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SGN’s Biggest Day of the Year

Every year SoGospelNews.com has one day that is the biggest day of the year for them. Well, it has come and gone again this year, but Saturday July 19th was one exciting day.

Let me start off by saying a great big thank you to all the artists who made the concerts the great success that they were. Every year I tell how the groups are always so Professional, on stage and off, and this year was no exception. As the promoter, trying to get 13 artists on and off stage and within a designated time frame can get to be a nightmare. With this group of artists, it was a dream come true. Not one group or artist went over their specified time limit. They were all right on the money or just a hair shy of the allotted time, and all of the artists left the crowd wanting more. Another thing that I truly appreciated was the fact that the groups didn’t stay out in the foyer while other groups were performing. Every group was in the sanctuary listening to and supporting the other artists on the program. To me that says a lot about the character of all the artists and groups participating.

I want to give a great big THANKS, to all the industry people who showed up, including record producer Kevin Ward, Radio promoters Buffi Holland from Spring Hill and Phillip Emery from DJ Man Promotions, ECC owner Eddie Crook, Dale Duhl from Three Hills Music Group, Les Butler from Solid Gospel, and Aaron Crisler from Lamp Music Group. Your support is very appreciated. Also, THANK YOU to my Pastor Johnny Minick and the River of Life Church in Smyrna, TN.

We opened with prayer, asking the Lord to bless the day, and that He did. The Pioneers Quartet took the stage. These guys are real characters and know how to have fun on and off the stage. They opened the program with some good old-fashioned quartet singing.

Next the Menders took the stage giving it a nice country family feel. The had great harmony and a nice song selection. Phillip emery can so a whole lot more than promote songs, he can croon right out there with the best of them.

Maybe cranking that country feel up a notch, Soul Real, are three women who could fit right in today’s country market. But they are using their voices for the Lord. “Crying Tree Of Mercy” is such a great song.

Southern Sound has one of the most distinctive sounds in the Southern Gospel Music Genre today. You won’t hear harmony any closer than these guys. Their sound is so unique because it is so reminiscent of the old Statesmen sound, and just as good. Their stage antics really keeps your attention.

No one can play for an offertory like Harold Timmons can. Harold just sort of sits back no drawing much attention to himself, but everyone takes notices when he strikes the ivories.

Sunday Edition debuted their new name, and it was well received by the crowd. Singing half of their set on each program, they were on and off before too many people knew what had happened. They did debut one of Amy Unthank’s new songs and it was well received.

Hope’s Call must have been saving up for this concert, because they lit up the stage. Their harmony is so close, and their stage presence is great. They fittingly ended the program with a very big song about heaven and had the audience on their feet.

I didn’t dismiss the crowd, because I wanted the excitement to carry over to the evening, and things picked right up in the evening where they had left off in the afternoon.

The River of Life Choir set the mood for the entire evening ending their set with a real crowd pleaser that let Pastor Johnny Minick shine on “More Than Just A Man”

New Ground hit the stage running, and the crowd loved them. If I had one person tell me, I must have had ten people tell me that the Lead singer for New Ground has the smoothest voice they have ever heard. Whatever it was, the crowd sure did like them.

Being the only soloist didn’t stop Ben Scroggs any. He sang with enough energy for three or four people himself. He proved himself to be a pretty dynamic songwriter too. He knows how to work the crowd pretty good with that hanky too.

All I did was mention “Long As I Got King Jesus”, and the crowd was ready for Southern Harmony to get on the stage. They sing such a variety of material that you have to like some of it. When they sang “How Great Thou Art”, I didn’t think that they could get the crowd any higher, but when they cut loose on “Long As I Got King Jesus”, they took it to another level.

Master’s Voice was a crowd pleaser again this year. These guys are all young and so full of energy, how can anyone not like them? The crowd really enjoyed it when they had Johnny Minick share the stage with them and sing an old Happy Goodman song.

Harold Timmons did another super job on the offertory.

The Sunday Edition came back on stage and finished their set, singing another new song that Amy and Rebecca Peck have written called “Even In The Valley”, and it received a very good response from the audience. They closed with a song written by Pastor Johnny Minck, “He Lifts Us Up Higher”

Speaking of high energy, I don’t know any group that has more energy than the Daryl Williams Trio. Of course they sang many of the great songs that Daryl has written. But they really had the crowd rocking when they performed the old song “I’ve Come Too Far Too Look Back”. The crowd was on their feet for that one.

Even though Johnny Minick may have come to notoriety singing with the Happy Goodmans, he sang for years with his family, so when the Johnny Minick family hit the stage, it was nothing new for them. Johnny’s Dad, Papa John, did a superb job on his featured song, and Aaron, Johnny’s son, was great on his big band sounding, Frank Sinatra style singing. Of course everyone enjoyed hearing Johnny singing with his family again.

I was so tired by the time the last group was on stage that I was struggling, trying to figure out how I wanted to give an invitation. God is so good, because He gave Johnny the nudge to give an invitation at the end of their set, and he did it so much better than I would have. The most important thing about it is that four people responded to the invitation. Now, “Aint That What It’s All About”?.

More pictures can be seen here