What did I miss?

Well, the 50th National Quartet Convention is now history...and once again, I couldn't attend myself to catch all the excitement(and everything else there).

I did, however, read several reports from people who were there...thanks, folks, for sharing your impressions.

And I even got to get a look at some of the other fine people who write blogs about gospel music...thanks, Daniel and Aaron, for taking and sharing the pictures I saw.

As expected, the reactions and impressions of the various commentators were varied...due to tastes and their respective expectations of each artist(and event). From those, I gathered that each artist performed as most expected, pleasing their fans, and earning at least polite attention from their detractors. Maybe detractors is not quite the proper word, but by that I simply mean those who are not fans of that particular artist.

So what can I comment on, since I was not there to take it in myself?

One item that has come up in discussions about the convention is Les Beasley's official announcement during the Florida Boys' official farewell set that that venerable name has been sold to promoter Charlie Waller, who is going to put a new Florida Boys Quartet on the road with all new members, including himself.

Now I don't know how often Waller intends to work with the group, nor do I know his long term vision for what this group is to be. So from here for now, my jury is out on this new group of Florida Boys...the only two in the announced group I am familiar with as performers are baritone Buddy Burton, a longtime gospel trouper and a most talented singer and performer...and the young pianist Joshua Pope, who has dazzled fans at Waller's Grand Old Gospel Reunion and elsewhere with his amazing skills.

Again, I don't know how this group will sound...or what their plans are for appearances and such. The only misgiving I have about this new group is their taking the name of one of the most venerable and established groups in gospel history. Not that there's anything wrong with doing that per se, but adopting the Florida Boys name will cause many fans to make comparisons between Waller's group and the old group, and that can put undue pressure and expectations on a new group. Even if one forgets about the name and listens to Waller's group on its' own merits, it will be extremely difficult for fans to hear them, and notice their name, and not make comparisons to their favorite version of the Florida Boys of the past. That will make it tough for Waller's quartet to be accepted by some gospel fans, no doubt.

I will not comment here on the relative propriety of a new group taking on a familiar name...there are too many issues involved in that to do a brief analysis of that phenomenon in this space. As I said above, for now, I will suspend any qualitative judgments on Waller's new quartet until I've heard enough of them to form an informed opinion. I can only wish them a lot of luck for now, because they're going to need it.

But I conclude this post by saying that I wish I could have been there(again), to meet some of my favorite people...and hear some of the best gospel singers(and songs)in the world.

Maybe next time...

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