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Looking down the great roads of history that Southern Gospel Music has paved, I have found some very interesting things that appear to be occurring again in the world of Southern Gospel music today. With so many trailblazers now gone, I wonder who the next generation of legends and icons will be. But before we can make an accurate assessment of who will be our next legend, we must first look back at what our heroes of history did to gain such recognition.

One of the biggest names in Southern Gospel music is The Statesman. These guys were phenomenal and way ahead of their time. Their tradition of excellent four part harmony, rich blends and great vocal abilities have definitely laid a foundation of excellence that many groups today are trying hard to emulate. But those qualities were merely a portion of what made the Statesman who they are today! It was what they did aside from producing the utmost in quality during their time. They were one of the first groups to easily and unashamedly integrate entertainment into their ministry in a big way! The way they dressed, wore their hair and their actions on stage were indicative of the time and era they lived. If you could have put The Statesman next to a Motown group (which was some of the hottest music of that time), you will see that they looked very much like those great Motown counterparts. Yet they never let the message of their music falter. The Statesman were at one time blacklisted from many radio stations because of the "Rock-n-Roll" sound they seemed to be adopting! Do you remember "Happy Rhythm?" This song, that we look at today as a classic, nearly never made it as a single because at the time it was released it was viewed as nothing more than Rock-n-Roll!

Another great name in Southern Gospel History was The Imperials. They, too, were known for their classic harmonies and excellent vocal arrangements. But they were also great innovators and progressive thinking. They were known to perform with the biggest name in the history of Rock-n-Roll, Elvis Presley! Why were The Imperials performing with this hip shaking, womanizing, drug using Rock artist? When Christian artists today do the same thing they are practically exiled. But we look at The Imperials as legends and forget that they were one of the most controversial groups to ever walk on stage. They made their own tradition by breaking away from what tradition, at the time, told them they should be doing.

Let us look at the legendary Bill Gaither Trio. Today we all sing the songs of the Trio. Some of those songs are even published in church hymnals world wide. We consider those songs to be classic Southern Gospel music. However at the time they were coming into their own, The Gaither Trio were often not considered Southern Gospel at all. They helped pave the way for Inspirational music as we know it today. The Trio is often held responsible and blamed for helping to split Gospel Music into two separate genres. At a time when male quartets were popular, they blazed a trail for mixed groups everywhere. If they had thrown in the towel and stuck with what their tradition had dictated to them, we wouldn't have some of the great music we have today!

What about The Cathedrals? Has there ever been a classier group of guys? These guys remained a traditional male, four part harmony quartet. But, look at how they performed on stage. Glenn Payne, one of the greatest men in Gospel Music was known for his jumping around and dancing on stage. This was plain foolishness to a lot of people in the Southern Gospel world. Didn't he know that he was supposed to simply stand still and sing? If he had done what tradition told him to do, would he be as loved as he is today? Then the Cathedrals started adding tracks to some of their performances! This was a no-no for sure. Today groups are still using those same tracks to sing to. George and Glenn often used harsh jokes about each other to help make people laugh. What? They were entertaining the people? This was supposed to be ministry and be serious! Why were they constantly joking around and seen as insulting to each other? Because they didn't let tradition and history tell them how to do what they wanted to do. They held fast to the tradition of musical quality, while finding their own niche of non-traditionalism to make their mark. And by doing so, they will go down in history as one of the greatest groups to ever sing Southern Gospel music.

The Blackwoods, The Hinsons, The Goodmans, The Oak Ridge Boys, J.D. Sumner and The Stamps and the list goes on of people that we look at as traditions, legends, and icons in Southern Gospel music today but in their time were considered, by many, as progressive, innovative, groundbreaking and even rebels! They established themselves by doing their own thing. The message of their music never changed. But the way they presented it and the way it sounded did change from group to group. They broke away from their tradition, embracing the contemporary in many ways while still holding on to their traditions in other ways.

Today we have this argument about progressive Southern Gospel music hurting the "tradition." We have great, new groups such as Lord Song, Chosen Few, Paid in Full, The Crabb Family, Karen Peck and New River, Signature Sound, The Martins, and the Gaither Vocal Band that are innovative, groundbreaking, and some even rebels to tradition. Many are constantly criticized for what they do, how they sound, what they look like, and how they act on stage. They are looked at as progressive but in reality, they are holding fast to tradition. Our legends have shown us that it is all right to break tradition and to go against the grain. Our heroes paved these roads for all of us today. The only thing these new progressive groups are doing today is holding to that same tradition.

Let us all band together and accept all that are trying to make a way in this industry. If the message is pure and the sound is of utmost quality then everything else is aesthetics. Looking back at our great forefathers of Southern Gospel music and looking at how they did it, we will learn that the only way to truly keep tradition is to break away from it!

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