Tag: Southern Gospel Radio

The Inspirations to release retrospective collection, Ageless Treasures

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CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (March 14, 2023) — Throughout the last few years, the latest generation of storied Southern Gospel quartet The Inspirations were a highlight of the National Quartet Convention, featured on the cover of Singing News magazine, and winners of the publication’s fan awards for favorite album and favorite young artist. As the group prepares to record new music, they are pausing to look back at decades of music with Ageless Treasures, a two-disc retrospective of fan-favorite songs set to be released April 14. It’s now available for pre-order, add or save.

Since forming in 1964, The Inspirations‘ distinct sound has always been instantly recognizable and has changed little across 57 years of recordings — no matter who was singing. This sound carries through the 30 songs on Ageless Treasures, which features #1 songs “I’ll Not Turn My Back On Him Now,” “If You Only Knew” and “I Have Not Forgotten”; fan favorites like “We Need To Thank God” and “In The Twinkle Of An Eye”; and classics such as “They’re Holding up The Ladder” and “I’ll Have A New Life.”

Says lead vocalist Roland Kesterson, “For the last 22 years, The Inspirations have been blessed to have been on the Horizon Records label. Over the span of two decades, we have recorded some songs that have become fan favorites, songs that we still stage today and have requests for each night. Every song we sing is special to us, however, only a few stand the test of time and become ageless, in other words songs that never get old.”

“As you listen to this collection,” he continues, “it’s our prayer that each song not only blesses your heart but fills your mind with memories of the first time you heard them and how God has used these songs to minister to you as well as us. We hope you can once again enjoy our Ageless Treasures.” 

The Kingdom Heirs take on legendary songson Something Good Volume 3

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CROSSROADS

Arden, North Carolina (February 14, 2023) — When a legendary group takes on legendary songs, the results are bound to be special—and indeed, the first two collections of favorites from the Kingdom Heirs were so well received that the quartet has returned to the well once more for Something Good, Volume 3, on Sonlite Records. The album is now available for pre-order, add or save ahead of its April 7 release.

Like its predecessors, Something Good, Volume 3 finds the famed ensemble — now boasting a new lineup as they head toward their 40th year as Dollywood’s resident gospel group — drawing from the deep well of long-beloved yet ever-timely songs to create an album that that will not only bring old memories to life, but make new ones, too.   

“Over the past 6 years, we’ve recorded a series of albums entitled Something Good,” says singer Loren Harris. “This is the third volume in that series, with the current lineup of myself on lead and Andy Stringfield on baritone along with Jacob Ellison and Jeff Chapman on tenor and bass respectively. This recording, like the two before it, has some of our favorite songs that have been recorded over the years by other groups, by groups that we may have performed with, or remakes of Kingdom Heir classics!”

From the opening “I’m Forgiven,” a spirited, horn- and piano-driven celebration of God’s mercy that dates back to the late 1970s, to the classic quartet sound of the closing “Glory Road,” first introduced in 1973 by The Kingsmen, Something Good, Volume 3 is a loving survey of Gospel music treasures, each given the Kingdom Heirs’ unique treatment. Country flavors predominate, with the pedal steel guitar and harmonica making regular appearances alongside the ever-present keyboards, but there is room for much more, too, including elaborate orchestrations that surround the quartet’s voices with a rich sonic tapestry on songs such as The Kingsmen’s “The Cross Has Won Again,” Happy Goodman Family’s “That Sounds Like Home To Me” and The Perrys’ “He Will Hide Me,” and a two-part arrangement of “Moving Up To Gloryland” that puts the Kingdom Heirs’ own unique stamp on the popular favorite. Indeed, with each song, whether it features Harris, Stringfield, Ellison or Chapman â€” or all four voices throughout — the Kingdom Heirs manage to summon echoes of earlier performances while shining through with a musical character and a spiritual richness that’s all theirs.  

Says Harris, “I think you’ll enjoy this trip down memory lane as we relive this wonderful music that we love to sing” — and if the enthusiastic reception given by their fans to the previous volumes of Something Good is any indication, it’s a trip listeners will be happy to take over and over again.

Hackers target Texas Gospel server

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David Ingram

Texas Gospel Canada’s main server fell victim to a hacker attack Friday morning.

