I'm typing this blog from a hotel room in Shipshewana, Indiana. I just finished setting up the
Singing News product table, in preparation for two great nights of piano music and southern gospel harmonies.
Mel Reigsecker, owner of the
Blue Gate Restaurant and Theater, is the promoter of this special
Grand Piano Extravaganza! It was so successful he had to change to a larger venue near his theater.
I hitched a ride to Shipshewana with recent
Singing News Fan Award Horizon Group winner
Tribute Quartet. We spent our time on the road last night singing, laughing and telling stories.
Their newest addition, tenor
Brian Alvey, told me the story of how he got hooked on southern gospel music.
He said he was walking around his home church one day listening to his Walkman. Since I don't want to embarrass my new friend, I won't tell you who he was listening to. Let's just say it wasn't southern gospel music. His Sunday School teacher asked Brian who he was listening to, so he told her. She told Brian that she wanted to take him somewhere a little later that day. Later that afternoon, she took Brian to
Wal-Mart. What happened next changed Brian's life. She purchased him the tapes of the
Cathedrals,
Gold City and the
Kingsmen. Brian said, "That day changed my life. I've been hooked on southern gospel music ever since."
So the next time you hear a teenager playing music that doesn't glorify God, do what
Geneva Davidson did. Instead of reprimanding them, show them what great music really is. Buy them a southern gospel CD or take them to a southern gospel concert. It changed one life, it might just change others. Geneva; Brian thanks you and the world of southern gospel music thanks you.
Brian Alvey is one of southern gospel's newest and brightest talents.