Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival, Day 3
It was time to wrap up the 10th Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival at the Save Mart Center in Fresno. The first two nights were wonderful nights of good family entertainment and fine gospel singing….what would the grand finale have in store for us?
It didn’t take long for the 9,000 + fans who turned out to find out, as the Hoppers kicked off the night in a fine set featuring their huge hit, “Shoutin’ Time”. The crowd picked up on the energy of the singers, and there was a lot of foot stomping and hand clapping at the outset.
As the previous evening was Phil Cross night, so tonight was “quartet night”, quartets were a major highlight of the evening. Before the quartet brace came our way, Oregon’s Knox Brothers came out…they are a true family group, made up entirely of actual blood brothers who also play their own instruments. Although I’m not one to put down tracks for their own sake, it’s still almost heroic in this day and age to make your own “live” music. This the Knox Brothers do…I especially was impressed by Ed Knox singing bass while playing his drums…if you’ve ever tried to play drums and sing, you know how hard THAT is. Unfortunately, guitarist Wayne Knox had a problem on the first song…he was singing into a “dead” mike. He was rescued by one of his brothers going over and letting him “borrow” his mike to sing the song. With this kind of quick thinking and teamwork, the Knoxes were able to get all their songs in during their time limit…unlike Legacy Five the night before, who were at the mercy of their malfunctioning tracks.
The Knox Brothers sang good songs, and even did instrumental interludes during their set, which most of the other groups could not do. I sensed that the audience enjoyed the Knoxes proficiency a great deal. I know I did.
The Palmetto State Quartet came next, and they made quite a hit with the audience…they seemed to particularly enjoy bass singer “Tex” McCune, who was in good form for the group’s set. They did a tour de force of quartet music, old and new, and they did it all with flair and style…wrapping up their set with the Statesmen’s arrangement of “Just A Little While”. They made it look so easy in the process.
I thought I may have caught an embarrassing faux pas, but since I can’t swear to what I thought I saw, it may not have been so. At one point, it appeared that Tex was singing along to a track…his part was being heard, and his mouth didn’t appear to be moving. It’s only because of my surprise in seeing that during a PSQ set that I don’t say more…they do such a fine job of preserving the quartet heritage.
Next came the Florida Boys…I DIDN’T miss them tonight! They did their usual dependably professional set, to my delight they featured bass singer Gene McDonald often. His singing never fails to amaze audiences everywhere, and Fresno in 2006 was no exception…again. Their set wrapped up with Derrell Stewart taking his turn on vocals on his vocal “sugar stick”, “This Heart Of Mine”, and it was like watching him go into the Hall of Fame all over again.
The Dixie Melody Boys did a fine set to round out the first half…despite people coming and going from his group, Ed O’Neal always keeps it together, and keeps bringing good young singers to us for our enjoyment and blessing.
I barely got back in my box seat in time to catch the Pfiefers’ second half opening set…again, their tremendous vocal and instrumental skill and their spiritual emphasis never fails to move the Fresno crowds, and one can’t help but feel a special presence when they perform.
California’s Watchmen were next…with a special video display to help celebrate their 35th anniversary as a performing group. The audience received them warmly, and they did an inspired set as a result.
But that was nothing compared to what followed.
The Herb Henry Family were next, and did a couple of their current releases with their usual proficiency and panache. I mentioned two days ago that it is nearly impossible for me to be objective regarding the Herb Henry Family. I have been involved with Herb and his group almost from their beginnings, and to see how far they have progressed and how much they have developed musically is a real source of joy to me. They have become one of the most skilled and versatile groups going. Who else in this day and age can, as they did tonight, sight read a cappella from a Stamps Baxter songbook, sing modern southern gospel with flair, performing original material, then wrap up a set as they did tonight out-Goodmaning the Goodmans on one of their classics, “Looking For A City”, get an audience rocking in the aisles, and thus earn a standing ovation(the third of the event thus far)? Even Herb’s wife Nancy sang a classic old gospel song during their set!
Les Beasley came out with Dean Hopper to do some promos for next year’s event and shouted, “Nice job!” to the Herb Henry Family as they came offstage. That said it all…and then some!
Gretaer Vision was like an aerobic “cooldown” coming after the Henrys…which in a way seemed appropriate. Nonetheless, they did a solid set…and kept the audience involved with some excellent original material, as always.
As was the case the first two nights, the Hoppers closed the evening…and the Fresno audience has learned to love them during the past five years. Tonight was no exception.
The night, and the event, closed with all the groups coming on stage to sing “Shoutin’ Time” along with the Hoppers. Musically, it was one of the best GWSGFFs I have attended…again, I felt the Herb Henry Family were the “champions” of the event…with the Florida Boys and Liberty running right behind them.
On a personal level, it was enjoyable to talk to the Florida Boys and Connie Hopper(the true queen of gospel music today), as well as Ed O’Neal and the HerbHenry Family. It was also nice to see the girls of gospelharmonies.com again from Sacramento. Regrettably, I was unable to buy any more LPs from Harold Timmons, but I left word that I’d be “bugging” him about his classic LPs in the future.
I also didn’t get to see some friends of Cheri and Don Baldwin that I was told would be there…nor did I get to see EVIDENCE, Jim Weatherford’s group who performed at the “Best in the West” showcase in the afternoon. But I did see Jim, and he assured me that EVIDENCE did well. Most heartening to me was the fact that Gene McDonald spoke words of encouragement to Jim and EVIDENCE before and after their set. This was nice to hear, and as a result, Jim was on cloud 18, as you would expect. I immediately went to Gene and thanked him for encouraging a friend of mine. It just goes to show that the real superstars of gospel music are such for more than just their singing ability. Gene has nothing to prove to anyone anymore…he doesn’t have to be there to “show out”…clearly he is out there on business for the King. I knew I liked him for more than just the best bass singing going today! That has to be one of my major highlights of this event!
Both Beasley and Claude Hopper seemed to be pleased at how the event did this year…good crowds, good sales…and great singing! The GWSGFF just gets better every year!
Posted on Apr 30, 2006 - 08:06 PM | [0]
Comments |
Southern Gospel Music
|
Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages
Comments
