Rating: 4 stars

Producer: Danny Crawford
Label: Sonlite Records
Website: www.dovebrothersquartet.com

The end of 2009/beginning of 2010 saw several big changes for the Dove Brothers, with piano player Jerry Kelso leaving the group and Adam Harman being brought in, and then adding  drummer Devin Dove and bassist Marc Peele for a three-piece live band. Changes this major will affect a group’s sound for sure, but the question here is this: how did the addition of the band change their sound for this new project?

The group has stayed in the Country Gospel direction they started in with 2006′s Never The Same, and continued with 2008′s Life and 2009′s Hold On. Fans who didn’t like the sound to begin with will really dislike this album; the group has jumped into the Country sound with both feet this time around.

With the band, the group’s song choices for this project feature arrangements that a three-piece band can easily replicate. Interestingly, many of the project’s songs come from the 1970s, an era when live bands were popular in Southern Gospel. The covers run the gamut, with songs such as The Imperials’ “Ole Buddha,” and The Dixie Echoes’ “Good Ole Gospel Song,” both of which feature lead singer McCray Dove and do a great job of maintaining the original feel of the songs while updating them to a more modern sound. Tenor singer Jerry Martin takes a feature on “My Soul Has Been Set Free,” an old Lesters Tennesseans tune (thanks, DM!). As if the group knew that this effort would draw parallels to the Oak Ridge Boys, they also recorded the Oaks classic “King Jesus,” totally updating the arrangement and turning it into a bass feature for David Hester. Hester is also featured on a Blackwood Brothers song that Bill Lyles originally sang, “How About You.”

There are plenty of newer songs to go around as well. “Hey Lazarus” has a callback arrangement on the chorus, with Hester echoing the group on each line. Baritone Eric Dove gets a solo on a verse of the Poet Voices song “Preachin’ In Prison.” “I Recall” is an upbeat quartet song, and “If I Knew Then” is a ponderous McCray Dove feature that has the lonesome sound you would find on any country ballad on the radio today. The last track, “Unstoppable,” is a song originally cut by Rascal Flatts that allows Jerry Martin to cut loose.

Bottom line: While the group has definitely adopted the heavy country sound, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Although there’s a couple tracks that aren’t my cup of tea, the Dove Brothers have released a project that makes a bold statement about who they are and what they believe in, while very clearly defining their sound.

Here’s a couple interesting tidbits from the weekend you may have missed:

First, check out this video that David Bruce Murray blogged about last week and recorded at a recent Dove Brothers concert. The song is “I’ll Fly Away”:

A couple thoughts:
1. The low G that bass singer David Hester hits actually vibrates two Bose speakers right off the stage. Wow.
2. The Dove Brothers are a good quartet to begin with, but throwing a live band into the mix takes them to a whole new level. Look to see how that affects the arrangements on their recordings from now on.
3. Speaking of which, the group has a full preview of their upcoming release, Unstoppable, available on their website’s music player. It’s well worth the listen.

In other news, Daniel Mount has posted both the song list and cover art for the upcoming Gaither Vocal Band project, Greatly Blessed, on his site. The songs are as follows:

1. Better Day
2. When He Blest My Soul
3. Love Like I’m Leavin’
4. You Are My All In All – this is possibly the popular Praise & Worship song, and if so, it will be interesting to see how the group can present it to an SG audience without being too polarizing. Then again, the GVB has never been strictly SG. I can see this as a David Phelps or Wes Hampton feature.
5. Please Forgive Me – An interview I was fortunate enough to do with Michael English indicated that he would be out front on this Crabb Family classic.
6. Greatly Blessed, Highly Favored
7. He’s Alive – There is a song of the same title about Jesus’ resurrection that has been featured on a Homecoming video, and was also recorded by David Phelps on his very first solo project, Journey to Grace, that came before his time with the Vocal Band. (Watch a performance from a couple years ago here.) A solo by Phelps with the whole group kicking in on the final choruses would be a powerhouse sound for sure.
8. Ain’t Nobody – if this is the same song by Soul’d Out Quartet, it would be one of the most unique sounds the GVB has ever adopted. Keep an eye on this one.
9. Clean
10. Muddy Water – The group has adopted a country flavor to several of their songs recently (Jesus & John Wayne, anyone?), so I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the tune made famous by Trace Adkins. A Michael English lead could possibly come from this, especially since the lyric is essentially the story of the prodigal son.
11. That Sounds Like Home To Me – This Happy Goodmans classic was mentioned in the interview. It will be interesting to see how the group arranges this song.
12. I Know How To Say Thank You
13. He Is Here – Michael English stated that this would be a big song for Wes Hampton, and I’m sure that Wes will do great on this Kirk Talley staple.

