Ah, the good old days
I wish I could've bought that book today.
Today, after I took care of all my personal business, I actually had time to go to the Borders bookstore here in town and read through some books...a pastime that, sadly, I haven't had much time for in a while.
One book caught my attention in particular...the title of it escapes me as I type here, but it is a historical account of how Music Row in Nashville evolved, and in the process, how Nashville became "Music City, USA".
The book offered a number of first-hand anecdotes of just how the studios, the publishing companies, and the record labels all came together to make Nashville the #1 force behind recorded music in the last half of the 20th century.
One such first hand profile was of a man who would become a leading A&R man there who cut his musical teeth on the old "All Night Sings" that Wally Fowler used to promote in the 1950s. A lot of the people who would later become major players in the recording industry got interested in music because of the gospel quartets of the 1940s and 1950s.
This gentleman particularly noted the Statesmen and Blackwood Brothers, who he said had "more talent" and stage presence than 90% of the country acts of the day, and he spoke with nostalgic affection about how good they and many of their competitors in gospel music were.
My first reaction after reading all that was, "Why don't people speak that way about gospel artists anymore?"
Now, I realize there is a lot of truly talented people out there today in the gospel field. But it DOES seem that fewer fans of music in general are aware of the talent that's in the gospel genre, especially when you compare what many of the top artists in the general music business were aware of in the gospel field back then. Clearly, that sense of excitement about the best gospel music artists is missing now when compared to what was taking place 40 years ago.
And, to me, that is a sad thing.
I've gotta buy that book the next time I go to Borders.
Posted on Mar 13, 2007 - 11:27 PM | [7]
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I'll try to get that title for you as soon as I can, Daniel.
There is a group out there today performing up to those standards. I know you don't care for the looks on their faces, but it nonetheless remains that they do have a traditional male quartet sound, a highly professional stage presentation, and generate quite a bit of excitement.