I’ve come to
realise that Carl is a provocative guy, with lots to say on the current
state - and the future - of Southern Gospel music. So recently I asked if I could interview him
again, and graciously he agreed.
* Living in
Australia,
and having discovered Southern Gospel only a couple of years ago, I’m a
total outsider. So listening to your station has been a real education for
me. Previously I’d only heard the latest recordings, which I certainly love.
But on All
Quartets Radio
I hear a lot of the original recordings, and I’m realising that perhaps new
isn’t always better. The new recordings are very slick and bouncy, while the
older ones are rough. But in that roughness there’s a lot of heart. It’s
like listening to old Elvis recordings. How do you see the state of Southern
Gospel? Is it changing too quickly? Is it becoming too commercial? Is it
moving too far away from its roots?
Carl:
Southern Gospel music is suffering mainly from the idea adopted some years
ago of having charts of the most popular music. I object to that, because
this isn't about the Number One song, it's about ministry. Yet, for most of
the full-time quartets now, they almost have to play the charting game to
get concert dates.
The
charting is also a flawed system. It is based on requests to a certain group
of radio stations. One of the first things I learned as a young broadcaster
was that requests do not indicate what most of the people in the audience
want to hear. There are also political influences that affect the charts, so
they are a very false indication of what people really want to hear. McCray
Dove of the fantastically popular
Dove Brothers Quartet told
me recently they have never had a song even high on the charts, yet they won
Quartet of the Year honours from two organizations last year and are taking
the audiences by storm. And they sing traditional quartet style. They have
had a strong influence, leading many quartets to start adding more
traditional sounding music to the concerts and recordings.
If
Southern Gospel really thinks it is necessary to have a chart system, then
why don't they base it on sales? Most groups know exactly how many sales
they've made as soon as a concert is over. Many of the main groups have
computers on their busses. They could report sales back to a database
computer, automatically upload the figures and if retail outlets would do
that too, then they could come up with a project that is Number One,
although they wouldn't know which song people were buying the recording
for.
The
secular world has album charts. So Southern Gospel could do it if they
wanted. If a group didn't have a computer on the bus they could upload the
info as soon as they go home, or call someone to upload for them or even
call the numbers in if necessary. A touch tone phone system with an 800
number could be programmed to receive reports using Personal Identification
Numbers and still come up with an automatic tally. This would also eliminate
any suspicion that someone is cooking the numbers for a friend or due to
financial or political pressure. This happens with the current system. I
know that for sure.
The
charts have also led to a dramatic increase in what I call family groups.
Now there have been great family groups in Southern Gospel, like The Speer
Family. But the new ones are a different breed, singing something that is
not at all traditional Southern. The singing quality is not as important as
the emotional appeal a group can generate. If these groups want to have that
kind of approach, they should not be part of the Southern Gospel genre. They
should have their own genre and Southern Gospel should not embrace their
style. It is dividing the genre and that is not good.
Music
evolves in any genre, except perhaps classical. But the evolution into a
family group and soloist genre is driving the quartets off the charts and
thus off the "on the air" radio stations. So that's why I started All
Quartets Radio.
Listeners get quality singing and strong messages in song. Four-part harmony
allows for the fullest sound and the greatest amount of creativity. Besides,
what is Southern Gospel music without a great bass singer?
As for
the quartets, there is a tremendous return to the more traditional sound.
The overall quality of singing is improving, but there are still tenors who
try to sing too high and basses that try to sing too low. The key for any
good singer is stay within your range and leave the very high or low stuff
to those who can truly do it. There is many a great quartet singer in the
hall of fame who wasn't the highest or lowest or loudest, but sang well and
stayed within their range.
Ministry
is on the minds of most quartets. There are a few that have lost that vision
and are kind of living like entertainers. But there are so many wonderful,
down-to-earth and sincere people in the quartets that it is very
encouraging. You will especially find this with the regional quartets who
are often extremely good, work full-time jobs during the week and sacrifice
greatly to sing on weekends. They are kind of like the pioneers in the
quartet field back in the 30's and 40's.
Not too
many quartet singers are getting rich. As a matter of fact, most barely make
a living and some don't. If you want to be a quartet singer today, you have
to really be called of God and have a determination to do this come what
may. There are some exceptions, but that is by and large the case for the
singers.
