Much food for thought
I want it to be known that I check out ALL the new articles on the main Southern Gospel News website every month, but one I(and apparently many others)check out especially closely is Nick Bruno's.
For nearly six years now, Nick has graced the site with his direct and pointed observations on the state of the southern gospel music industry, which he has been a longtime veteran of. And as a performer with such noteworthy groups as the Eastmen Quartet, the Rebels Quartet, the Kingsmen Quartet, and JD Sumner and the Stamps, he certainly contributed musically to the genre.
And in subsequent years as a producer and mentor to young and new artists, he has tried his best to give back to this genre he obviously loves a great deal.
His articles in SGN each month since 2003 are intended to inform the readers about the southern gospel industry, and provide practical advice for aspiring artists on how to prepare and equip themselves to reach their goals.
Now this sometimes can involve some fairly direct and blunt assessments of the industry as well as the aspiring artists themselves. And, as might be expected from his background as someone hailing from New York City(as Nick does), some of Nick's analyses can be quite matter-of-fact.
A good example of what I just described can be found in Nick's latest article this month, which can be accessed from the main page on the SGN site.
Nick's primary concern this month appears to be the identity and heritage of the southern gospel music genre. He seems to be concerned that, since there is so much stylistic variety among artists purporting to represent the genre, that the basic identity of southern gospel music could disappear, and in so doing, an important part of our American cultural heritage could be lost.
Now it is not for me in this particular installment of my little corner of the web to analyze Nick's comments. I have already addressed a lot of his concerns in previous postings here, and I share many(but not all)of Nick's concerns, mostly where they deal with the stylistic and musical identity of the genre.
I simply mention Nick's article because 1)like all Nick's articles, it's well-written and put forth, and 2)it has inspired a LOT of response, on every possible side of the issue...and that alone is worth recommending it and all the comments thus far to it, if you're inclined or curious about the issues yourself, and want to have a good basis on which to make up YOUR mind about it.
The response was such after just two days of being up to peruse that Matt Felts wrote what would appear to be a direct response to it, and that article can be accessed as well from SGN's main page.
So do I have thoughts on both articles? And if so, what are they?...I hear some of you asking.
Well, for now(and maybe for good)I'm going to stay out of this one. I think many of you who know me and have discussed those issues with me personally have a pretty good idea where I come down on the matter...but I don't think that what I think about the issue is that important.
Rather, I ask you all to check out Nick's article, check out Matt's article, and then decide for yourselves how YOU feel about it all. The thinking will do you all good. I may choose to weigh in further at some point, I'm not sure.
But one thing I AM sure of...when it comes to interesting, substantive discussion of gospel music issues...Southern Gospel News is still the place to go first!
Posted on Jun 08, 2009 - 02:17 AM | [0]
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