A historian?

As the writer of the monthly SG History 101 feature for Southern Gospel News, this is something I have been called often. But is it accurate?

I’ve never been much for titles. I don’t need to have a fancy label to do what I do…I’d rather just do what I do, and be appreciated because I do it. I’m not the only one who feels that way. Al Davis, the longtime owner of the Oakland Raiders football team, has never had a real title since he coached the team from 1963-1966. Just to satisfy all the people who clamored for him to tell them what he was, he gave himself a fancy title…”Managing General Partner”…because (1)he co-owns the team, and (2)he makes most of the management decisions. Seems appropriate, but it’s clear that Davis never has really cared what others may call him.

“Historian” is defined as two things…(1)a student of history…and (2)a chronicler of historical events. Under those terms, I suppose “historian” is an appropriate title, because I AM a student of history, and I DO chronicle it. But there are many things a historian is assumed to be that I don’t feel I am.

I am NOT a fact machine on gospel music information. OK, I know more minutiae about it than most people, but I am not so absorbed in such data that I can automatically recite the members of say, the Scenicland Boys off the top of my head. I have to look it up just like the rest of you But isn’t a “historian” supposed to KNOW stuff like that? No…he may…or he may not.

Is a historian an “expert” simply because he is a student of the genre in question? That’s a term I feel VERY uncomfortable with. In the last 24 hours, many basketball fans are questioning the contention made often this season that the Dallas Mavericks’ fine forward Dirk Nowitzki is a “superstar” after his team lost to the Miami Heat in the championship series after winning the first two games of that best-of-7 series. Nowitzki is a fine player, but is probably not a “superstar”…especially when compared to other excellent players such as Larry Bird or Michael Jordan.

And while I know a lot about gospel music, I’m not a musician nor a professional singer…and there are many that know more about those rudiments of the genre than I. So student, yes…chronicler, yes…expert….that might be a bit much.

I just try to learn as much as I can about an art form I’ve loved most of my life…and “chronicle” its’ story and tradition to interested readers. That, however, doesn’t infer any sort of special label or “anointing” on me that anyone else doesn’t have. I’m just doing the best I can with what I’ve got.

Just your friendly neighborhood “historian” trying to “chronicle” the story of gospel music as best I can.

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