1. This NQC has brought some surprising lesser-known groups to my attention. DBM has already mentioned them, but the Penny Loafers got a one-song feature early tonight on mainstage, and did some pretty cool stuff in an a capella arrangement of “Goodbye World Goodbye.” I would describe the sound as Take 6 meets barbershop meets Southern Gospel quartet. Color me impressed.

2. Triumphant started off their set with an acoustic feel, opting for piano-only accompaniment on “Somebody Died For Me” and “Don’t Let The Sandals Fool Ya.” My hat is always off to groups that still sound good without tracks. Although a track did kick in later for “He Is,” the good sound continued.

3. Biggest response for any one singer tonight (or possibly the whole week) goes to Trent Adams of the Dixie Echoes. The crowd roared after every verse of his solo feature, “Child Of The King.” His is a voice that is smooth and deep, and he never strays out of his comfort zone. The crowd response would have been the same even if Randy Shelnut hadn’t mentioned beforehand that Adams is only nineteen years old.

1. Cut it out with the picture-taking already! I hate to start out my report with a grievance, but honestly, it needs to be addressed. I was sitting at about the second row back at the Gaither Sing-A-Long this afternoon, and there were several times that people came up to take pictures and just stood there for five minutes. They took maybe three pictures. Total. I would have asked them to move, but the nice gentleman across the aisle beat me to the punch.

C’mon folks! I’m not against taking pictures, but at least kneel or position yourself to where you’re not blocking the view of others trying to enjoy the show. Or, if it’s necessary to stand and take the picture, take it and go. DO NOT stand there for five minutes, take one picture, and continue standing there. LEAVE! Nobody can see past you. What makes it worse is when you do it multiple times a set. Just sit down and watch!

2. Most memorable moment goes to Ernie Haase & Signature Sound tonight. On the final chorus of “We Shall See Jesus” and an encore of “Boundless Love,” Ernie brought up Scott Fowler, Gerald Wolfe, Mark Trammell, and Danny Funderburk. This mini-Cathedrals reunion made the whole “tribute” atmosphere of Signature Sound’s set come full-circle.

3. Who is the Todd Allen Family, and why have we not heard of them sooner? Though their NQC-themed parody of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year” was as cheesy as they come, the harmony was delightful. More, please!

4. I noticed something interesting today in both the Gaither afternoon event and the GVB’s set tonight. Both times, on the final song, Bill brought up Gene McDonald to sing with the Vocal Band, giving him his mic and not singing while McDonald was doing so. Could this be a glimpse into the future? We shall see; it’s conceivable that Bill could semi-retire and still travel with the Homecoming Tour, and even sing the occasional song, but hire McDonald as the new GVB bass. Oh, what could be…

1. Why haven’t the Ball Brothers been on mainstage before? They had a very strong set tonight, in terms of both vocal performance and song selection. A young group like this that can hold their own with any of the top-tier ones always impresses me, and they were one of the highlights of the night.

2. Chris Allman must have found the Fountain of Youth for voices. Honestly, the guy sounds exactly how he did twenty years ago. The best evidence came at the beginning of Greater Vision’s stand tonight. A Youtube clip was played of the group at the 1995 NQC singing “I’m Too Near Home,” and when the lights came up, the group began singing the same song. The difference in Allman’s tenor was literally indiscernible.

3. It’s about time the King’s Heralds got a full set. The group alternated between a capella tunes and songs with tracks, and while their first song with a track was OK, the closer, “Champion of Love” was much better performed. And, of course, the a capella material was stellar.

4. They fixed the piano tonight. The issues they had last night were non-existent tonight, thankfully.

After getting in at about 1:00 Wednesday morning, I started my NQC 2010 experience with the Gaither/EHSS showcase, which was well worth making the trip up to Louisville a day early. Some thoughts on the evening concerts:

1. The sound is actually decent this year. Granted, it’s not perfect, by any stretch; some of the showcases and evening performances had some issues, like David Phelps’ rendition of “He’s Alive” hitting a bump with a major sound glitch that almost blasted everybody out of the front door for about two seconds. But at least they’ve finally learned to mix it correctly and TURN THE MICS ON when a singer is holding it up to sing. Let’s hope this is my last mention of the sound this week.