* I know so little
about the history of Southern Gospel, but I presume it was originally very
ministry oriented. Is that still the case? Are Southern Gospel groups intent
on spreading the Gospel, or are they becoming too commercial?
Carl: I
answered some of this in my previous reply. But I can add one more thing.
There is a very good quartet that very few people know about called the
Daybreak Quartet.
They don't play the concert circuit. Instead, they go into churches and work
with evangelist and evangelism ministries. When I talk to them, they talk
about how many people came forward at a recent meeting they sang at and
things of that sort. They even sang during the Olympics in
Australia at a huge chapel and recorded it for a CD. They were there to help
with the evangelism outreach ministries of several athletes. They are the
only quartet that has ever talked to me in that exact manner. But there are
still many that are really ministry oriented even though they don't express
it the same way The Daybreak Quartet does.
* Can you name some
groups that are doing a truly great job in spreading the Gospel, as well as
playing great music, but who don’t get nearly enough recognition? What can
be done to help them get more recognition?
Carl:
The Daybreak Quartet would certainly be one. The
Dixie Echoes are another. They are
tearing the house down most places they sing and they are a great group of
down-to-earth Christian men. The
Liberty Quartet of
Boise,
Idaho
is another. They are having bus trouble now, which is not uncommon for
quartets. To cover the great expanse of the
US
and do their concerts, most quartets depend on a customized bus and a bad
bus has put many a good quartet out of business.
The
Melody Boys Quartet is
perhaps the finest pure quartet on the road. They get very little
recognition from the so-called industry. But they can sure sing, and are
very creative in their arrangements. And you'll never hear any bad singing
from these men.
The
New Speer Revival sounds very
much like the old time Speer Family. They have good singers and one of the
very best bass singers in the quartet field,
Doug
Young. He is much underrated.
The new
Chuck Wagon Gang is
excellent and is turning a lot of heads. Their alto Shaye Truax is opera
trained and has one of the most beautiful voices you will ever hear
The
Calvarymen Quartet of
Flint,
Michigan
is fantastic. This is a regional group that travels on weekends and works
full-time jobs during the week. Very talented and creative.
Out of
Canada, there is one fantastic quartet in
British
Columbia
called His Image. Wow.
Very creative. Very, very good. Very little known.
Southern Sound
is not a household word in the quartet field right now. But they will be.
This is a good a quartet as there is, and they are very unselfish, team
oriented. A great sound and a great group of singers and real gentlemen.
Those
are just some of the great groups who aren't getting the recognition they
deserve.
*
All Quartets Radio
must be about 18 months old now. That’s a huge achievement for what’s
essentially a family operation. How are things going? Has it been a
struggle? Is your audience growing? What sort of feedback do you get from
listeners?
Carl:
All Quartets Radio
has been a struggle, but it is the joy of my professional life and fulfils
the sense of ministry that I have missed in the field of journalism and
radio production the last several years. I can honestly say that the Lord
has accomplished some rather miraculous things to get us on the air and keep
us going.
Just as
my wife and I felt the definite go from the Lord on the station, I was laid
off from a fairly well-paying job. We had assembled a little over $30,000 to
start the station, but after a day or two we both agreed that we believed
God wanted us to leave that money alone and go ahead with the station. When
we faced some tough financial times that December, a local church came in
and paid most of our bills that month to allow us to get back on our feet.
And we had not asked for assistance.
The
single greatest thing that has kept the station going is the royalty-free
licence we developed to legally avoid paying the extremely high new royalty
the US government imposed on webcasters ONLY, for the sounds they play off
of tapes, CD's and records. It is so expensive that it has driven most music
stations off the internet. Even one multi- million dollar Southern Gospel
webcaster had to go off the internet due to the royalty.
But here
we are, with a great variety of music and a growing list of artists we can
play. We recently got one of the great historic quartets back. The Statesmen
Quartet of the early to mid 1950's was an innovative and influential quartet
and we now have almost 40 songs by them we can play. We are just adding the
Greater Vision quartet
recordings. The group is usually a trio, but they recorded a CD with 15
different bass singers, including tracks of some who have passed away. So
what could have been a disaster for us has turned out to be a good thing.
