Greg & Heather's Southern Gospel Concert Blog, Comments from the Back Row

It was raining. It was raining big time. Only the dedicated came out tonight! The crowd was good. There are a lot of Southern Gospel lovers in the area!

• The Lighthouse Girls led off as usual. There are a lot of new girls, so they’re still learning the songs, but they were inspirational as always!
• The Perrys are missing their bass and alto singer as Tracy is still in intensive care (9 weeks now) and Libbi is by his side.  The fill-in girl did a good job, but she’s no Libbi. Joseph and Bryan are doing a great job ‘keeping it together’ during this time. The crowd enjoyed them, and at one point they got Libbi on the phone and she spoke to the audience thanking us for our love and prayers and giving an update on Traci. It was very touching.
• The Mark Trammell Quartet was ‘on fire’ tonight! They started off with several popular hymns that we all miss hearing. They then sang some Southern Gospel standards before doing their own songs. They have definitely found their sound. The group interacted well and kept us entertained. At the end of their set they had the Perrys come up on stage and sing a number. Outstanding!

Great night. Let it rain, nobody cared! At one point the rain was so loud on the gym roof it drowned out the singing.

To quote Dorman as we left, “we knew we had been to Church!”

They were good, but it was a long drive to find out their website is years out of date and Mike Allen is no longer with them! He was the bass singer we went to hear.

The auditorium is a new addition since we I drove the bus for Heather’s Summer Day Camp to the park in elementary school. It is a nice facility, comfortable seats and warm (it was COLD outside). They had a concession stand with cold drinks, chili, and strawberry shortcake.

This was a Billy Hudson’s annual McKameys concert in Thomasville. It rained non-stop all day and all night. The crowd was a little smaller than normal for this event, but you couldn’t tell it by their enthusiasm.

• The Lighthouse Girls led off as usual. They are always inspirational, but tonight they seemed particularly powerful.
• The Inspirations were great as always. They even sang our request of ‘The Son Came Down’ to lead off the 2nd set. I still don’t like the steel guitar, but I’m getting used to it.
• The McKameys were great as always.

This was the first time we’d seen them. They did all their standard radio hits, which we enjoyed, plus other numbers.

The Pastor, his wife, son and oldest daughter sang during the break. They were excellent. We would drive back up just to hear them.

• The Lighthouse Girls led off as usual. They are always inspirational.

•  The Collingsworth Family was outstanding. The harmony was great. They bring a full size grand piano with them in a trailer they tow behind the bus to all performances. Kim can plain ‘tear up’ the piano.

Let me say again from our last Morningside visit and post in May, this is the friendliness church we have ever been in. There were greeters outside in the parking lot, in the vestibule, and again inside the sanctuary. As we sat there (we always get there early to make sure we get the ‘right’ seat) church members went up and down the aisles shaking hands and welcoming us. We felt very welcome. It is great to feel a part of the family of God!

It is a powerful night to listen to and worship with Greater Vision. It is absolutely a moving experience with such a commanding group as they are! My favorite song is still ‘My Name is Lazarus!’

Just for the record: we ate hamburgers and onion rings at Slap Daddy’s after the concert. If you haven’t tried Slap Daddy’s I highly recommend it.

The Lighthouse Girls – led off singing Christmas songs. They were perfect. Taylor sang O Holy Night. She was was fantastic, as usual.

The Dove Brothers – have been our favorite for many, many years. Tonight was strange. Billy kept talking about the gym having bad acoustics. We have heard this group, at the Lighthouse, in that gym, over 20 times. The problem with their sound tonight was not the gym’s acoustics. They just couldn’t get their sound adjusted. The band overpowered the singers. You could hardly hear McCray even on solos. They seem to be trying a new sound, more twangy, it’s not working. My personal opinion, well, not just me, many others I talked with during the break, is the steel guitar does NOT fit with their sound. It detracted, a lot. I hope this is just an experiment and they go back to the great sound they had back in September the last time we saw them, and ALL the previous times.

Just for the record, this is the first negative thing I’ve ever said about them. Sorry, facts are facts.

We just heard them a couple of months ago, and I am still NOT a Bluegrass Gospel fan, but this family is good and the kids are so talented and cute that I enjoy hearing them.