2. Enjoyed the newer faces on mainstage tonight. I don’t believe Liberty Quartet has been on mainstage for an official set before this year (they were on for one song after being voted best artist for the Artist Spotlight showcases a couple years back), and I was impressed with their set. Dailey & Vincent got a great crowd response, and not even just for the fact that they had Christian Davis singing bass; they were darn good in their set.

3. Adding the live band is the best decision the Dove Brothers have made. Their sound as a group seems to be a bit better above the live instrumentation. Also worth noting: David Hester sounded better than I’ve ever heard him.

4. Gold City needs to hire Channing Eleton back. He fit like a glove with them, even on the newer material, and it’s almost like he never left as far as the accompaniment, which especially showed on the piano-only songs. His is a style that stands out on its own without overplaying or playing over the vocalists. That is exactly what a group with this vocal caliber needs.

5. Smart move on Daniel Riley’s part calling “I Stand Redeemed” during Gold City’s set. Nothing will endear a returning singer to the crowd’s heart more than a song that is still being requested ten years later. Bringing out the arrangement that will be featured on Gold City’s upcoming mainline release was a great decision twofold: it promotes their soon-to-be-released material, and it gives Cobb a chance to display how much he has improved as a vocalist over the years. Was the performance perfect? No. But that arrangement was killer, and Cobb showed why that will always be his signature song.

6. Was it just me, or did the higher end of the piano sound really off? It either needs to be tuned or a mic needs to be adjusted, but the sound was just weird, and almost ear-splitting at points on the higher notes. Having it sound that way for multiple pianists tells me the problem is in the instrument, not the players.

I’m getting everything together and getting ready to head out the door to NQC 2010. I’ll be there tomorrow (Wednesday) through Saturday, and will be giving my thoughts every evening on the mainstage concerts at least. If you see me walking around, feel free to stop and say hello!

It seems that when I went on vacation, the Southern Gospel world decided to go on overtime with newsworthy items. Here’s some of the things I missed out on:

1. Check out Daniel Mount’s short interview with Gold City tenor Josh Cobb. In it, Cobb mentions two of his features on the upcoming mainline release from the group. The first is the song that he is probably most recognized for from his Legacy Five days, “I Stand Redeemed,” which he mentions Gordon Mote has arranged this time around. The second is a Michael English song from the early 90s, “Heaven.” With a singer well-known for performing the song producing the project, it will be interesting to see just what he brings out of Cobb for that particular track.

2. The master schedule for NQC 2010 has been posted. A quick perusal shows that up-and-coming groups like Liberty Quartet and The Ball Brothers have finally made it to mainstage, and there is a showcase highlighting young artists called “Legends of Tomorrow” that has a Wednesday afternoon slot. That will be worth going to, especially if it is like the “Torch” video that was released a couple years back.

3. Speaking of legends of tomorrow, check out this clip of a recent Remember The Music concert: A quartet comprised of tenor Danny Funderburk, lead Scott Fowler, baritone Mark Trammell, and bass Pat Barker sing “Movin’ Up To Gloryland,” and this is the first time I’ve seen an instance where Glenn Dustin didn’t take the bass on the song.

At a Mark Trammell Quartet concert I attended a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to Joel Wood and Dustin Sweatman beforehand, and both of them mentioned how, since Barker had joined the group and gotten his own mic, he had adopted a George Younce style of bass singing that showed a lower range he didn’t get to display often with the Dixie Echoes’ two-mic style. I certainly noticed it during that concert, but this clip is by far the greatest evidence of that fact. Whether intentionally or not, young Barker’s tones and placement are very reminiscent of those of Younce’s, especially here. This well-rounded bass will only improve with age.

4. My friend Andrew Graham attended a recent Kingsmen concert, and got several videos. You can view the four that he posted at his Youtube channel, but the one that perhaps best highlights the impact that Randy Crawford is having on their sound is this clip of a song originally led by Phillip Hughes, “Mountain of Grace.”

