Lay off the Inspirations!
One of the more inexplicable phenomena of recent years in gospel music writing is why one of the industry’s leading groups(the Inspirations)is regularly pilloried and put down for the sound of their music, especially in light of their enduring popularity as a group for over 40 years now…culminating in yet another Fan Award for favorite male quartet(shared with EHSSQ).
Their detractors say they lack professionalism and musical skill…a ridiculous charge if examined with any degree of closeness. They sing on key and on pitch, and Martin Cook is more than competent on piano, as is his son Myron on bass. And the singers seem to have the basic gospel quartet style of singing down pat….handling conventional arrangements as well as some of the trickier Stamps/Baxter style ones. And they excel at the old-fashioned shape note style, too.
Maybe Martin is no piano virtuoso a la Anthony Burger, but is that any reason to put him and his piano playing down? Martin does have a definable, basic gospel piano style that fits his group like a glove…therein may lie the rub with some gospel music critics who seem to enjoy lording their inherent musical superiority over us.
The Inspirations know what they’re doing. They know what they do, they’re good at it, and they stick with it. They don’t force their style in unnatural directions in a vain attempt to look “cool” or current. They understand their music, and most important, they understand what people like, and how to give that to them.
When they first attracted attention as a quartet in the late 1960s, promoter JG Whitfield asked Les Beasley who people liked seeing at singings…and Beasley said that there was this quartet of youngsters from the mountains of North Carolina who people just adored, and that they had a tenor singer who “nobody liked but the people”. Even then, the Inspirations moved audiences. Whit listened, and then began to book the Inspirations extensively in the Southeast, and they caught fire like a gas can in no time.
I don’t have formal degrees in music or anything, but I know enough to know that music isn’t solely based on technical proficiency. Especially with gospel songs, the good groups are the ones that move the hearts of audiences as well as their ears. And the Inspirations are competent enough musically that they can move ears, and skilled enough communicators in song that they can move hearts with their singing as well.
And it’s that ability to reach audiences that has made the Inspirations popular now for over 40 years…and that popularity shows no signs of abating, even in these times of gospel groups seemingly falling all over themselves to sound “cool” or “progressive”. The Inspirations are real…they put on no airs, and don’t pretend to be anything that they aren’t, which resonates with their audience, and as a result, the group stays popular with fans, and sells out wherever they sing. It was once estimated that the Inspirations brought over $70 million a year in revenue to the Bryson City, NC area that they proudly hail from.
I shouldn’t think the mindless criticism bothers the Inspirations much…they’re busy all year, they encounter adoring fans on a regular basis, and they’re a model of integrity in a business more in need of it than might be imagined. They can laugh at those comments all the way to the bank!
The Inspirations have been one of the most distinctive gospel groups in the history of the music…and I say, give them their due…they’ve earned it!
Posted on Sep 29, 2006 - 09:33 PM | [0]
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