Saturday Gospel Brunch presented by Thirty Tigers
By MCAU Correspondent Wil Comstock
It was refreshing to have Kimberly Kelly take over hosting responsibilities for this year’s Gospel Brunch. She was prepared, entertaining and informative in her introductions.
The show opened with a sweet rendition of “Amazing Grace” by Clover County, followed by a stripped-down version of Lauren Hill’s “Tell Him” by Blessing.
Road warrior Melissa Carper of Wonderwoman of Country did a reworking of her “Christian Sister” song, presenting it as “Christian Brother.” I like her honesty and humor.
Legend Swamp Dog, who is a young 82, had everyone clapping on his “She’s All I Got.” He has some colorful players in his band that added to the excitement of his performance.
I was taken to another place by the earthy bluegrass of Britt Taylor on “Unclouded Day.” Her husband, Adam Chaffins, accompanied her on guitar and harmony vocals on the beautiful “The Best You Can Do Is Love.”
Texan Country Pop artist Tyler Bryant is sure to lasso a couple of hits with his “Thinking Outside The Box of Wine” and “Stay Wild.”
Liverpudlian Robert Vincent was backed by Lauren Housley and The Northern Cowboys. His melodic songs slowly grab you and take you to the harmonic stratosphere. At least he did this for me on “Burden” and “Demons.”
Lauren Housley and The Northern Cowboys, hailing from Yorkshire, UK, treated us to the bluesy “High Time.” What an intense storyteller.
Who can keep still when The McCrary Sisters take the stage? Their performance of “Run On” with their brother Allen had me dancing. I was raising my hands with them on the soulful “Help Me.”
Gospel and Americana legends, The Oak Ridge Boys, took the stage singing “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” to a thunderous crowd. Lead singer and spokesman Duane Allen said, “Up until Joe (Bosnal) died, the four of us (Duane, Joe, Richard, and William Lee) had been together for 50 years. We’ve experienced a lot of grief in the last year. I lost my wife, William Lee lost a son, and Richard lost a father in law.”
He said their producer, Dave Cobb, suggested they do an album of songs inspired by things their mother taught them. The result is the upcoming “Mama’s Boys” to be released next month. From the new album, the Oaks sang the Dottie Rambo-penned “Mama Teaching Angels How to Sing” and Willie Nelson’s “I Thought About You Lord.” Newcomer Ben James more than proved himself on tenor vocals. He was always reverential, taking a step back when Duane was talking. He had big shoes to fill. Introducing the last song,
Duane said, “A lot of people thought this wasn’t a gospel song, but tell it to our families who were able to pay the bills that year.” They closed with “Elvira.” No wonder it was a huge hit. I was singing “Elvira” to myself all afternoon!
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