Hat tip goes to Daniel for this one: check out this clip of a new quartet that was just announced. The lineup is tenor Matt Hagee (pastor of Cornerstone Church), lead Aaron Crabb, baritone Michael Sykes, and bass Tim Duncan.
I am so excited to finally be able to tell you about the new quartet!! Canton Junction consists of Pastor Matt Hagee, Aaron Crabb, Michael Sykes and myself. These guys are great and I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing new group! Stay tuned for more information!!
No real word yet on whether this group is full-time or part-time, but I have a feeling that with Hagee’s pastorate, it will be part-time. The Youtube video description also bills them as the “new Cornerstone Church quartet,” which further leads me to believe it’s a part-time deal. I’ve been surprised before, though.
Either way, these guys have a really good sound (a la the Ryan Seaton Quartet), so hopefully we’ll get a recording out of them at least.
Though the videos are certainly not pristine quality, these offer a glimpse into the potential of this lineup. I noticed that Pelfrey’s stage presence is already strong, and will only get better the longer he’s with the group. I can already hear the Ivan Parker similarity in his voice as well. I’m looking forward to hearing them for myself in a couple of weeks.
In my absence last week, several news items cropped up in the Southern Gospel world, the better part of those being personnel changes. I don’t have much more to say on these developments that hasn’t already been said by the other bloggers, so I’ll encourage you to check out their posts on those. However, what I will post about is a plethora of recent video finds that piqued my interest:
First up is this collection of videos from a recent Gold City appearance:
Since the hire of Dan Keeton to the tenor slot, Gold City has brought back several songs they haven’t sung in years, this one being probably the most notable revival. I believe I posted another video of this a while back, but Keeton’s confidence and delivery has really developed on this song. Those that have pined for the Parrack-Trammell era of Gold City won’t find much to complain about with this lineup. I sure hope this group can keep together and produce original material soon.
Another Dan Keeton feature that has only gotten better with time. I read someone compare Keeton’s style of singing this song with that of the great Rosie Rozell. What a fine compliment for any tenor.
While working on a review for an upcoming project, I went to Youtube, among other resources, to see if I could find out whether or not some songs were previously recorded by another group. I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to an advent of technology like that site, I’m fascinated and usually get a bout of ADD, following a rabbit trail through the “Suggestions” sidebar. Somewhere in all of that, I stumbled across some recent footage taken at an Ernie Haase & Signature Sound concert in Bloomington, Illinois. The videos themselves aren’t as high quality as some out there, but they are still enjoyable, and many of them feature songs I’ve not heard the group do since Ian Owens joined on bass earlier this year. Check them out:
Someday – I haven’t heard the group do this opener to their 2007 Get Away Jordan project in quite a while, and Owens is settling quite well into the bass role for the group. For some reason, his backing harmonies on the first chorus remind of London Parris, which would be a high compliment to pay any bass singer.
Glory To God in the Highest – I really like the change they’ve made to the second verse of this song. The trade-off between Owens and lead singer Devin McGlamery is something I don’t believe I’ve heard utilized in any other rendition of this song, and while I’m sure the bass could carry the verse all the way through as it was originally done with Tim Duncan, the change of vocals make it unique to this lineup.
And finally, on a completely unrelated note, here’s a video of the Melody Boys in one of their best lineups singing a pretty difficult song to pull off (and singing it well!):
Since the official hire of Dan Keeton to the tenor position in the Gold City quartet, the only video footage available came in the form of twovideos from a webcast on a date when Keeton was filling in. He was still getting used to the other voices and the material at that point, but it still sounded good; however, more footage was being sought after. Finally, more has come. Take a look at these videos, the first being what is apparently Keeton’s signature solo that he has brought to the group, Oh What A Savior:
That video alone is probably the finest performance I’ve seen Keeton give ever, much less with Gold City.
Here are some more of him tackling some Gold City fare:
Interesting to note about this one: I have heard many a person say that they wish Gold City had hired Keeton after the departure of Jay Parrack. I’ve noticed an increase in the number of Parrack era songs being brought back recently, and this one is one that is exceptionally challenging for tenor to consistently sing because of the high arrangement. Keeton passes the litmus test for that one (even though I’m pretty sure I’m hearing stacks, he comes through clear enough that you can tell he doesn’t fully rely on their support.) (h/t Nate for posting the video first over at his blog!)
This one includes a fun moment before Gold City sings by bringing on a “scrap-iron” quartet of tenor(!) Jeff Easter, lead Scott Fowler, baritone Clayton Inman, bass Tim Riley, and pianist Jeff Stice.
The Dove Awards were held earlier this week, and Southern Gospel had quite a showing in the results. Song of the Year went to “Sometimes I Cry,” written by Gerald Crabb and sung by Jason Crabb. Two of the Bluegrass winners also had Southern Gospel connections: “Mountain Top” by Little Roy and Lizzie Long won Bluegrass Recorded Song of the Year (you may remember Little Roy from his years with the Lewis Family), and Bluegrass Album of the Year was Singing From The Heart by Dailey and Vincent, who was on the NQC mainstage last year and will also be featured this year, and has Christian Davis of Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet & Mercy’s Mark fame singing bass.
