About Southern Gospel Music 2000

Long winter nights with little on TV these senior citizens enjoy, we’ve spent many evenings listening to the various Gaither recordings.  We’ve been caught short-handed in that we got a new TV last year and can’t use the VCR with it.  We now have a DVD player, but with few DVD’s.  We are slowly working on that but in the meantime we have played some of our favorites over and over.  We love to listen to George Younce and Glen Payne (both now deceased) who sing with the Cathedrals.  In fact, we enjoy the recordings of the singers who are deceased better than the ones of singers who are still alive.  Guess that tells you something about us, huh?

We were raised on southern gospel music and I went to singing schools summer after summer where we used the Stamps Baxter books or the Vaughn books.  I play the piano a little and play by lines and spaces.  For some unexplained reason, I do better if the music has shaped notes rather than round notes.

Shaped Notes

It makes no sense whatsoever; however, that’s the way it is.  A number of years ago the DeKalb County birthday was celebrated in various communities around the county and the Geraldine celebration was held in our front yard. We had bales of hay and with a few chairs for seating in the front yard and the front porch was the stage. Mr. Frank Machen and I sung Amazing Grace by shaped notes.  That’s my one and only time of performing in public with shaped notes, but I love to hear it done. One favorite of mine is On the Jericho Road.  When I was about five years old, my teenage siblings brought some of their friends to our house and one of the girls in the crowd played that song and I fell in love with it then.  Would you believe that fifty years later I met that lady’s daughter and we are now good tatting friends.  Very few people tat anymore, but Gwen and I enjoy getting together for show and tell just to talk about the art and share patterns and ideas.

Perhaps you can remember some of our favorite songs such as:  Turn the Radio on, I’ll Fly Away, I’ll Meet you in the Morning, Beulah Land, Farther Along, Just a Little Talk with Jesus and That’s What Heaven Means to Me. 

My sister played for singing schools all over Sand Mountain when she was young.  Played for George West, Frank Machen, Enoch Parrish, Johnny Monroe, Floyd Prady and many, many others to lead during the many singings held in our area.  We looked forward to the fourth Sunday in April – that was the all-day singing with dinner on the ground at Skirum. As I’ve told you before, John’s uncle said there was more to it than “All day singing with dinner on the ground.”  He would laugh and say it this way:   All day singing with dinner on the ground, whiskey’s in the woods and the devil’s all around.  Anyway, we looked forward to covering the mountain to attend the singings.  The First Sunday in May we sung at Chavies, the second Sunday in May in the afternoon we sung at Crossville, the third Sunday in May was the all day singing at Oak Hill, the first Sunday in June the singing was held at Hopewell and on and on.

We don’t sing from a hymnal at the church where we belong now.  We sing off the wall.We sing what I’ve heard called “Seven-Eleven Songs.”  They have eleven words and we sing then over seven times!!  The words are thrown up on the wall – no music and the congregation is expected to sing.  I grew up using the hymnals.  The song leader told the congregation to turn to page so-an-so and we had something to go by.  These new chorus-type songs, apparently, appeal to the younger people – they sure don’t appeal to us older folks.  I love the old hymns – they appeal to me.  They remind me of a simpler time and of the dearly departed saints who helped give me a firm foundation in the faith.  They remind us of what is really important in life.

John has a new CD of The Florida Boys and he keeps it in his truck.  You see, our car is antique and we can’t play CD’s in it (but that’s a new ball of wax – perhaps I’d best not get on that subject).  The new CD has such goodies as: Mansion in the Sky, On the Wings of a Dove, Dear Lord Remember Me. Looking for a City and Each Step I Take.  Maybe I can talk him into going some place in the truck so we can listen.  I doubt he will want to drive the truck – according to him it burns more gas and that’s important.  As we ride along on the freeway and every thing on the road is passing us, I complain – but then he gives me a lecture about RPMs and I don’t have a clue about what he’s talking about.  Anyway that’s why he drives slower – RPMs – burning less gasoline.  We finally get there, but we always bring up the rear.  Anyway this is how things are with our style of country living.

Stamps Baxter Book