. Another group named the Kingsmen Quartet recorded it with a similar track. I didn’t hear of any widespread stories of that CD being broken because it was radical. Times changed and even though back then this song was seen as out in left field it can be done today and accepted without a second thought. In fact, the Kingdom Heirs did a whole CD as tribute to the Statesmen. They did the arrangements as close to the old Statesmen as they could. Still no broken CDs on the air.
I know by this point, a lot who are reading this are wondering where in the world are you going with this. Let me get to my point. I love all kinds of music old and new alike. I love to hear old groups like the Statesmen, Weatherfords, Cathedrals, Imperials, and the Melody Masters and the list could go on. That doesn’t mean that is the only way to do it and there cant be any new good music. It doesn’t matter whether the group decides to wear matching 3 piece suits or jeans and polo shirts. It’s all about the message. Just in case that didn’t come through loud and clear the first time, It’s all about the message. Let’s encourage some of these new younger groups that have the right heart for the ministry. We have enough negativity and tearing down people because we don’t agree with one thing that they are doing when they are doing 10 others that we do agree with. So the next time your favorite group (or not so favorite group) is in town go out to the concert. After the concert put your arm around them and tell them that you appreciate what they are doing and the ministry that they have. You don’t know what kind of encouragement you would be to them and you might just make their day.
Jeremy
Not only were they innovative in the way they presented themselves, but they were also innovative in their singing. When I listen to the early Statesmen LPs, Denver Crumpler era and back, I hear so many things that a lot of groups just don’t try today. I hear inverted harmonies, modern harmony, and key changes in the middle of verses without warning or intro. (Just imagine they did all that around just one mic and without a lot of fancy equipment.) And like all changes in music, there were a lot of Christians who didn’t take to well to their music. They still had a good message but because of the type of chords they were using and the instruments they were using, it was somehow less spiritual or couldn’t be classified as “Christian.” Does this struggle seem at all familiar in today’s culture and today’s music world?
So many of the younger southern gospel artist and contemporary artist have this same struggle. Their music does not fit the exact mold of what is the norm for that day and they become outcast in the Christian music world and are not seen as viable Christian musicians. I think back to another Statesmen story. They released a song called “Head’n Home.” Personally this is one of my favorite Statesmen songs. It has a simple message of I’m weary, I want to rest, and I want to go home to heaven. When they released this to radio they had DJs breaking it on the air and saying that they would never play it again. Now roll forward about 40 years to the 1990s. Another group named the Kingsmen Quartet recorded it with a similar track. I didn’t hear of any widespread stories of that CD being broken because it was radical. Times changed and even though back then this song was seen as out in left field it can be done today and accepted without a second thought. In fact, the Kingdom Heirs did a whole CD as tribute to the Statesmen. They did the arrangements as close to the old Statesmen as they could. Still no broken CDs on the air.
I know by this point, a lot who are reading this are wondering where in the world are you going with this. Let me get to my point. I love all kinds of music old and new alike. I love to hear old groups like the Statesmen, Weatherfords, Cathedrals, Imperials, and the Melody Masters and the list could go on. That doesn’t mean that is the only way to do it and there cant be any new good music. It doesn’t matter whether the group decides to wear matching 3 piece suits or jeans and polo shirts. It’s all about the message. Just in case that didn’t come through loud and clear the first time, It’s all about the message. Let’s encourage some of these new younger groups that have the right heart for the ministry. We have enough negativity and tearing down people because we don’t agree with one thing that they are doing when they are doing 10 others that we do agree with. So the next time your favorite group (or not so favorite group) is in town go out to the concert. After the concert put your arm around them and tell them that you appreciate what they are doing and the ministry that they have. You don’t know what kind of encouragement you would be to them and you might just make their day.
Jeremy
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