The Devil is Where Now?
March 19, 2008(in response to the question…Why don’t you like Country Music?)
Growing up all I remember listening to was Christian music…
(other types weren’t banned or anything like that, but being a P.K. that’s just all there was most of the time.)
and mostly Southern Gospel.
Steel guitar…the works
I have grown now as an adult to despise all things Southern Gospel.
(and anything that sounds country for that matter.)
Sometimes, I even cringe a little…
I thought I’d share one of the reasons why…
This song is a classic…
These look like very nice ladies, but I’m pretty sure the devil can afford a cell phone.
And what is a “spiritual gun”?
amanda
Is it really fair to hold up a pair of rank amateurs performing a novelty song as a legitimate reason for disliking Southern Gospel (or any other style of music, for that matter)?
Check out these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dc7sNSNjfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C00senz1PHU
Your readers may dislike these songs as well, but at least they’ll be disliking professionals who actually made/make a successful living singing Southern Gospel music.
[...] out this blog entry. I have grown now as an adult to despise all things Southern [...]
I hope I didn’t offend you David. (and I only have a few readers. lol) I was making a joke about a song (The Devil’s in the Phone booth.) that was sang often at the church my father pastored when I was a teenager. I was amazed to find it on you tube. I have gotten a lot of slack since I moved south from the north on my lack of interest in country music. I was just quieting my critics with a little humor. (Sorry again, if you feel it was in bad taste)
I didn’t mean to dis-credit the Southern Gospel artist as a whole. I know there is some amazing talent in Southern Gospel music. I believe God uses them to touch many people. My father and I have actually sang in Southern Gospel Quartets in time gone by. (I wanted to be just like Candy Hemphill-Christmas as a child) He still loves and sings Southern Gospel. (and watches the Gaithers) It just isn’t my perferred style of music to listen or worship to. I also know I won’t catch my father listening to my music either…(Although I enjoy David Crowder Band and Fee and Hillsong United.)
I do agree with you on the issue of Gatekeepers, I think that would be helpful in all areas of Christian Media.
(Oh, and I thought those ladies were cute…amateurs for sure..and a bad song choice..but they looked like they were having a lot of fun!)
Amanda,
You didn’t offend me at all. You made a valid point regarding some of the awful Southern Gospel music that is out there.
I just wanted to raise the point that your example isn’t stereotypical of the genre as a whole…thankfully. If it was, I wouldn’t be a Southern Gospel fan either!
You offended me Amanda. You know I love the Gaithers! (laughing and trying not to spit water out….)
Yeah Tammy,I wouldn’t think you would be a Gaither fan. But just think, would you ever even know the Gaithers if you hadn’t hung out as my house when we were in school! lol
Oh and I have to make a correction in my earlier comment…
Apparently my father does like David Crowder and went to one of their concerts recently. Sorry Dad.
holy moly!!!! i just checked out Bruce’s sight and what he wrote about this post! i am totally gonna post about this!!!!!!!
So that would be a post about a post that was posted about a post?
That would be pretty cool.
exactly.
done and done.
[...] Murray is very passionate about southern gospel, so much to the point he defends it against evil-doers in the blog [...]
Wowee.
What’s sad about all this is those ladies probably have no idea all this is going on.
They’re sitting quietly at a Hometown Buffet slowly chewing meatloaf.
Thinking about having their hair dyed to a little whiter shade of blue.
The Rick is the coolest guy ever!
The Rick~ I’m not mad at the guy.
I don’t think this guy was attacking or anything. (or maybe he was and I’m just a sucker)
He just loves Southern Gospel…a lot. (and I was making fun…it’s a pretty funny song..I think)
I did enjoy your post though! and the fact that you called me a Crazy Woman of God! I take that as a high compliment from you.
I think there is a huge issue with Church Cultures clashing. We are all on the same team, I just don’t think we all understand each other sometimes.
And, I sooo agree with you. Where is our focus and where should it be? You hit the nail on the head man. The lost ones. Try not to get distracted by the other stuff. It doesn’t matter in the long run. You are passionate about the right thing and it shows. That’s very cool.
And, I still don’t like Southern Gospel. (or country) But I will still buy my Grandma the newest Gaither video for Christmas because she does.
She likes Hometown buffet too! and meatloaf!
Grandmas are the best.
Grammas are the best!
Rick, you are absolutely amazing.
No Amanda, I would have no idea who the Gaithers were if you hadn’t put in the tape and I said, “Who on earth?!” And Nic busted out laughing at you. lol. Ah, good times.
If those ladies lived in Elizabethtown they wouldn’t be @ Hometown Buffett, they’d be in line @ Golden Corral. And only if they found a parking space. lol.
No joke! There is always a line at Golden Corral.
Too bad we never go there to see what the fuss is all about.
I like Chick-fil-a personally. Plenty of parking!
(and somehow it comes right back around to the food. lol)
lol. I love blogs. You totally just got 16 comments about Southern Gospel and buffetts, and grammas and blue hair and meatloaf and the Gaithers. Goodness. I’m seriously crying I’m laughing so hard!!!!!
Amanda,
You’re correct that I wasn’t trying to attack you on any personal level. My only point in responding to your post was to hopefully give your readers another option or two to consider. My point in writing my own blog post about it was to start from your example and make a point about Southern Gospel radio, record labels, etc. who allow less than stellar artists access to the airwaves and indirectly generate the sort of response that you had. The whole “gatekeeper” discussion grew from what you had written, but that wasn’t to bring what you had written into question. What you had written was just an example that led to the gatekeeper post.
Those of us who are really into Southern Gospel talk about this issue all the time. It would be the same issue in CCM if Michael W. Smith had someone from a local church doing a poor job of covering Sandi Patty songs opening up his concerts, then there would be a call for gatekeepers to do a better job in CCM as well.
There seems to be an unfortunate prevailing attitude in some Southern Gospel circles that goes along the lines of “if you’re doing it for the Lord, that’s all that matters and it doesn’t matter if you paid $20 for a ticket and we sound like nails on a chalkboard.”
As for Rick’s post about my post about your post, I got a huge laugh out of it. He ripped into me pretty good, questioned my character, etc. I thought it was great…so much so, that I made another post of my own (about a post about a post, etc.)
http://www.musicscribe.com/blog/wordpress/?p=925
You said you didn’t have that many readers on your blog. Have you ever had this many responses to one of your blog posts before? Maybe you’ve at least gained a few readers from all this! :o)
What we have here now is a post about a post posted about another post that was talking about an original post…I think.
it’s easter sunday. I wanted that to be the 19th comment on this one.
let’s hit twenty!
I’m just thinking if this is over some bad Christian music, we could do this all day…
I know all the bad ones…unfortunatly.
Maybe I should do a series… or maybe I should be nice
Oh and I just wanted to add…
I LOVE EASTER!
my vote: SERIES.
happy easter to you guys…miss ya.
Series it is… (but I’ll still try to be nice)
I shall start with songs involving phones…to keep with the theme…of course.
Happy Easter to you guys too!
Here’s a guy who thinks along the same lines as you, Amanda:
http://gairneybridge.reformedblogs.com/2008/07/03/why-i-dont-like-southern-gospel-music/
Enjoy!
[...] you know I grew up as a P.K. back in the day rockin’ the Carman and an Occasional Bout with Southern_Gospel…but I don’t wanna talk about [...]