Its impossible to overstate the impact Andraé Crouchs music had on me as a young musician. Just so many intersections and stories of his influence on me. None more significant than when my dad took me to see a Sunday morning Bill Gaither concert in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the summer of 1972. I was only 12 years old, and Gaither was performing at the First Church of the Nazarene in downtown Little Rock. The sanctuary was absolutely packed, and the ushers were putting out extra chairs in the aisles and in front of the pews to accommodate the overflow crowd. We were led to the very front row, and seated directly in front of the grand piano -- just a couple feet from where Bill Gaither sat down and began his first number, The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power. As Gaither began the first verse, my dad leaned over to me and whispered, Thats not one of his own songs. Thats an Andraé Crouch song. There was something extremely earnest in the manner my dad shared that information, but the significance was lost on my 12-year old mind. I was brought up heavily steeped in the Gospel music of that era. I knew who Bill Gaither was. I knew Andraé Crouch. I even knew that song. Id already heard my home churchs choir perform The Blood... a gazillion times back in Shreveport, Louisiana. But I didnt understand the urgency in my dads voice until we got in the car to drive home after the service. I asked my dad, What was the big deal? He explained to me that not only was it a tremendous tribute for one as successful as Bill Gaither to open a concert with another songwriters song, but the fact he choose to open with a BLACK Gospel artists song, in that church, in downtown Little Rock (of 1972) was nothing less than Bill Gaither making much more of a statement than was probably grasped by most of the white folk assembled there in the 1st Church of the Nazarene. Oh, I said. I got the message. And I never forgot that message.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 06:44:48 +0000
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