Southern Gospel News- McRaes,First Love

Southern Gospel News....This came from Chuck Peter's Southern Gospel Reporter (www.southerngospelreporter.com)....
The merger of two top Southern Gospel groups was announced today in Nashville. Troy and Katy Peach, of First Love, are teaming up with Annie McRae and Amanda Till, of The McRaes,.. to form one new super group. The new group's moniker will be: TK & McRAES.

This reporter spoke earlier today with representatives of BSA World Music, The Beckie Simmons Agency and Big 10 Entertainment.. as they gathered with group members for a meeting of the minds. The new "quartet".. even treated us to a little telephone a cappella singing. Beckie Simmons says: "I have known about this for a little while.. and just couldn't wait to share the good news!.. We are all very excited!"

Troy Peach told us that JP Miller,.. the third voice in First Love.. has decided to come off the road, for now, and focus his attention on family and other projects. Morgann McClanahan is also leaving her full time position with The McRaes.

TK & McRaes is expected to make a debut, on stage,.. Friday night (02/23) at the Columbia Exhibition Center in Columbia, Mississippi. A new project is in the works.. and should release in May. A single release is being recorded now and will ship to radio in very soon. The new single, produced by Mike Bowling, is an Annie McRae penned song called "When He Said Live"

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Ivan Parker - First Soloist To Make Main Stage at NQC
During the annual NQC Board Meeting in Louisville , Kentucky , this week,.. board voted to invite Ivan Parker to perform on the Friday evening featured concerts. According to info from the NQC.. this is the first time in the history of the NQC that a soloist has been invited to perform on the main stage of the National Quartet Convention.

“It is fitting that on the 50th anniversary of the NQC that this sort of history can be made.” states NQC Executive Vice President, Clarke Beasley. “Ivan Parker has distinguished himself as one of the most popular artists in all of Southern Gospel Music and he is certainly worthy of the distinction of the being the first soloist to be featured on the NQC main stage.”

Parker was introduced to the world of gospel music as the lead singer for the
Singing Americans in 1982. In 1983, he joined Gold City where he became one of the most popular vocalists in all of Gospel Music. In 1994, Ivan launched a solo career and also joined the Bill Gaither Trio and later began touring with the popular Gaither Homecoming Tour.

In addition to Ivan’s performance on Friday night,.. the NQC is producing a segment which will commemorate the 50 year heritage of the National Quartet Convention. More details about this special presentation are forthcoming.

Other talent additions to the evening concert lineup include the Freemans on Thursday and the Skyline Boys on Saturday. Complete schedule information is available at www.natqc.com and question about the NQC can be answered by the NQC office at 800-846-8499.


www.southerngospelreporter.com is a great site to check out!

American Idol - First Cuts

Wow! I was surprised last night. I thought that Sundance and Alaina would be the first to go. Surprise, surprise, surprise! Another surprise, most of the contestants this year sound better than Fantasia. I just don't think that she's that good.

American Idol - The Ladies

American Idol is one of the few television shows that I will rearrange
my schedule (to some extent) to watch. Last night's show was the first
that showed this years 12 female finalists. In a nutshell - the ladies
blew the doors off of the men. The difference in talent was evident
from the first lady that took the stage to the final singer. I think
that it might not be to early to say that a woman will be the next
American Idol.

The last singer, Lakisha Jones, the mother of the
four year old, was fantastic. When she got to the end of the song there
was a slight pause. During this slight pause the audience wasabsolutely
quiet. She had their attention unlike any other singer. She got my vote
- after the phone lines started working. It seemed like they had a
technical problem.

My other favorites include: 17 year old Jordin Sparks, Leslie Hunt, Melinda Doolittle, and Sabrina Sloan.

Who leaves tonight? Alaina Alexander and Antonella Barba.

What do you think?

American Idol

Well it's American Idol time again. Last night was the beginning of the
"real" show. No more goofy people trying to get their 5 minutes of
fame. It's time for the talented to compete. It's time for Simon to
critique. It's time for "Yo! Check it out".... And after last night,
it's time for most of the guys to step it up.

I thought that
last nights program showed the most uninspiring talent that the show
has placed on the stage at one time. Most of the guys were BORING. No
life, no flair. Notable exceptions would be Blake Lewis from
Washington. He has charisma and actually sang with some spirit.

My preliminary picks from the guys would also include the curly haired guy, Chris Sligh,
the former back up singer, Brandon Rogers, and Phil Stacey (the last
one to sing that also did a good job on his song last night. He had the
worst 15 seconds of any singer at the beginning of his song but
finished very strong.)

Gone: Sundance and Rudy Cardenas. (Sanjaya Malakar will make it this week because of the teen girl votes.)

What do you think?

Gerald Crabb, "Poems, Prayers and Promises"

We're taking a listen to Gerald Crabb's new CD entitled, "Poems, Prayers and Promises" today. Gerald Crabb
is on of the great gospel song writers of our day and he doesn't
disappoint on this CD. The songs are captivating, encouraging and
diverse.

