Post by benshelpmeet on Sept 21, 2004 12:59:56 GMT -5
WORLDLINESS
There have been two distinct sides or camps to Southern gospel. We would label them conservative and contemporary. The conservative Southern gospel people have used music solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints. They have refused to jazz up the music with worldly rhythms and sounds. The singers and musicians who represent this category have tended to live godly, Christ-honoring lives. The contemporary side has used music for entertainment. They have sought to jazz up Christian music with the world's rhythms. The singers and musicians in this category have tended to live spiritually careless, worldly lives.
This distinction has been evident from the inception of Southern gospel. Even in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, there were many churches which refused to participate in the "jazzy" side of Southern gospel and which refused to allow worldly Southern gospel musicians to ply their wares. One of the reasons why so many of the popular Southern gospel groups of that era sang in school auditoriums and other secular venues was because "some churches would not permit these 'jazzy' singers to perform in church houses" (The Music Men, pp. 64,65).
The two different camps within Southern gospel were already evident in the 1920s. James Vaughan did have a commercial goal with his music, but his chief goal was the spiritual edification of his hearers and he did not introduce worldliness into the music. He "emphasized holiness and living a sanctified life, separated from the world" and his groups "avoided any style that would draw attention to oneself" (Homecoming, p. 76). Vaughn lived an exemplary Christian life and "never used tobacco in any form, never swore an oath, and never drank intoxicating beverages" (The Music Men, p. 28). He "knew the Bible as few men did." V.O. Stamps, on the other hand, exemplified the worldly camp. Stamps was a heavy smoker and a glutton who died young of diabetes. He would order two-pound steaks and follow that up with three pieces of pie. At one of his All-Night Broadcasts he drank 46 sodas, most of them Coca-Colas (The Music Men, p. 122). This camp within Southern gospel was far less careful about spiritual matters and had no conviction about putting on a show with their music. The Stamps Quartet even in the early years was described as "an entertaining fivesome" (The Music Men, p. 39). Their theme song was "Give the World a Smile," which featured strong rhythm with the bass singing melody and the upper voices singing an afterbeat. "Then, on the repeat chorus, they sang a boom, boo, pang, pang effect like a rhythm guitar" (Ibid.). Their ragtime pianist was the aforementioned Dwight Brock, who "jazzed up gospel music just enough for the secular public to catch on."
Many of the popular Southern gospel groups of the 1950s and '60s were characterized by worldliness. Drinking, smoking, womanizing, and divorce has been a common feature of Southern gospel. The Statesmen's first tenor, Bobby Strickland observed that Southern gospel quartets often reach a certain level and "then something happens." He believed the reason for this was that "they don't live right" (The Music Men, p. 97).
The Sunshine Boys were formed by Ace Richman, a swing band entertainer who saw that gospel quartets were financially profitable. When he added "Western swing" to gospel songs, he saw that "people liked them even better" (The Music Men, p. 190). Richman was "the man who put swing into gospel." The Sunshine Boys were pure entertainment. They did not testify of Christ or give invitations. Richman told preachers, "We do not testify; we are an entertaining group. You pay us to sing these songs, and we'll sing 'em. But that's all."
J.D. Sumner and the Sunshine Boys were infamous for their worldly lifestyles. They smoked, drank, cavorted with women, etc. "The Blackwoods, three months before their air tragedy, were not the only ones who referred to him [Sumner] and his cohorts in the Sunshine Boys as infidels" (Gaither, Homecoming, p. 160). J.D. Sumner almost lost his marriage because of his moral recklessness. He went on to sing bass with the famous Blackwood Brothers, then with the Stamps Quartet.
J.D. Sumner and the Stamps and other Southern gospel groups performed with Elvis Presley in his sleazy rock concerts at Las Vegas and elsewhere. (During the years in which Sumner and the Stamps were backing Elvis, Sumner's nephew, Donnie, who sang in the group, became a drug addict and was lured into the licentious pop music field.) Ed Hill, one of the singers with the Stamps, was Elvis's announcer for two years. It was Hill who concluded the Elvis concerts with: "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Goodbye, and God bless you." After Elvis's death, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps performed rock concerts in tribute to Elvis Presley.
The Jordanaires performed as background singers on Elvis Presley records and as session singers for many other raunchy rock and country recordings. The Jordanaires provided vocals for Elvis's 1956 megahit "Hound Dog." The Jordanaires toured with Eddy Arnold as well as with Elvis. They also performed on some of Elvis's indecent movies.
