As was the case last year, I came home from this year’s National Quartet Convention with a lengthy list of projects up for review. Here’s the lineup. This is not necessarily the order in which they will be reviewed; some I may try to review around the holidays or other events like the street release date, as will be the case with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound’s A Tribute to The Cathedral Quartet and Gold City’s Somebody’s Coming (once the pre-order comes in.)

1. Three Bridges - Refined
2. The Perrys – Blue Skies
3. Triumphant Quartet – Love Came Calling
4. Brian Free & Assurance – Never Walk Alone
5. Ernie Haase & Signature Sound – A Tribute to The Cathedral Quartet
6. The Greenes – Hallelujah
7. Legacy Five – Give The World A Smile
8. Gold City – Somebody’s Coming
9. Tribute Quartet – Hit Replay
10. The LeFevre Quartet - Encore
11. Gold City – A Collection of Favorites, Vol. 1
12. Booth Brothers, Greater Vision, & Legacy Five – Jubilee Two
13. The Inspirations – On The Sunrise Side
14. The Dixie Echoes – Golden Celebration
15. Mark Trammell Quartet – Testimony
16. Crystal River – Start A Revival
17. Greater Vision – Welcome Back
18. Greater Vision – Everything Christmas
19. Statement of Faith – Statement of Faith

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’s been another news-filled week for Southern Gospel music. Let’s look at some things that took place in the past few days:

1. Mike & Kelly Bowling have experienced change again. Tenor Chris Whitaker came off the road to be with a sick family member, and stepping up to round out the group is Terah Penhollow. With the personnel change comes yet another name change for the group to The Bowling Family. Read more about it here.

2. Elsewhere in personnel changes, the Blackwood Gospel Quartet has hired a new tenor. Dale Evans is filling the tenor position for the group. The former tenor, Daniel Childs, came off the road due to health issues. The BGQ is currently at work on a new project slated for release sometime this September.

3. The Gaither Vocal Band’s new project, Reunited, is now available for preorder. This highly anticipated project will be available everywhere on Sept. 8, but you can hear it now by getting the download at gaither.com.

Be looking for a review on this blog in the weeks following NQC.

4. Legacy Five is also taking pre-orders for their upcoming Daywind release, Just Stand. The project will be making it’s official debut at this year’s NQC. Lari Goss is producing, and you can tell the guys are excited about this latest effort. One thing about Lari is that if he has a hand in it, it will be a quality product; he’s a master of the production craft. Be looking for a review on that project as well.

Update: They have clips of this and the Jubilee! project with the Booth Brothers and Greater Vision up here.

Upcoming Review: Gold Harbor – It’s All Good