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Gene Farington
Publisher
If you are fulfilling
the will of God
in your life, don't fret
if you come to a "Red Sea" or a Valley
that seems to be "the
Valley of the Shadow
of Death."
If HE leads you TO IT,
HE'LL lead you
THROUGH IT!
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--The
Correct Term is . . . . . . .
"CHRISTIAN
COUNTRY GOSPEL MUSIC"
And
It's Just My Opinion:
It
seems like only yesterday that I sat down at my computer and wrote
an article for the August issue of the newspaper.
Now here I sit again. Sometimes
it real difficult to find something
to write about, other times it just seems to write itself, and this
is one of those times. I can hardly write the words
fast enough.
We’ve been hearing lately that Christian Country music is no longer a
viable genre of music. That report has come from a couple of record labels who say
that the radio stations they work with will no longer play Christian
Country music, mainly because all the music has started to sound the
same (that’s the same complaint you hear today about new country
music).
Let me say this about that – we each have a point of view that’s
influenced by our own experiences and the people we surround
ourselves with. God has
placed Micki and me in a unique position to hear from people all
over the world (through the Country Gospel Connection, CGCRadio.com,
the Christian Country Gospel News and Hope Street Music Group), and
we always try to remain open in an effort keep up with what is
really going on in our music industry.
There was a time not too many years ago when just mentioning the words
Christian Country or Country Gospel in some of the music industry
offices in Nashville would get you tossed out on your ear.
But that did not change the fact that the people in the
Midwest and Western half of the United States loved Christian
Country – Country Gospel and Bluegrass Gospel music.
As for radio stations, when we started the Country Gospel Connection in
2002 we could only find 200 – 300 radio stations and programs that
would play our style of music. Today we work with almost 3,000 different radio stations
& programs (internet radio stations, terrestrial stations and
different radio programs) that are wanting Christian Country and
Country Gospel Music. We receive requests sometimes weekly, and our
problem is being able to get the music to all of them. We have 1,373
digital downloading radio stations as of today.
It is true that the radio stations do come and go.
It’s an on-going job to keep up with those who come in to
download, as well as the compilation discs that come back after we
do a mail-out. But at
the same time we get new stations coming in almost on a weekly
basis. If you are on
our E-mail list, you would have received an email this week listing
10 different radio stations looking for Christian Country and
Country Gospel Music. Some of them are Country Stations, some are Southern Gospel
stations, and we even have some contemporary radio stations
(that’s right Contemporary radio stations) requesting our music.
Some are just adding a few songs to their play
lists, some are new radio shows, and others just want something new and
different from what they’ve been playing.
If I look at where we have come from to where we are now – the number
of radio stations is continuing to grow.
They are asking for the username and password to access the
radio programs and compilation discs available for digital download
on our website, which tells me Christian Country & Country
Gospel music is growing.
As for our friends who say the radio stations are getting tired of the
same old sound-alike songs, we even have an answer for that.
Fans and radio stations (DJs and Program Directors) say
everybody is beginning to sound the same. They all sound like Brad
Paisley or Garth Brooks sound-a-likes. That’s because of the music the programmers are adding into
rotation.
I personally believe that people like a variety in style.
I believe that if the Christian Country “players” would
embrace the Country Gospel market as well, it would give their
listeners a bigger variation in sound.
It will also bring to you a bigger fan base, and will take
care of the complaint that everyone sounds alike.
I also personally believe that the real problem is that no one can
control our style of music. Those
who have tried have fail. They
try to dictate the sound and they try to control the number of
artists. Their
philosophy is we only need to have 80 artists who get airplay for 3
years. Then we keep
only a few of them and pick out 80 more new artists and use them for
3 years; and then do it again.
“They” have said that all the rest of the artists need to
stay in their little churches and forget about trying to do anything
else. We’ve heard
this for years and of course we totally disagree.
Our style of music is still in the growing stages.
We need new people involved and that will make a real
difference. And we need
more of the churches to open their doors to this style of music. We
need the fans to help support the music and the artists who give up
their time and money to travel for hours to do a concert singing.
And we need the artist’s to remember that when you do get
up to sing, make sure you can sing in pitch do it “AS UNTO THE
LORD.”
Finally – I believe we need to change the
terminology of Christian Country and Country Gospel and start using
the correct term for our Music and that is:
“CHRISTIAN COUNTRY GOSPEL
MUSIC.”
I want to thank you for you time, and ask that
you let us know how you feel about this issue. And until the next
time, think about this: “Be
a Blessings to someone everyday, and don’t be negative or
distressing to those around you.”
Gene Farington
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Be blessed, and we will keep you all in our
prayers as you keep on keeping on.
If
you have a question, please feel free to call us at 870-741-1409,
contact us by email at
ccgnews@windstream.net
or gene@countrygospelconnection.com
or reach us by snail male at:
Christian Country Gospel News
Gene & Micki Farington
PO Box 715
Harrison, AR 72602
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