Members of the Speer Family (Ben and Brock) also sang on Elvis recordings, including "I've Got a Woman" and "Heartbreak Hotel."
Laverne Tripp, who sang with the Sierra Quartet and the Blue Ridge Quartet, was well known for his carnality.
The piano player with the Sierra Quartet was a known homosexual.
At one Kingsmen Quartet concert a screaming, hair-pulling fight broke out between the bass singer's ex-wife and his current girlfriend.
The September 2002 edition of Singing News, which covers Southern Gospel Music, contains a full page promoting Dolly Parton's Dollywood entertainment center in Tennessee. Dollywood hosts a 30-day Southern Gospel Jubilee each year. Dolly Parton, who dresses very immodestly and is comfortable in the midst of the moral filth of Hollywood, starred in the filthy R-rated movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
These sad facts could be multiplied. Someone might protest that I am blackening the entire Southern gospel music field with a relatively few worldly musicians, but that is not the case. First of all, I know and have testified that there are many godly people who sing Southern gospel. There is another point that needs to be made, though, and that is the fact that Southern gospel music as an institution does not rebuke the worldliness of musicians and, in fact, honors worldly people. In spite of J.D. Sumner's worldliness, for example, he has been highly exalted in the Southern gospel music field. Sumner died in 1998, and the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame was built partly in his honor. He was mentioned frequently and honorably at the National Quartet Convention that I attended with press credentials in September 1999. There was no warning about how he exalted wicked Elvis Presley and performed rock music.
We believe the worldly living produced the worldly music. Carnality produces spiritual blindness and powerlessness (1 Pet. 2:11; 1 Cor. 3:1-2; Heb. 5:12-14; Rev. 3:16-17).
"Many Christians see some things, but because their hearts are still in a carnal state (in a sympathy for the world), their sight is distorted. ... A Christian, even if he is faithfully working in the vineyard for Christ, can possibly have a lukewarm life. According to Revelation 3:17, lukewarmness in a Christian's life (and it does not matter if he is a leader in the church or not) produces blindness. Some men who have been viewed as the authorities of music, who have led in the forefront years ago in the Christian circles, are now compromising the principles of God's word with their music. Dear reader, it is an evidence of either lukewarmness or backsliding. Their music has become eclectic and dialectic with sounds of this age" (Dr. H.T. Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music, 1997, p. 8).
There have been two distinct sides or camps to Southern gospel. We would label them conservative and contemporary. The conservative Southern gospel people have used music solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints. They have refused to jazz up the music with worldly rhythms and sounds. The singers and musicians who represent this category have tended to live godly, Christ-honoring lives. The contemporary side has used music for entertainment. They have sought to jazz up Christian music with the world's rhythms. The singers and musicians in this category have tended to live spiritually careless, worldly lives.
This distinction has been evident from the inception of Southern gospel. Even in the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, there were many churches which refused to participate in the "jazzy" side of Southern gospel and which refused to allow worldly Southern gospel musicians to ply their wares. One of the reasons why so many of the popular Southern gospel groups of that era sang in school auditoriums and other secular venues was because "some churches would not permit these 'jazzy' singers to perform in church houses" (The Music Men, pp. 64,65).
The two different camps within Southern gospel were already evident in the 1920s. James Vaughan did have a commercial goal with his music, but his chief goal was the spiritual edification of his hearers and he did not introduce worldliness into the music. He "emphasized holiness and living a sanctified life, separated from the world" and his groups "avoided any style that would draw attention to oneself" (Homecoming, p. 76). Vaughn lived an exemplary Christian life and "never used tobacco in any form, never swore an oath, and never drank intoxicating beverages" (The Music Men, p. 28). He "knew the Bible as few men did." V.O. Stamps, on the other hand, exemplified the worldly camp. Stamps was a heavy smoker and a glutton who died young of diabetes. He would order two-pound steaks and follow that up with three pieces of pie. At one of his All-Night Broadcasts he drank 46 sodas, most of them Coca-Colas (The Music Men, p. 122). This camp within Southern gospel was far less careful about spiritual matters and had no conviction about putting on a show with their music. The Stamps Quartet even in the early years was described as "an entertaining fivesome" (The Music Men, p. 39). Their theme song was "Give the World a Smile," which featured strong rhythm with the bass singing melody and the upper voices singing an afterbeat. "Then, on the repeat chorus, they sang a boom, boo, pang, pang effect like a rhythm guitar" (Ibid.). Their ragtime pianist was the aforementioned Dwight Brock, who "jazzed up gospel music just enough for the secular public to catch on."