There’s been a whirlwind of hires in the Southern Gospel world that are under the 30-years old mark. Tribute Quartet has made two of those hires, with tenor Riley Clark at 19 years old and bass Anthony Davis at 28 years old, and Legacy Five’s most recent hire qualifies, with pianist Trey Ivey being 21. Now, the Toney Brothers are continuing the trend after the departure of tenor Derrick Boyd. Joshua Horrell, of Teachey, NC, is 19 years old and began singing tenor for the group this week. There are no clips of him with the group yet, but Terry Toney has put some great lineups on stage in the past several years, and I’m sure this will be no exception.
Youtube Finds: I had a couple intriguing videos crop up on Youtube this week, the first being this one from the Mark Trammell Quartet:
I’m not sure how long the group has been staging this song, but this is the first instance in which I have heard them sing it. I’ve always thought that Pat Barker’s voice was similar to that of George Younce’s, and hearing him sing a Younce feature only solidifies the comparison. In fact, on his solo, I had changed tabs to do some work on another webpage after listening to the video multiple times, and completely forgot that I wasn’t listening to The Cathedrals’ Travelin’ Live project. Difference in audio quality aside, that speaks volumes about the hire that Mark Trammell made in Barker. The whole group does an excellent job resurrecting this often overlooked Cathedrals tune.
The second video I found was, coincidentally, some Cathedrals footage, singing another song from Travelin’ Live. This was taken in January of 1999, the group’s final year on the road, at the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, FL. For those that are interested in hearing a fully orchestrated version of “Boundless Love” as sung by the final lineup of the original group to record it, take a look:
What is even more interesting is, in addition to have a full orchestra and choir backing them, the arrangement of the song is basically lifted from the original recording of it. Take note especially of the drum licks in each part; if I’m not mistaken, they follow the exact pattern found on the original. I love tidbits like that!
Fans that are familiar with the Liberty Quartet will know that when baritone Jordan Cragun first joined the group, he had several ties in the Southern Gospel industry already; his father sang bass in a group called the Celebration Quartet, and Jordan’s aunt, Kim Collingsworth, was pianist for the group. The quartet only released one project, and the vocalists were all called to the pastorate, so they split up. Jordan talks about them here, and says they were “an amazing quartet.”
Recently, they held a reunion concert (minus Kim) in Roanoke, VA, about 45 minutes from my hometown. The baritone for the group, Jeff Keaton, pastors the Parkway House of Prayer there, and the tenor, Mark Dubbeld is the minister of music there. Lead singer Dan Coy is the youth pastor. Ray Cragun, the group’s bass singer, came up from Lousiana, where he pastors a church, for the event. I was unable to attend, but my friend Andrew Graham went and got several video clips of the concert. Keep in mind that the group traveled about twenty years ago, when the guys were in their twenties, and none of them have sung professionally otherwise.
In yet another find coming from user iamredeemed1, here’s some videos of the Mark Trammell Quartet in a concert that took place the same night as the Tribute Quartet concert mentioned earlier. As revealed in these clips, the group is staging songs from their new Daywind release, Testimony, which was produced by Lari Goss. I remember having a conversation with a couple of the group members a couple months ago, and they stated that this release would not predominantly feature the typical big, orchestration-driven sounds usually found in a Goss production (although they are certainly present on some tracks.) Judging from the clips, they were right. It actually sounds rather like something that any given lineup of the Cathedrals with Mark Trammell might have recorded.
Ever since it had been let out of the bag that Ernie & crew would be doing “We Shall See Jesus” on their Cathedrals tribute project, speculation ran wild as to what the arrangement would sound like and who would be featured, as Haase did a good job of keeping both under wraps. Since the recent video taping, it was revealed that the featured soloist is none another than lead singer Devin McGlamery, in his first major project with Signature Sound.
Although it’s been said that a video of Glen Payne taking the third verse was shown at the taping, this Youtube clip shows McGlamery taking the song all the way through. This is the first time I’ve heard Devin really let loose with this group, and he does an incredible job of both doing justice to Payne’s performance and making it his own.
When it was announced that nineteen-year old Riley Harrison Clark had first joined Tribute Quartet as their tenor following Brian Alvey, there was a montage of clips of one of his first concerts with him, which can be found here. But now, Youtube user iamredeemed1 (who is becoming quite the go-to source for SG videos, particularly of new lineups) has posted several videos from a Tribute concert this past weekend. Several of the clips highlight Clark, and I’ll post them as they become available.
To comply with FTC guidelines, we at Swain's Musings state that, unless otherwise mentioned, the projects that this blog reviews were given to the reviewer(s) free of charge. This does not have any bearing on the final rating and is not even taken into consideration when reviewing the project. Due to recent guideline changes, this statement is necessary, because these guidelines assume that a more favorable review is given when the product is received for free.
Contact me at aaron@swainsmusings.com for information on how to get your project to me for review.
