In a press release from Gold City today, they’ve announced several changes in their lineup:

1. Josh Cobb Is Gold City’s New Tenor – When Steve Ladd left Gold City earlier this year, Josh’s name came up among the list of people that I would have liked to see take the position. It’s nice to see that became a reality with this latest development.

This hire is a good one on two counts: Cobb definitely has the range to handle both new and old Gold City material, and it brings back a vocalist that has been on many people’s “Where Are They Now?” list for years. I liked Josh’s voice when he was with Legacy Five, and it’s developed since that time into a better sound. Here’s a recent video of him singing in a duet of the Larnelle Harris/Sandi Patty song, “I’ve Just Seen Jesus.”

2. Roy Webb Joins As New Piano Player – When he played with them at this past NQC, I said to myself, “If they can somehow convince him to come on the road with them, they’d be solid on the piano position.” Gold City has done just that, even allowing him the freedom to continue his successful solo ministry. Webb will be an asset to the group both in his piano playing and his stage presence, especially if they let him inject some of his humor into their concerts. Here’s a video of him playing with the group on Gold City’s first performance at NQC 2009, which is the perfect segue into the third change:

3. Tim Riley Is Staying On Full-Time With Gold City – Fans have been clamoring for Tim’s full-time return to the group ever since they saw him with them at NQC. On the song above, not one word was spoken when Gold City took the stage for the first time that week, but when Tim stepped on, the place erupted. His singing had just gotten better with time as well, and he cemented the bass part just like he did when he was on the road before. GC definitely had the buzz factor throughout the industry with Tim filling in, and now that buzz will undoubtedly be renewed with this announcement.

Needless to say, this lineup of Gold City has the potential to be named among the more famous lineups the group has had. Best wishes to Josh, Roy, and all of Gold City as they enter this new chapter in their lives.

By The Way: Kyle Boreing has posted a message from Josh Cobb’s wife in reference to the infamous comments Josh supposedly made on a Myspace account several years ago. I would encourage everyone to read it.

Update: This video was shot in the morning service yesterday of Josh singing a medley of Christmas songs. This shows that he has an incredible range, and I don’t know of too many tenors that are willing to hit some of those high notes in the morning. This also confirms the fact that Josh is going to be a different type of tenor than Gold City is used to. Steve Ladd was a “power tenor” of sorts in his time with them, and Josh will definitely continue that trend.

I realize it’s kinda late for Christmas music, but if you’re like me, you’ll listen to Christmas music all year round!

Found this on Myspace and thought I’d share it with you all, because it’s a doggone good project. The former L5-tenor-gone-rock-artist looks to have calmed down alot from his fresh-out-of-SG days, what with his appearance and badmouthing of his former employers. He has six songs from the project available for download from the page.

Cobb does the old Christmas standards with piano as the only accompaniment (say,that piano player had some good licks, almost like an SG player… Hm…). He showcases the lower end of his range on every song, which I liked hearing. A couple flats here and there, but nothing that made me want to punch a hole through my computer screen.

As an independently produced and recorded project, Cobb shows that he is a very capable artist. I only hope that he will patch up with SG (or maybe he already has, going back to that piano player), and return, either as a soloist or with a quartet.

You can hear it here.