The Hoppers recorded eight projects in the late 80s and early 90s with Sonlite, with some of their biggest hits coming from that time. Songs such as “Milk and Honey,” “Mention My Name,” “That’s Him” and “Here I Am.” Shannon arranged and wrote or co-wrote many of of the songs the Hoppers cut through this era.

Crossroads staff member Greg Bentley, a former Hoppers member, recalls: “I remember when we hired Shannon as pianist. He came in with confidence that he could do the job, and yet still a very humble person. We knew we had found a special person to fill that position. You could always count on Shannon to not only come up with great arrangements for the group, but to always keep us laughing as well. He made those long road trips just a bit more enjoyable. He was one of those people that could just lighten up a moment with a quick word or joke. Gospel music has lost a great writer, arranger, musician and friend. But Heaven has gained what we have lost.”

The prayers and thoughts of all of the staff of Sonlite and Crossroads Music are with the Childress Family at this tough time.

The Akins new CD which is self titled “The Akins”  will be available online and in your local stores in September.

What would you say are the three major reasons why a lot of Gospel songs do not get recorded? You can name more than three, if you wish, but I would like to know at least the top three.

Blessings,
Mickey Mixon

www.GospelSongwriter.com
Networking Gospel Singers & Songwriters since 1999

3rd John 1:2

Reasons
#1) There are a lot of “good” songs in the mix to be cut. They are well written and have a good message. But most artist do not go into a new recording looking for “good” songs. They want “Great” songs, even if they will just become an album filler. This becomes a bad situation for the “Great” songs that never get the chance to become the radio single they deserve, as well as the “good” songs that never get cut. Good songs are often good on stage, but may not have what it takes to be a radio single.

#2) There are songs that never get cut because they are not broad enough in either their style, or their lyrics. Let me try to explain. Some songs are written where you can make them either quartet style, solo style, or even change from southern to bluegrass or to a more Inspirational style with the music. But some songs are very specific in that musically, either chord progressions, or meter, you cannot make them anything other than what they are. This can narrow the chances of getting a cut. Also songs can be narrow in their lyrics. Artist sing to a wide range of beliefs. If a song leans too far towards one denominations beliefs than another’s, an artist will shy away because they cannot sing it in every church they perform.

#3) The third reason is rather unfortunate in our business. Some artist are “Writer driven”. If they see a package of songs from one of the top writers, they will give those songs more weight in their decision than a writer they have never heard of. We have a lot of songs in our catalogs by writers that are familiar such as Sandy Knight, Daryl Williams and Chris Binion. But I also have strong songs by writers that you may have never heard of. I have to really push artist towards those songs, where I don’t with Sandy, Daryl and Chris. This is unfortunate also because those three known writers were unknown at one time too!

I hope this is something of the direction that you were looking for. If I were to give writers one thing to think about, I would suggest to them this, “Write strong lyrics that flow from verses to chorus’, that are Biblically correct to any denomination with catchy tunes. If you can sit down and listen to a song and know what the next line is going to be, or know where the chord progression is going before it actually happens, then it stands less of a chance to get picked for a recording by a major artist.”

Greg Bentley