In a press release issued today at SoGospelNews.com, the Dove Brothers announced that Jerry Kelso is leaving the group and that Adam Harman will be filling the piano bench. Harman was with the Kingdom Heirs for several years, and is probably one of the most underrated pianists in SG music.

My prediction of the group hiring Andrew Ishee was wrong, but this is a great hire as well. Harman’s style will fit the group well, especially in the modern country sound they’ve adopted on their recent projects. When I thought of Ishee, I was thinking of their “Didn’t It Rain” material mostly, but Harman’s playing will supplement that well, too.

Best of luck to Jerry Kelso, and welcome aboard, Adam Harman!

Via SouthernGospelForums.com, poster RobertYork said this in the Dove Brothers news forum:

Dove Brothers announced tonight that this was Jerry Kelso’s last week. We talked with Jerry and he is moving to Nashville. They have a replacement for Jerry. He will be joining them after the break. He has played for a couple of well known Southern Gospel Groups and I’m sure he will fit in well with them as he is a GREAT piano player. I’m sure McRae will be making the announcement very soon.

Running through a mental list of piano players that I can envision with the Dove Brothers, Andrew Ishee definitely comes to mind. He has played for a couple of well-known groups, and he has both the ability and stage energy that Kelso possessed. He’s currently off the road, but if he was going to come back, this quartet is definitely the one he would fit with.

An official announcement will be made in the next few days, so it will be interesting to see who the choice is.

From a Dove Brothers newsletter sent out today:

Official Press Release (Bladenboro, North Carolina)
Dove Brothers
Early this morning we received a call that our piano player, Jerry Kelso’s son was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. Brandon Kelso, age 22 was riding on his motorcycle and a car pulled out in front of him. It was said that the road conditions were wet which may have lead to the accident. This happened in Kentucky where Brandon recently moved. He was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina which is where the funeral services will be held.

Please keep Jerry and all of his family in your prayers at this time. The arrangements are pending at this time but we will update everyone as to what the funeral arrangements will be as soon as we hear.

You can send cards to:
Jerry Kelso
PO Box 763
Bladenboro, NC 28320

The Dove Brothers

I do not know what to say other than pray. I can hardly imagine losing a friend or brother so tragically and suddenly, and my heart goes out to Jerry and the rest of the Kelsos.

… but they aren’t “letting the cat out of the bag yet,” says McCray Dove. He says it will be an exciting thing that other artists have thought about doing lately as well.

My guess? The Dove Brothers will start touring with a live band. With all the buzz about the Band Of Gold sometimes touring with Gold City, as well as EHSSQ’s recent gig with a band, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least. It’s also interesting to note that McCray’s previous post was saying something to the affect of needing more touring SG groups with bands.

Hm…

My take on some news items of interest these past couple of days:

Lari Goss Diagnosed With Cancer: I had heard rumblings of this, and a short bit in Greater Vision’s newsletter today confirmed it. He was unable to be in the studio with them recently, and according to Gerald:

“Our friend, producer / arranger, Lari Goss was not able to be in the studio with us, so we were able to use video-conferencing technology to allow him to be involved in the sessions. Our engineer, Bob Williams, was able to provide Lari with the same “audio mix” we were hearing in the studio, and we were able to hear Lari speak back to us through our headphones. We also set up a lap-top computer in the studio so we could see Lari, and he could see us as we recorded. We called it “Virtual Lari”, and it was an amazing experience!…. Lari was recently diagnosed with a rare form of Tracheal Cancer, and is currently undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville.”

Dove Brothers Raise Prices On CDs: Hoo boy…. I could tell when this was announced that an onslaught of angry fans would show up, and they did. However, a smart move on DBQ’s part in sending out an email later that only their online store prices would rise, not those at retailers or their product table. They are also implementing digital downloads of their complete discography, as is Legacy Five.

You NQC-goers may remember this one from NQC 2006: Mcray Dove said since Ernie Haase & Signature Sound had just covered “Get Away Jordan”, then his group would just cover one of their hit songs, “Stand By Me.” I’ve never been able to find a video of this infamous event, but a couple days ago, a fan put one up on Youtube. It’s pretty good quality, considering it was shot from in the stands. Enjoy!

Just got the email that the Dove Brothers have put up a sneak peek of their upcoming release, “Life”, on their website. I’m listening to it right now, and it sounds great!

http://www.dovebrothers.com