Greetings to all the SoGospelNews readers!
First, I want to express my appreciation to Deon and Susan Unthank for giving me the opportunity to contribute something to their fine website every month. I'll do my best to make it interesting and informative.
Crossroads Music has been blessed to assemble one of the largest rosters of premier musical talent in the field of Southern Gospel. For well over a decade our company has been on the leading edge in this exciting, ministry minded industry that reaches people in places as faraway and diverse as Nairobi, Africa and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Crossroads has accomplished many of its goals—a blessing for which we give God the glory. But there is more work to do. With His guidance we'll press on seeking to achieve even greater things for the Kingdom.
In the five and a half years I've spent as the company's Director of Radio Promotion, I have been privileged to discover—and joyfully so—the huge number of talented people dedicated to serving God through the medium of Christian music known as Southern Gospel . These good brothers and sisters are scattered all over this great country and beyond. They include, but aren't limited to: songwriters, artists, booking agents, concert promoters, record company personnel, music and magazine publishers, independent song promoters, retailers, Internet news services, and some of my own personal favorites with whom I interact the most—Southern Gospel deejays and station owners.
I've come to regard them all highly, and I hope to relate some heartfelt thoughts about each group in future space. But I just got an email from Deon Unthank saying my first article is due, so I'm hurriedly trying to “slap one together.” Boy, I suppose that's being too honest!
Even though most people in our genre know that Crossroads Music is a full scale recording, sales and marketing, music and video production / promotion company, I still occasionally encounter an individual in radio who isn't clear whether we're a record label or simply an independent song promoter with a lot of great artists on our monthly comp. In a nutshell, here's a brief history of Crossroads and how it came into existence.
Throughout the 1980's, two independent record companies operating in Asheville, North Carolina and a third, Sonlite Records in Nashville, were successfully recording both full-time national and part-time regional artists. In 1991 the two Asheville-based companies (Hear Here Studios and Dawn Records) merged and became Horizon Music Group. Soon after, the two principals of Horizon and Sonlite, Mickey Gamble and Chris White, met at a Christian Booksellers convention to discuss combining forces to create a distribution company they would own, one whose sole purpose would be to market and promote the recordings and videos made by both companies. That meeting resulted in the birth of Crossroads Music , the umbrella name we use over all four of our individual record labels – Horizon, Sonlite, Crossroads, Mountain Home.
And that's the nutshell version of how Crossroads began over ten years ago. Roster-wise, it started strong and has grown since. We're a big happy family operating from Arden, North Carolina, near the Asheville Regional Airport. Which goes to show that you don't have to be in Nashville, New York or LA to make music that makes a difference!
We love what we do and try to convey it in every department. We hope you can hear that love in the music that emanates from this little spot on the globe. God has blessed us and kept us. We thank Him for those blessings.
To sum “us” up even better—they say one picture is worth a thousand words. The following montage contains twenty-seven thousand words that best convey who Crossroads is.
May God bless you till next time!
Jim Stover
Crossroads Music
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 06/30/2004
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Category: Monthly ArticlesCrossroads Chronicles
Comments: 6
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Great to see an article from JIM STOVER.. and looking forward to reading future installments. Jim and his staff are some of the nicest people in SG music.
Welcome aboard Jim! Great to have you contributing here!
Jim used to be my phone rep at Crossroads when I was a music buyer for a Christian retail store. It's good to see you're still alive and kicking, Jim.
“Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.”—-Mark Twain
Thanks for the welcome Chuck, James, and David.
WOW- Now this is more like it. I can deal with some Jim Stover. A true promoter and friend to the music world. I dont post much. But, this article had to draw me out of retirement.
Great article Jim! Thanks for the history. It's nice to know the roots of one of Southern Gospel's finest institutions.
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