5. I noticed that Wes Hampton posted the track list and features for the upcoming Gaither Vocal Band project, Greatly Blessed, on his blog. Interestingly enough, ChristianBook.com also has a preview of five songs from the new project here. The first three songs were already featured on the latest GVB videos (although, the studio versions have added instrumentation), but about halfway through the preview comes two new songs. Check out the heavily orchestrated Crabb Family cover, “Please Forgive Me,” featuring Michael English. The vocal lead-in is stunning, and the entire arrangement sounds like it will be stellar.
Update: Looks like a preview for the entire project is up here.

6. As a last-minute addition to this roundup, Greater Vision just posted a sneak preview of their upcoming project at their Facebook page. It’s a re-recorded version of “You Were Faithful Yesterday” from their 2009 project, Not Alone, released with Jacob Kitson. The difference is almost indiscernible until the second verse when Chris Allman takes a solo. This says good things about both Kitson and Allman; Kitson’s vocal style is close to that of the stellar Allman’s, and Allman’s ability to seamlessly blend after so many years is impeccable.

Hat tip goes to Daniel Mount for this one, but it seems the NQC Board of Directors has signed a contract keeping the National Quartet Convention in Louisville through 2014. Having seen the outcry against moving, this is a smart move on the part of the Convention. Count me in the camp of those happy with this decision.

I was going to do this earlier, but I decided to wait till the schedule was more settled, as it usually is not as complete when it is first posted. A couple thoughts:

1. With the absence of the Singing News Fan Awards this year, Saturday night has been opened up to allow more slots for groups. Count me among those pleased with the move to some extent; as much as I enjoy seeing who won, the Fan Awards last year really dragged. Many of the people around me just got up and left after a while. I wonder, with Saturday night giving more slots, if some of the groups that only got about eight minutes last year (Soul’d Out, LeFevre Quartet, etc.) will get a fuller set.

2. Speaking of the groups that got eight minutes, I wonder if they will still be doing the “three group system” they used last year. Three groups would come sing together, each group did their own set, and then they would come back together again. For most groups, their sets were still the same amount of time they would have had usually, but for groups like those I mentioned earlier, the sets were very abbreviated.

3. The Melody Boys Quartet are back on mainstage this year, getting a Friday night slot. There are new additions to the schedule as well, such as Jason Crabb, Liberty Quartet, The Ball Brothers, and Dailey & Vincent, all of whom deserve spots. The Anchormen have also been invited back on after last year’s absence, and as DBM noted, they have made great strides in their sound. Maybe now that these groups are back on, The Nelons can make a return as well, at least for one night. The current group has a good sound, from what I have heard of them, and a group with a history like The Nelons deserves at least one night.

Well, it’s that time of year again, folks; National Quartet Convention time! Be looking on this blog for nightly reports of the goings on of the week. I may or may not do a “tweet-by-tweet” from my Twitter account, but I’m more than likely going to just stick to this. Be sure to look at the blogroll on the left bar to see the other bloggers’ perspectives as well.

If you see me walking around this week, feel free to say hello! I’d love to chat with you. See you all there!

A few days after they added the mainstage schedule, they have added the lineup for showcases. A couple that caught my interest:

1. Gaither Featured Showcase – In lieu of a Togther showcase with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, the NQC has added this to Thursday. I wonder if it will be a Homecoming-style showcase with groups that are usually on the Homecoming circuit, or if Gaither will feature groups that aren’t on there as much. Further details are coming, so I will keep an eye out.

2. Cathedrals Reunion – This showcase will have a Friday slot in Freedom Hall. I hope it will be a larger-scale thing than the Cathedrals Remembered concerts, calling together many more of the alumni of the group. Of course, they will have Glenn Dustin singing bass with them and the people that are usually in the aforementioned concerts, but wouldn’t it be neat to see guys like Steve Lee, Bobby Clark, Mack Taunton, George Amon Webster, and the many others that were with The Cathedrals? We shall see…

I saw another new one, but I don’t really have anything nice to say about it, so I’ll keep my mouth shut! =O)