Janice Crow

Reflections - Feb 09

The other day I was driving through a neighboring town when I spotted a church marquee. I hit the brakes and squinted to make out the words. It said, “Here, Friday at 7:00, Jack Salmon & Walleye!” I spent a few seconds pondering if I’d ever heard Jack and Wally sing. Finally my brain caught up and I realized that it was not a gospel concert they were advertising, but a fish dinner. Duh!

What can I say? I read church marquees… each and every one I pass… looking for the announcement of a Southern Gospel concert. I’ve spent more years than I’d like to admit scanning church marquees for names like Hovie Lister & The Statesmen, Smitty Gatlin & The Oak Ridge Boys, Elmo Fagg & The Blueridge, The Hopper Brothers & Connie, J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet, and in more recent years Brian Free & Assurance. It’s undying hope, I guess, that my favorite groups will be coming to our sleepy little hamlet or close by. It’s what I love, so I’m always on the lookout. I’m ready. All they have to do is come to town.

I’ve been on the lookout for gospel concerts since I was a kid, watching for the old rainbow-colored posters in the Tri-City grocery store window. I kept track of the community calendar page in the local newspaper, hoping to see a grainy black and white publicity shot of The Speer Family, The Blackwood Brothers, or The Happy Goodmans.

On Saturday afternoons KSTL radio in St. Louis aired gospel music programs in fifteen to thirty minute segments. I sat cross-legged in the floor in front of that big old console and rolled my hair on orange juice cans. I didn’t want to stray too far from the radio in case they played The Imperials or The Oaks.

I can remember like it was yesterday tuning in to The Lester’s Saturday broadcast. Herschel and Pop Lester would play everything from old classic hymns to the latest gospel music on vinyl, then they would make a big announcement about their upcoming gospel concerts, and I was quick to jot it all down and have mom make that call over to the music store for tickets.

Those were fantastic days. There were lots of gospel concerts in my area then, mainly because of one family, The Lesters. What a promoter Herschel Lester was. He knew his groups and he knew his audience. And although I’m sure he lost his shirt a time or two, it didn’t seem to phase him, for in a couple of months he‘d bring in another great show and pack out that old beat up movie theater.

There just don’t seem to be any promoters out there these days willing to dig in, to get entrenched, and say, “I’m going to build something in this area. It may take some time. It will certainly cost me some money. But it’s worth it.“

Gospel music promoting is a craft that must be studied like anything else you want to do well. A lot of the promoters I’ve run into in recent years don’t have a clue.

They have too many groups in the time allotted, especially too many local groups. I recently attended a concert that the promoter had brought in so many local singers to “warm up the crowd” that they were nearly in a coma before the feature group took the stage tired and bleary-eyed at 9:00 p.m. They need to remember, people have PAID their hard-earned money and may have driven some distance to see the feature group. And as special as your Aunt Hattie and her accordion trio are, it‘s just not appropriate.

Some “promoters” do almost nothing in the way of advertising, and don’t seem to mind having tiny crowds because it allows them to hobnob and get “up close and personal” with the talent. It‘s their own personal concert. It’s almost like stalking, and believe me, it’s creepy.

There are some promoters who stack a program like they were making a submarine sandwich…a little of this, a little of that. They mix grossly different musical styles, drawing a split crowd, which means that all night long somebody will be playing to an audience that’s half tuned out.

Pay your talent! Your feature group has traveled all night from Texarkana in a diesel-guzzling, smoke-belching home on wheels to be on time to a date you confirmed. It’s their living and it‘s your reputation.

Okay, I guess it’s time to step down off my soap box. I’d just love to re-live those days when you could name a city and I could tell you the name of the Southern Gospel promoter there.

Some would have me believe it’s just the day we live in, and that gospel concerts have gone the way of the old tent revival…we’re just too sophisticated now. But I still believe…if you promote it, promote it right, they will come!

Ever hopeful.
Janice