Many of the popular Southern gospel groups of the 1950s and '60s were characterized by worldliness. Drinking, smoking, womanizing, and divorce has been a common feature of Southern gospel. The Statesmen's first tenor, Bobby Strickland observed that Southern gospel quartets often reach a certain level and "then something happens." He believed the reason for this was that "they don't live right" (The Music Men, p. 97).
The Sunshine Boys were formed by Ace Richman, a swing band entertainer who saw that gospel quartets were financially profitable. When he added "Western swing" to gospel songs, he saw that "people liked them even better" (The Music Men, p. 190). Richman was "the man who put swing into gospel." The Sunshine Boys were pure entertainment. They did not testify of Christ or give invitations. Richman told preachers, "We do not testify; we are an entertaining group. You pay us to sing these songs, and we'll sing 'em. But that's all."
J.D. Sumner and the Sunshine Boys were infamous for their worldly lifestyles. They smoked, drank, cavorted with women, etc. "The Blackwoods, three months before their air tragedy, were not the only ones who referred to him [Sumner] and his cohorts in the Sunshine Boys as infidels" (Gaither, Homecoming, p. 160). J.D. Sumner almost lost his marriage because of his moral recklessness. He went on to sing bass with the famous Blackwood Brothers, then with the Stamps Quartet.
J.D. Sumner and the Stamps and other Southern gospel groups performed with Elvis Presley in his sleazy rock concerts at Las Vegas and elsewhere. (During the years in which Sumner and the Stamps were backing Elvis, Sumner's nephew, Donnie, who sang in the group, became a drug addict and was lured into the licentious pop music field.) Ed Hill, one of the singers with the Stamps, was Elvis's announcer for two years. It was Hill who concluded the Elvis concerts with: "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Goodbye, and God bless you." After Elvis's death, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps performed rock concerts in tribute to Elvis Presley.
The Jordanaires performed as background singers on Elvis Presley records and as session singers for many other raunchy rock and country recordings. The Jordanaires provided vocals for Elvis's 1956 megahit "Hound Dog." The Jordanaires toured with Eddy Arnold as well as with Elvis. They also performed on some of Elvis's indecent movies.
Members of the Speer Family (Ben and Brock) also sang on Elvis recordings, including "I've Got a Woman" and "Heartbreak Hotel."
Laverne Tripp, who sang with the Sierra Quartet and the Blue Ridge Quartet, was well known for his carnality.
The piano player with the Sierra Quartet was a known homosexual.
At one Kingsmen Quartet concert a screaming, hair-pulling fight broke out between the bass singer's ex-wife and his current girlfriend.
The September 2002 edition of Singing News, which covers Southern Gospel Music, contains a full page promoting Dolly Parton's Dollywood entertainment center in Tennessee. Dollywood hosts a 30-day Southern Gospel Jubilee each year. Dolly Parton, who dresses very immodestly and is comfortable in the midst of the moral filth of Hollywood, starred in the filthy R-rated movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."
These sad facts could be multiplied. Someone might protest that I am blackening the entire Southern gospel music field with a relatively few worldly musicians, but that is not the case. First of all, I know and have testified that there are many godly people who sing Southern gospel. There is another point that needs to be made, though, and that is the fact that Southern gospel music as an institution does not rebuke the worldliness of musicians and, in fact, honors worldly people. In spite of J.D. Sumner's worldliness, for example, he has been highly exalted in the Southern gospel music field. Sumner died in 1998, and the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame was built partly in his honor. He was mentioned frequently and honorably at the National Quartet Convention that I attended with press credentials in September 1999. There was no warning about how he exalted wicked Elvis Presley and performed rock music.
We believe the worldly living produced the worldly music. Carnality produces spiritual blindness and powerlessness (1 Pet. 2:11; 1 Cor. 3:1-2; Heb. 5:12-14; Rev. 3:16-17).
"Many Christians see some things, but because their hearts are still in a carnal state (in a sympathy for the world), their sight is distorted. ... A Christian, even if he is faithfully working in the vineyard for Christ, can possibly have a lukewarm life. According to Revelation 3:17, lukewarmness in a Christian's life (and it does not matter if he is a leader in the church or not) produces blindness. Some men who have been viewed as the authorities of music, who have led in the forefront years ago in the Christian circles, are now compromising the principles of God's word with their music. Dear reader, it is an evidence of either lukewarmness or backsliding. Their music has become eclectic and dialectic with sounds of this age" (Dr. H.T. Spence, Confronting Contemporary Christian Music, 1997, p. 8).