Our listening audience actually went up very noticeably right after we
switched to the royalty-free format.
We are
not rolling in money to operate the station, but we make it every month and
a recent fund appeal was quite successful. We feel we've seen so many great
things happen that it just does not seem to us that the Lord will let us go
off because of finances.
Here are
some emails we received recently:
I spent 25 years
travelling with Southern Gospel quartets from the
Mississippi
east to the coast...until I tore a vocal chord in the mid 80's. Your efforts
mean more to me than you can ever know. Since you have begun broadcasting, I
have spent many early mornings in the office with tears flowing as I recall
the blessing of ministering to people through that style of music, and as
your music brings healing to my soul. Many of the groups that you play, I
have been on stage with...dating back to the Rebels and Stamps in the 60's
and the Couriers, Cathedrals and Kingsmen, etc., in the 70's and 80's. I
regret that I can't offer monthly support right now, but am hoping to be
able to do that later in the fall.
Yours in Christ
AW
Carl,
Let me take a
moment to tell you how the Lord used All Quartets Radio
to help me last night.
It was one of my
worst nights in recent memory. My sleep was constantly troubled. Every
creak of the settling house, every howl of the wind, the pounding of the
rain on the roof ... Everything conspired to keep me awake. I kept waking
up thinking someone was trying to break into my house - and was gripped with
the fear anew with each waking.
At 4 a.m.,
I cried out to the Lord for peace. I must have been in twilight (between
being awake and asleep), for I began to remember - and hear - the songs I've
been listening to on All Quartets Radio. The songs grew louder and richer
as I drifted deeper and deeper to sleep.
Aaaaaaaah. Thank
the Lord for All Quartets Radio!
Your grateful
friend,
KE
Dear Carl Ramsey
Just a note to say
thanks for the All Quartets Radio
which I listen to each day for several hours in my office as I work on my
messages in Melbourne, Australia.
I have received the
AQR newsletter; I look forward to reading the information.
My wife Elizabeth
and I have been fans of Southern Gospel for a number of years now. We have
all the Gaither Video series and have introduced many people here in
Australia
to the style of music.
We have been in
full-time ministry for over 30 years as an Eph. 4 teacher to the Body of
Christ.
NC
I can't begin to
tell you how much I love your music! I have wanted to listen to this type
of music for a long, long time. There definitely is no other music like it!
I have long been a
Southern Gospel music fan and especially quartet music. I've been to
Stamps-Baxter school of music a couple times and Jack Clark (piano player
for The Premieres) was my teacher. A part of his class was a history lesson
and I'm hearing lots of things he used to talk about. It's just so
exciting.
Thank you so much.
May God bless you.
DR
The
audience is growing slowly, steadily. We have not had the funds to advertise
lately but we are improving our website, so we will get higher rankings in
the web search engines. It will not affect the look of the website but is in
the hidden language called HTML code. We are also going to The Grand Ole
Gospel Reunion and The National Quartet Convention, thanks to the generosity
of some listeners.
Some
days we have so many listeners that people are getting busy signals because
we are exceeding the number of listeners we can have at one time. We can
increase that number if we have the money to pay for more listening
capability.
* Carl, you’re
certainly willing to say it as you see it. I really admire that. Is there
anything else I haven’t asked you?
Carl:
The greatest need for Southern Gospel is to start attracting young people to
the genre. The industry, so to speak, needs to launch an aggressive campaign
to expose young people to this music. Not all are going to like it, but many
will. Without such a campaign, I fear that in another 10–20 years there will
be no audience, especially for the quartets.
We need
to get some of the exciting young quartets in front of huge youth
gatherings, and promoters need to offer dirt-cheap tickets to young people
and youth groups. They need to contact personally youth ministers in local
churches and work out special party or group attendance packages for their
concerts. Quartets tell me when they sing in churches, most of the young
people tell them they really like their music. This has to be done on an
organized, national scale. I will do what little I can to encourage this,
but the industry leaders must wake up and make this a high priority right
away. Most of the people at the concerts now are grey-haired, like me. That
is great. They deserve to hear the music that they love. But we need to
bring the new generation in to enjoy it too.
*
Carl, thank you so much. You’ve got a great ministry that’s a blessing for
many people around the world. Long may you continue!
July 4th,
2003
