It’s that time of year again, when the local Howell-Oregon Electric Coop holds their annual meeting at the West Plains Civic Center. Now, we all know how the folks of West Plains, Missouri love their Southern Gospel Music, so no one should be surprised when the featured entertainment for the event was none other than…Gold City! The Coop had their new trucks scattered across the parking lot with beams raised high advertising the meeting, which provided a perfect background for my video blog (which, Lord willing, be up in a few days!) I was running a little late that night, and had some anxiety about getting a good seat walking in fifteen minutes before the concert was scheduled to begin! If I had only known! I walked in and got a front row seat! There were only a handful of people dotting the auditorium’s seating arrangements (I guess beginning a concert at five-fifteen wasn’t the best time for those who were just leaving work on a Friday.) Though, I did notice that more citizens filled in as the night went on. If you never had the privilege of attending an “Electric Coop Southern Gospel Style” – let me give you some details about the meeting I attended…

Number one, the stage was “uniquely decorated.” Strewn across the edge of the stage were the Coop’s give-a-way prizes…a 32inch TV, fishing poles, a Sorry board game … things like that. Poor Gold City had to stand behind all of that and sing! Two times during the show, the singing was interrupted for two to three minute periods to give away some of these prizes.

Gold City launched their concert off with an upbeat number called Somebody Sing Me A Gospel Song. Featured, were the vocals of Craig West, lead singer of the quartet. Tim showed off on the next song, reaching down to grab those low bass notes on the Gold City classic After A While. Slowing things down a bit, the meditative By Your Grace and For Your Glory showcased Danny’s smooth baritone voice. While the introductory notes played for the next song, Danny got everyone clapping for In My Robe Of White. I enjoyed watching Bryan (pianist) play some licks on this one! After that song, Danny came forward and told how Gold City has been on the road for thirty years, then said, “We like to have a good time, do ya’ll like to have a good time?” When an applause answered, he continued, “Good!…we’ll get along!” Danny went on to introduce the next song, which was inspired by a black gospel quartet. The blues/jazzy tune of It Won’t Be Long also featured Danny, while the other guys huddled together off to the side. Another upbeat song featuring Craig followed, called Shouting Ground. (They sure brought out the “old school” songs that night!) GC fans will remember this next one, What Children Believe, as being one of Gold City’s radio singles from a few years back. I’m Rich, came next – Craig sure has the vocal styling for this one. It almost sounded like Jonathan! Anyway, Dan Keeton (tenor) hit a really nice high note on the end, and Get Up, Get Ready followed…then came a short break while the Coop gave away their first two prizes.

I had to giggle to myself, when the MC came out and said, “Don’t worry, we’re bringing them right back!” A lady sitting behind me to my right said out loud, “Oh, good!” It took them roughly around three short minutes to give away a 32inch TV and a bike (that a cute little girl happened to win.) To me, it hardly seemed worth it to stop the singing for such a short break! But alas, it was so…

So after a three minute break Gold City came back out and began singing again. This time, That’s What I’m Talking About came singing its way into the audience’s ears. Tim seemed to really enjoy himself on this one, which, from the crowds point of view, was a real joy to see. Sometimes the other three guys didn’t seem to “be” there while they were singing.  Danny introduced the guys next, beginning with lead singer Craig West, who had a solo with a medium tempo song He’s Still On The Throne. After that song, their piano player, Bryan Elliot was presented to the crowd as Gold City’s youngest member. He was given the opportunity to play a solo on the keys, and wowed the audience with a medley of Just Over In The Gloryland with Flight Of The Bumblebee (a very difficult classical piece.) In the middle of the solo, the audience applauded and many shouts were heard at the end of the composition. So far, this was the first time in the whole evening when the audience seemed to really get excited about what they heard. Dan Keeton, fulfilling the tenor position, was the next member introduced. Danny said that in order to have a really good quartet you have to have two “freaks of nature” at each end…that’s the quartet formula! We sampled a taste of this on Dan’s solo, O What A Savior. Dan hit some awesome notes in his falsetto range, and the dynamics on the end where the soft goes to forte’ was outstanding. If I can critique the crowd, I personally think the applause from the audience was weak for this song. Though, it is worthy to note that the focus of the song was more on the high notes and not on the message of the song, which could have been the reason for the weak applause. Nothing, not even vocal talent, can substitute for genuine emotion and feeling put into a performance. Tim was featured on another classic, We’ll Soon Be Done (with troubles and trials.) The arrangement on this one was a little different from what you’re use to hearing, but as always, Tim was great! Danny introduced Tim, mentioning his 44 years in Gospel Music…to which Tim leaned over to Danny and said, “Son, we need to do that song I like because there are a lot of old people here.” Danny laughed and addressed the audience concerning the “old people” comment, “He said it, not me!” That song just so happened to be Rainbow Of Love. Danny explained that Tim thought they needed to learn something that would take them back to the good ’ole days. “We’re still working on it so bear with us,” Danny said before they began the song. When the last few notes were sung, Danny said to Dan and Craig, “We need to do a little more of that cause’ ya’ll didn’t do anything that we talked about.” Tim turned to Danny and said, “I thought you taught them?” “Well,” Danny replied, “You know how kids are today, they don’t listen! I’ve been trying to make it more ‘quartety’.” Tim looked confused, “Quartety?,” he asked. Danny said, “Yep, I made that word up, it’s submitted to the Webster so it should be in there soon.” Half way through the “re-do” of Rainbow Of Love, the three guys added some fancy vocal dynamics to their part, Tim smiled and said, “Quartety, huh?” The last song of the night was one GC recorded in 1986 that gets requested night after night…When I Get Carried Away!

Conclusion: It’s been a couple years since I’ve had the opportunity to see Gold City in full concert, and this was my very first time to see them with new members Craig West, Dan Keeton and Bryan Elliot. Though the vocals were excellent, it felt like they were just going through the motions of “singing” that night – passion, conviction and energy were absent. Most of their songs were sung back to back with little interaction and no introductions. In GC’s defense, I realize that when the show began there were few people in the audience, and considering the size of the seating area, it must have been discouraging to sing to such a few in number, who, were definitely not responsive to the music. Yet, I’ve seen other professional groups put in the same position and put on a great performance. (My last post, from the concert with BFA is a perfect example.) And by the time the concert ended, there were several hundred people there. Coop’s, from what I’ve heard, are generally hard to perform at because most of the people are just there for the give-a-ways and a little grumpy to begin with! Again, I think that a messenger of the Gospel should put on their best, if for no other reason, for the Lord. I understand if one singer is having a bad night, but a whole group? (Four to five guys?) Please understand, I’m not trying to be too hard on GC, I was just somewhat disappointed in what I saw compared to previous GC concerts I‘ve attended. As a matter of fact, the very first Southern Gospel concert I ever attended was a Gold City concert, and it was electrifying!!! … The Gospel was preached, and a three hour concert went by so quickly it felt like it was too soon for it to be over. To contrast that first concert with this one would be impossible! I sincerely hope that something was just amiss that night and in other venues, they would sing differently.