Category: Top articles

Happenings in Southern Gospel this week, 3/19/2022

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Texas Gospel Canada Staff

Happy Birthday this week to Kreis French of the Kingdom Heirs!

The Singing News has published its Top 10 Fan Awards Nominations.  The publication says this year’s winners will be announced at the Singing News Fan Awards presentation, which will be held on Friday, September 30, 2022, during the 65th annual National Quartet Convention.

Happy Birthday this week to Matthew Browder of The Browders!

The A’Men Quartet has released a new song: What color is love?

The Amundruds have announced the group is scheduled to play at Deer Valley Meadows Camp Reed Deer AB, June 3-5.

Brian Free & Assurance have released a new video featuring Jimmy Fortune.

The Browns this week released a new single: Take Me Back.

Happy Birthday this week to Courtney Collingsworth Metz of The Collingsworth Family!

The Inspirations will appear on Daystar’s Gospel Music Showcase Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET for those who receive it on Satellite.

Life on the road has its share of unexpected incidents. Endless Highway now has a story to tell about the day mom’s fiddle got run over by the bus!

The Isaacs are set to play the Grand Ole Opry on March 22.

Happy Birthday this week to Daryl Paschal, baritone of the Down East Boys!

The Tribute Quartet’s “Somebody Tell” marks Daywind Music Publishing’s 100th Singing News #1 song.  Congratulations to both!

Sunday Drive and Tim Davis honored at NRB

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SPECIAL StowTown RECORDS

Nashville, TN (March 16, 2022) – StowTown Records artists Sunday Drive and Tim Lovelace were honored to lend their talents at two separate events during the recent National Religious Broadcasters Christian Media Convention. This year’s convention was held at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, TN.

Sunday Drive was invited to perform at a Gospel Music event hosted by The Truth Network where they debuted three songs from their upcoming album, Breaking Boundaries, which is set to release on April 8 at all retail and digital music outlets worldwide. Sunday Drive enjoyed making connections and celebrating those who work to share the Gospel through various media. “It was a privilege for Sunday Drive to perform for many of the leading Christian media members at NRB 2022,” shares Dusty Treece of Sunday Drive. “We had such a fun night and thank (Founder and President) Stu Epperson, Jr., (Chief Operating Officer) Michael Carbone, and the whole staff at Truth Network for this opportunity.” The Truth Network has been an ardent supporter of Southern Gospel music for many years.

Tim Lovelace was invited to lead worship for NRB’s Friday morning service. Longtime radio personality, Bob Lepine, was the guest speaker. Tim’s musical talents and Bob’s gift of encouragement made for a beautiful worship experience for NRB attendees. NRB is the world’s largest gathering of Christian communicators and ministry professionals, and Tim was honored to be a part of this year’s event. “Many thanks to NRB for inviting me to lead worship and share the platform with Bob Lepine. With nearly 30 years of hosting ‘Family Life Today,’ Bob’s radio outreach has touched millions of lives, and I am one in that number. NRB 2022 was a super successful event, and I was grateful to work with their amazing team.” Lovelace recently released Piano Praise, Volume 1, a collection of piano solos spanning popular hymns, praise & worship songs and gospel tunes. You can download or stream this album HERE.

Martin Cook, Founder of The Inspiratons, dies

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STAFF REPORTS

Martin Cook, the founder of The Inspirations has died after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. His obituary says he died at his son’s home in Georgia.

Mr. Cook started the legendary group while he was a chemistry teacher at Swain County High School in Bryson City, North Carolina. In 1964, four of his students joined him and the storied journey of The Inspirations began. 

Mr. Cook was inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame in 2003.  His contributions to southern gospel music will long be remembered and celebrated. 

Martin Cook was 85.

Happenings in Southern Gospel this week, 2/19/2022

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JEFF TURNER

Greater Vision announced it will be part of a Canada & New England Cruise set for September 10-17, 2022.

The Browns have a part-time videographer and editor position open.  We suspect there’ll be some new music videos on the horizon.

This week Ernie Haase & Signature Sound released a new lyric video from for latest release Good to be Home

The Jay Stone Singers Saturday announced the group had to cancel a performance in North Carolina due to, “circumstances beyond our control.” 

The Inspirations made a wedding announcement this week:

The Inspirations were chosen as the cover group this month for The Singing News!

Harold Rochester of The Rochesters celebrated his 88th Birthday this week!

Debra Talley was a guest on the Aging Angst ad Alleluias podcast. Here’s a link if you want to give it a listen.

Congratulations are in order for The LeFevre Quartet’s Jay Parrack and family.  Jay’s daughter Keely tied the knot this month. We wish the new couple the best as they begin this journey!

Reba McEntire is set to release My Chains Are Gone: Hymns and Gospel Favorites. The 12-track record, which includes some of McEntire’s favorite hymns, features several guest artists, including Trisha Yearwood and Kelly Clarkson on “Softly and Tenderly,” as well as The Isaacs on both a medley of “In the Garden” and “Wonderful Peace,” as well as on “It Is Well With My Soul”

Texas Gospel Canada celebrates six years

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WILLIAM DESJARDINS

Six years goes by quickly! That may be an understatement as we approach our six-year anniversary of broadcasting.

The idea of launching Texas Gospel Canada started when former employees of a now-defunct radio station began talking about wanting to be back in gospel broadcasting. The founding members had never owned a station. They also had never been part of an online station. They determined opening an online station in Canada was the best path to follow after researching costs involved and technical needs.

Texas Gospel Canada has never accepted a donation, nor have we ever sold commercial advertising.  We understand that the costs involved with traditional over-the-air stations make having an income a necessity for those who still broadcast terrestrially. Because of this we encourage listeners to support local stations if they are fortunate enough to live in an area where one exists. The low cost of internet broadcasting was the main part of the decision to go online rather than on air.

The station launched on Feb 17, 2016 using online services from a company that offered free streaming in exchange for commercials aired on the station. While we appreciated the no-cost streaming offered, there were numerous technical issues that resulted in a search for a new home.  In 2017 we switched to a streaming service called Torontocast and have been very happy with the technical improvements and station growth since then. This has allowed us to focus on broadcasting and ministry rather than the engineering and paperwork required to supply the stream.

Throughout the first two years of broadcasting we began added features from well-known Christian broadcasters such as Decision Moment from The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada, Bible Minute from Back to the Bible Canada and others. Here is a link to a list of some of the short features we broadcast today.

In early 2021 we received a call from The Singing News in response to previous communications about becoming a charting station.  The Singing News welcomed us as a new charting station.  This gave us a voice in what Southern Gospel songs make the chart, something that helped us get new music for our listeners.  It is definitely a win-win agreement!

We want to thank all listeners who have emailed us encouraging words over the years of operation and hope to serve you and others across Canada with the best Southern Gospel music in years to come.