Roger Bennent Will Never Be Forgotten

Three years ago we lost Roger Bennent… He was an unbelievable asset to Southern Gospel Music. He will never be forgotten by me and hopefully not by anyone else! He made Legacy Five what it is today and he helped the Cathedrals become what they became in the 90′s… This song that Roger wrote commemorating Glen Payne also goes very well for Roger… He was truly a hero of the faith. 

Singing News Releases Top Ten Nominations

The Singing News has released their top ten nominations... There are not many surprises if you ask me… It is about what I expected. I do think however that the top ten songs nominated for this year is once again pretty solid. It is funny though to see some of the songs that are nominated in the top ten for fan favorite songs, in relation to the current radio chart. One song in particular is sitting at number 45 on the radio charts (after 3 months) it should move up some more… And it makes the fan award top ten list… Now this song is actually very worthy of the top ten nomination it was given… It could (maybe should) win favorite song. To me the radio thing is more of a mess than the fan awards… There is a great post on that here…

Saturday News and Notes

There have been several newsworthy and noteworthy items over the last week since that I am going to cover in this weeks issue of “News And Notes.”

• First off I am going to give a shout out to Aaron Swain, for a magnificent interview with Michael English! He posted the video of it here. I have seen it several times already and I come away very impressed by Michael as a personable humble man. There are also some interesting tibits about the upcoming Gaither Vocal Band album!
• The first news item today is the news that Dan Keeton has joined the Blackwood Gospel Quartet (Marks group) Replacing Dale Evans who decided to come off the road to spend time with his family. I am looking forward to hearing this lineup of the BGQ.
• Legacy Five has announced on their blog that they heading to the studio on Monday to record a album of Gospel Classics. And you can go to their blog right now and put in a request for them to record. 35 people have responded so far with some great selections. So if you are a fan of L5, or not a fan put in your requests by Monday, and see if  what you requested gets recorded!

That is it for the weekend  roundup. Be looking very soon for an album review on this blog! It has been quite awhile since I have written one. I am working on two right now one is a DVD the other is a CD… We will see which one gets done first.

SN Fan Awards Nominations/Tickets: Plus some quick news blurbs

It is that time of year again, it is time to nominate your favorite artists, individuals and every other little thing in between for Singing News. If you are a subscriber, then you probably have already went ahead and nominated your favorites. Also they are selling tickets like hotcakes, to the fan award show that is to be held at Dollywood at the SGMA Hall Of Fame Ceremony. For 70$ you can get into Dollywood enjoy both shows and have a good meal. You will be nearing that price range most likely if it was to still be in Louisville, once you consider parking, tickets, food etc… So if you can go and you actually want to go you should get your ticket while you still can. Here is more info on the details.

Now for some newsworthy items

• Michael English underwent surgery today, for a bulging disc in his neck just inches from his vocal chords. I am not sure how it turned out, I have been praying for him all day. I will report here as soon as I get word on how the surgery went. UPDATE: According to Mark Lowry Michael did very well in surgery. Read his post on it here.
• Congratulations are in order for Daniel Riley and his wife. They welcomed a baby girl into the world yesterday. Her name is Tessa Hope Riley. May God bless this wonderful family, and may he grant Daniel and Holly the wisdom and guidance, to raise this child to the best of their abilities.
• Remember The Music project is going to become a CD as well. Last NQC former Cathedral members got together and recorded a live performance of them singing Cathedral hits. I was there and on the front row for that incredible event. I got that DVD today in the mail and wow what a performance it was. They have now decided that, according to Gus Gaches that they will be releasing the live performance on CD. He will be doing the  engineering of the project at his studio the Vox Box. You can read his post on it here. He also helped with the sound engineering that very day in the production truck.