Gerald Crabb was born January 2, 1958 in Rosine, Kentucky (Rosine
is where the founder of Blue Grass music, Bill Monroe was born). He was
the only son in a family with four daughters. He first sang in public
at the age of five. By age 11 he had learned to play guitar and won 1st
place at a local talent contest. At age 12 he was makingappearances on a weekly country music television program, "Country Music Jubilee" out of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Gerald Crabb
was saved at the age of 16 at "Calvary Tabernacle Church" in Dan
Station, Kentucky. He preached his first sermon that same year. He haspastored seven churches.

Gerald Crabb wrote his first Gospel song on 1978, "It's Almost Time To Say Good-bye", which was later recorded by the Crabb Family and Christlike. The first professional group to record a Gerald Crabb
song was the Dalton Gang in 1985 when they recorded "Still, Small
Voice" which was later recorded by Ivan Parker and also Gold City.
GeraldCrabb has written 22 national number one songs.


"Prayers, Poems and Promises", has a distinctive Country flavor to it that you would expect from Gerald Crabb. The project was produced by Gerald Crabb and Bubba Smith. Gerald Crabb is backed by some of the finest musicians in Nashville on this project including David Johnson, Jason Webb and Dan Needham. Backing vocals are by Jason, Arron, and Adam Crabb, Terah Penhollow, Josh Franks, Tracy Stuffle, Libby (Perry) Stuffle, Joyce Martin, Chris Freeman and Sheri Easter.


If
you enjoy good Southern Gospel music with a country flair then you will
enjoy this CD. Unlike most Christian Country music that is poorly
recorded and poorly performed this project meets a highquality standard
all around. If more Christian Country artists would meet the standards
set forth on this CD the industry would grow by leaps and bounds. My
personal favorites are "Can't Sing The Blues No More", "God'sGettin' Ready", "If That Mountain Don't Move" and "Hold On". It's a very good CD.



*****Next week we will take a listen to Legacy Five's latest CD "Live in Music City".

New Southern Gospel Music

I added some wonderful new Southern Gospel music to the line up
yesterday. My favorite song, after a few listens, is the Southern
Brothers', "Run to Win". This is the first song from the Southern
Brothers in a number of years and it's nice to have them back.

Another
song that I really enjoy is the Dixie Echoes doing the classic gospel
song, "If Jesus Is There". They do a great job on this song with
wonderful harmonies.

The New Life Trio released a song entitled,
"The Rock" that is fantastic. The lyrics are wonderful and they deliver
it in style. It is a well done song that will touch your heart this
Easter season.

Other songs that I added:
Gordon Mote, "The Old Gospel Ship"
Ricky Atkinson & Compassion, "One More Time"
The Anchormen, "Reach Out To Jesus"
First Love, "Who Wants To Praise The Lord"
Woody Wright, "Mercy, Forgiveness and Grace"
Charlotte Ritchie, "Good To Me"
Legacy of Faith, "Your Grace Amazes Me" (This is a very nice song - excellent vocals)
David Patillo, "Let The Living Waters Flow"
Jerry Bennett, "Oil and Wine"
Morris Trio, "The Devil Lost His Keys"
The Diplomats Quartet, "He Is"

There
was a lot of music to chose from this week. These songs represent the
best of the new music available to Southern Gospel radio. I hope that
you enjoy them. Let me know - leave a comment.

Crabb Family Concert

What a great night of music and ministry it was with the Crabb Family at the Central Assembly of God in Cumberland Saturday night. The Crabb family has such a heart for reaching people and it is evident in the way they bring the message both through song and word.

I think that my favorite part of the evening was when Jason Crabb
invited Pam Seaman on stage to sing. I have heard Pam sing many times.
Indeed we play her music on the He's Alive Radio Network during Worship
180 and Evening Reflections. She has a great voice.

It is always nice to see a major act invite a local talent to share the stage with them. The Crabb
Family took this a step further and asked her to sing one of their most
popular songs, "Through The Fire". They even did it a second time, at
Jason's prompting, in a key that Pam is comfortable singing in. It was
very good.

I enjoyed meeting everyone at the He's Alive Radio table. It was exciting to be able to introduce people to our radio station that had never listened before.

After the concert was over and everyone left I had a chance to talk with Jason Crabb
for several minutes. They were heading out that night to the Brooklyn
Tabernacle where they were scheduled the next day. Jason, who appears
so confident on stage, who nevershys away from a conversation, said
that of all the places that they sing, the Brooklyn Tabernacle makes
him the most apprehensive. He said they playin front of much larger crowds, but he has such a high regard for Pastor Cymbala and the church that he gets "butterflies" before they sing there.

Jason
also talked about the upcoming project that they are working on. He
promised it would be "different" from what they have been doing but
that it wouldn't disappoint their current fans. I can't wait to hear it.

It was a great night of music and ministry. If you get a chance to attend a Crabb Family concert - go. You won't be disappointed.