We are working to restore our station, but it will require us to change our URL. We are a volunteer-run and volunteer-funded station and have no way to pay ransom ware. Because of this, we have to abandon many hours of work spent in the creation our programming & schedule; meaning, all of the stuff done in the background to make our station go.

Updates will be posted below:

8 a.m. Tuesday: Our engineer is still working out issues with Texas Gospel 2 Country Gospel. The stream is up, but some of the programming is not yet available due to an issue caused by the hacking incident. We hope to have this fixed soon.

3 p.m. Sunday update: Our engineer expects Texas Gospel 2 Country Gospel to be up and running by or before Monday.

3 p.m. Saturday update: We have a new server as of today for Texas Gospel 1 Southern Gospel. You can listen online by clicking HERE. Some of our announcers cannot host a live show, but we hope to solve this issue soon.

The Down East Boys’ “Celebration At The Empty Grave” paints a joyous picture

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SPECIAL: CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (January 13, 2023) — Following their chart-topping “Ready To Leave,” drawn from 2022’s The Stories We Tell, the Down East Boys jump headfirst into the new year with “Celebration At The Empty Grave,” a song that points to the promise of Easter and the miracle of the Resurrection. The single is the first from Sonlite Records to be released in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. 

Allowing listeners to feel as if they’re inside the song itself, Dolby Laboratories’ Dolby Atmos is familiar to many from its “surround sound” application in thousands of movie theaters. It is described by the respected sound technology innovator as “revealing depth, clarity and details like never before….a sound experience you can feel all around you.” Audio produced in Dolby Atmos adapts automatically to your Atmos-compatible device and system to give you an all-enveloping sound experience you would not expect.

Opening with an instantly memorable guitar figure that will recur throughout the song, “Celebration At The Empty Grave” wastes no time in introducing the full quartet — Ricky Carden (lead), Daryl Paschal (baritone), Doug Pittman (tenor) and Alex Utech (bass) — in its scene-setting first verse;

I hear there’s talk all over town
Something big is going down
A marvel everybody wants to see
They’ve heard about an empty tomb
They’re wondering, “Could this be true?”
And if it is, what does this really mean?

The musical tension echoing these questions persists through the second verse, building to the release of the song’s insistent, joyous chorus and its ringing affirmation:

Our Lord is great and greatly to be praised
So we stand here amazed
As we join the celebration,
The celebration at the empty grave

As the song winds through its remaining verse and choruses, shifts in key offer each of the quartet’s members a turn front and center, emphasizing the fellowship of all those celebrating Christ. As Ricky Carden puts it, “‘Celebration At The Empty Grave’ is a song that reminds all of us that we serve a Savior that is alive and well, and we can celebrate, knowing that He knows us and hears us as He is risen! So celebrate a risen Savior!”

The Wisecarvers meditate on true meaning of Christmas in “Wrapped In Red”

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SPECIAL CROSSROADS RECORDS

Arden, North Carolina (December 2, 2022) â€” Rather than close the book on 2022 with the October release of their most recent single for Horizon Records, “Stay Home,” The Wisecarvers are sharing one more song with listeners in “Wrapped In Red,” a grateful, graceful meditation on the true significance and celebration of Christ’s birth.   

Written and sung by Chase Wisecarver, with Kaila and Dustin Wisecarver adding warmly supportive harmonies over an arrangement led by producer Jeff Collins’ piano, “Wrapped In Red” offers a gentle yet insistent reminder of what truly counts in the holiday, summed up in the chorus’s simple, direct acknowledgement:

“He just wants my heart wrapped in red
The perfect shade of crimson
For the blood that He shed
Nothing I could offer Him would seem to be enough
But He said all He wants is my love
And this heart wrapped in red”

“It seems now Christmas has gotten so commercialized people often forget the true reason for the season,” notes Chase Wisecarver. “We give and receive gifts, have Christmas dinners, wonder what Santa will bring, and sometimes let all of that overshadow the most important thing — Christmas is the celebration of the birthday of Christ our King. I’ve wondered what we could give to our King for His birthday. There’s nothing greater we could give Him than our hearts wrapped in red with the blood He shed for us on Calvary.”

Listen for “Wrapped In Red” throughout the day on Texas Gospel