The 39th Anniversary of Singing News is fast approaching (May) and in the course of working on something for that issue, I had the occasion to look through some older issues.
The first thing that struck me was how many groups are no longer on the road: Speer Family, Reinhardts, Bishops, Florida Boys, Wendy Bagwell & the Sunliters, the Spencers, Cedar Ridge, Cathedrals, Trailblazers, Wilburns, J.D. Sumner & the Stamps, Heaven Bound, Chandlers, Singing Americans, Perfect Heart. That covered just the first 20 pages of the January 1991 issue.
Now lest you think this is going to be something that longs for the old days, guess again. Certainly, many of us miss these groups and we miss - even more -many of the individuals who were in these groups. But you know what? No one has invented a time machine that will take us back to those days. We'll have to be content with the recordings that exist.
But lately I've been putting myself in the shoes of those people where born in January 1991, or 1995, or whenever. Despite our best efforts to tell them about those great groups (and others), they'll never be able to fully understand the "magic" found in those groups - just like people born in the 1960s will never truly comprehend the success of some of the earliest movie actors. If you're not there, it's just not quite the same.
But that's OK. We can still have appreciation and admiration for those who've gone before us.
So what do you do?
If you love Southern Gospel music, you do everything you can to help those who are here TODAY. We've got some extremely good and talented people in our midst who are doing just fine today. Look at the Booth Brothers, Brian Free & Assurance, Greater Vision, Perrys, Karen Peck & New River, Kingsmen, Gold City, Hoppers, Dove Brothers, Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, Kingdom Heirs, Mark Trammell Trio, Triumphant Quartet and so on. We've got a good mix of old and new artists.
If you are a Gospel music fan and you saw a concert line-up like that, you'd probably drop what you're doing and order your tickets now. And you should.
In time, many of the artists I just named will be looked at in the way we view the greats of the past. It just takes time - after all, name all the "young" legends you know. In the meantime, we should enjoy the time we have with these artists now.
Southern Gospel music doesn't end because one person dies or one person leaves a group. Like those groups before them, the artists of today have a lot to offer.
Will YOU support them?
