For the
Sake OF MUSIC by Charlie Griffin
Gospel music as we know it umbrellas many flavored styles of music genres – from southern gospel to traditional, contemporary, bluegrass, country, and even to the elements of rock gospel. Although there are many styles in Christian music, the common denominators are people and the love of the music. No other form of music offers the message of change and hope like a Christian or gospel song. The effect of gospel music on the soul, heart and mind is lasting. For many, it is a lifetime. And in many cases, there are many things we do for the love of the music. Or as Granny said, “For music’s sake.” As I think back on my life, I fondly remember as a young teenager singing in church with the choir and church quartet, getting on the Singing Winebargers’
bus with my cousin as he sang with them. Or working up a storm to establish the Singing Americans on radio and in concert venues with noted legacy promoters. Or getting on the Vanguards bus going to sing with my extended brotherhood in a gospel group. Or cooking, cleaning, and emceeing for consecutive sold out dinner concerts at the Hallelujah Supper Club on Friday and Saturday nights. I think back on the times where there were flat tires on the side of a mountain road. A bus breaking down on the way home from a church singing in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Crawling under a bus to fix diesel lines, prime a bus to crank because the fuel gauge quit working and we were on “E” on the roadside of HWY 74 in Nantahala National Forest. Or the bus didn’t crank, so we loaded up equipment, instruments, clothes and merchandise in 3 cars to go sing hours away from home. Towed the bus to the local Detroit garage (30 miles away) only to find out the engine blew in the freezing cold of the Dakotas. Hotel reservations were made but only to find out the hotel was overbooked and there was “no room in the inn.” The things we encountered could not stop us from singing gospel music. I think back when working with the Singing Americans of a time when Greg Bentley and I drove to Canton, Georgia, to take voice lessons from the
