Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival 2008, Day 1
Well, another GWSGFF has kicked off with a bang.
I got there a little later than I'd planned, but once at the Save Mart Center I immediately felt at home. I met several singers and old friends prior to the singing, among them Royce Mitchell of the Liberty Quartet, Jim Weatherford of the Orange County quartet Evidence, Herb Henry, and even Les Beasley! I was surprised that Les would come out since his Florida Boys are longer part of the event, but there he was(no, Cliff, I didn't ask him about the tapes yet...I plan to, though!). It was great to see old and new friends so quickly.
Just before the program started, I helped out at our KMJ booth there, relieving Earline Starnes for a while so she could also circulate about. I was amazed to notice how many of the people that happened by our booth were from Oregon or Washington...but the GWSGFF is the closest major event to them, so I shouldn't be too stunned.
I settled into our suite just as Legacy Five concluded "Boundless Love". Then to my great delight, the Liberty Quartet from Boise was the first official set. I've said for some time that they are the outstanding gospel quartet in the Western United States, and they proceeded to demonstrate that once again. Their set consisted primarily of songs from their latest CD, the most noteworthy of them being a rewrite of the Mills Brothers classic "Cab Driver", retitled "Bus Driver" to make it apply to gospel music. The outstanding musical characteristic of the Liberty Quartet is their almost flawless facility in going from old time quartet singing to semi contemporary and from great hymns of faith to lighter, fun material such as "Bus Driver". Bass singer and manager Royce Mitchell was in typical fine form(IMHO, he is one of the very top bass singers on the road today), as was the rest of the quartet, and they never fail to leave GWSGFF crowds wanting more.
Next was Grass Valley(CA)'s Johnson Family Quartet, a father who plays guitar and his three daughters who sing, and their nice set was dampened only by their announcement that they would be leaving the road by the end of this calendar year.
The Beene Family was next, a group originally from Fresno that has now made it in Nashville on a national level. This friendly and engaging family always enjoys singing before the old home folks, and their set was well received. It is amazing what an "umbrella" genre that "southern" gospel has become in recent years, ranging among different artists from traditional quartet stylings to bluegrass to country to what we radio people like to call A/C(Adult Contemporary)...modern sounding but not nearly Christian rock. The Beenes' material would mostly fall under that "A/C" classification, but they concluded their set with the old Kingsmen standard "Beautiful Home" that got the people in the closest seats to the stage standing and clapping. Tonight's program had that "something for everybody" feel to it among all the participating artists.
Then came one of the major highlights of the night for me...the King's Heralds Quartet was there, and they did an a cappella number from the crowd that so captured their attention that they were hushed as the Heralds(a cappella specialists)elecrtified the crowd with their many chord and key changes in their difficult(to sing along with)arrangement. The Heralds are such fine quartet singers that their style transcends mere southern gospel and is reminiscent of both barbershop harmony and great past quartets like the Hi-Los(IMHO, THE greatest quartet ever...bar none!).
I could have heard more, but they were done for tonight...next came a video credited to the Gaither organization of the Oak Ridge Boys(ca. 1967)singing "Sweeter Gets The Journey". It was nice to look back at Little Willie, Duane, Bill, Herman, and Tommy Fairchild once more.
The next live group was the Palmetto State Quartet. This is the first that I've heard of them since adding Larry Strickland(Mr. Naomi Judd and ex-of the Stamps)on bass and their new pianist. Their style hasn't chsnged much since Aaron McCune was still with them, meaning(for me)that they did a solid, professional set...and the crowd(about half the arena capacity)was responsive to their fine singing.
Then the group that I regard to be the finest currently based in California came on stage...the Herb Henry Family. Dispensing with their usual backing tracks, they came out with Herb at the piano accompanying his children(Chris, Amanda, and Angela). I've admitted in the past to having almost a paternal feeling about them, since I've been hearing them often since Herb first put the group together. When they started, the kids were hard to listen to at tiems vocally. But what a difference a few years made. All three are now seasoned, talented singers with stage presence and depth.
The majority of their songs tonight were old quartet standards done to simple piano accompaniment. Herb got applause for a piano solo during "His Hand In Mine", not that it was flashy and filled with Anthony Burger-like piano pyrotechincs...it was direct, dignified, and tasteful. The arrangements reminded me of the old Speer Family back when Ann Downing sang with them. Picture Brock playing piano(Herb sings the bass part for them)and you might get an idea of how the Henry Family sounded on stage tonight.
They finished with their version of "Looking For A City" where they outGoodman the Goodmans. It is always a crowd pleaser for GWSGFF fans...and symbolically, during their second refrain they were joined on stage by the Hoppers(who were next). It seemed appropriate to me that two of the very best mixed gospel groups in the country would be singing together on stage...to me, it was reminiscent of all the times the Blackwoods and Statesmen joined each other on stage during the heyday of "the team".But it wasn't just the Hoppers that joined the Henrys on stage...Roy Webb also came out to play piano, and a youth choir from an area church also joined in the festivities.
Webb and the choir remained on stage to back up the Hoppers, who did a strong set of some of their favorites, and got their usual large amount of applause.
The first half closed with Legacy Five, a group that doesn't get all the attention and fanfare of...let's say...EHSSQ. But they've consistently plugged away all these years, and today are a very polished and solid top-tier quartet.
It was intermission, so I did a little more circulating. I collared Jeff Pearles to tell him not only what a fantastic bass singer he is, but that his King's Heralds is one of the best sounding vocal groups I have ever heard. Typically, Pearles shrugged off any superlatives...he is a gospel music treasure. I also hooked up briefly with Liberty Quartet tenor Keith Waggoner...who has become quite a good friend. If you haven't read the interview he did with Daniel Mount at southerngospelblog.com...you owe it to yourself to read it. It is a good portrait of an outstanding young music minister(Waggoner).
The second half threatened to become an all-California show...with Tulare's California Melody Boys followed by Southern California's retiring Watchmen Quartet, and then by Bakersfield's Revised Standard Version(aka RSV), who always come off better in concert than on recording, and tonight was no exception.
The Watchmen set deserves mention if nothing else for having Les Beasley join them on stage for their final song. It is good to see Les on stage singing, and enjoying himself. He deserves to at this point in his life.
The evening wrapped up with perhaps the best pure musical group in today's gospel music...the Booth Brothers. They have phenomenal stage presence and melt your ears almost with their letter-perfect harmony. In fact, they encored on one song a cappella and the crowd didn't utter a single peep...so powerful their stage presence is The Booths could close a concert any night...they're that good.
I didn't leave out Jamey Ragle on purpose...he was there and did stuff from stage. He was in the Dixie Melody Boys back in the 1970s...I put him here in my review because he didn't sing. He mostly did comedy with just a little bit of testifying. We're told we'll see even more of Jamey in the next couple of days.
All in all, it was a good first night...I got to talk to some old friends, some new ones and some singers as well...and heard enough good singing for that to linger in my mind for at least until tomorrow night's program.
My highlights were..the Liberty Quartet's "Bus Driver" song...the Herb Henry Family's set(and them being joined by the Hoppers), the King's Heralds' dazzling a cappella number, the Booth Brothers' closing set,and another old video shown in the second half of the Speer Family from probably the very early 1960s(w/Mom, Dad, Brock and Ben).
Back tomorrow night with more. Any thoughts on my thoughts?:-)
Posted on May 02, 2008 - 12:16 AM | [1]
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