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| From the broadcast
the weekend of June 7th & 8th, 2008: |
 Our Featured Artists on this program (first hour
only) were the Primitive Quartet with songs from their current "Thank
You For The Roses" CD. We frequently get requests for the Primitives
and I was happy we could feature them and their music in this way. We'd like
to send a big "thank you" to the Primitives, too, for the 80 CDs that they've
made available for our listeners as a special giveaway. (The deadline
for entering this giveaway has passed.)
The Primitive Quartet's 28th annual Hominy Valley Sing, mentioned
on the broadcast, will be June 30th through July 5th at the Hominy Valley
Music Park, located on highway 151 in Candler, NC, about 15 miles west of
Asheville. For more information call 828-667-8502 or check their website,
www.primitivequartet.com.
The Primitive Quartet's CD featured on this program, "Thank You
For The Roses," is available from our mailorder service, Springside.
You can order easily from our webstore by
clicking
on this link to go directly to this item. (Orders over $40 in the USA
qualify for free shipping.)
Did you enjoy the two songs I played from the new Greater Vision Kids
CD called "Go And Tell" as part of our Children's Day observance?
It really is a great recording for use, especially, with kids' groups such
as Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible School, etc. It's
available
through our webstore.
 The entire second hour of this broadcast was a special
hour entitled "Remembering Dottie Rambo."
One of Gospel music's best-known and most prolific songwriters, Dottie
Rambo, died May 11th when her tour bus was swept off I-44 in Missouri by
high winds and crashed. Six members of her entourage were injured, two seriously,
and all are recovering. Readers of "The Gospel
Greats Newsletter" were notified of this great loss by a
special
e-mail the day it happened. (Click on that link for the original
story.)
Dottie was one of those "bigger than life" personalities whose influence
on the world of Gospel music will remain strong for many generations to come.
Even with a full hour to work with, it was impossible to do justice to her
many, many accomplishments.
Dottie's songs all had that "this-is-what-I've-actually-lived-through" feel
to them. And that's especially amazing given the fact that she claimed more
than 2,500 songs during her lengthy songwriting and singing career. Undoubtedly,
that "true-to-life" feel is why her songs were (and are and will remain)
so popular. In fact, as you heard on the broadcast, many of today's top
songwriters were inspired by Dottie's writing early in their careers —
or even before those careers began. Dottie's songs truly are, as you heard
her say, her legacy to those of us who remain. They are simple yet powerful
songs of Christian life and hope.
 During
the broadcast, you heard some of Dottie's friends tell of how much of an
encourager she was. I can personally attest to that. As I went back over
my interview transcripts from the past few decades I was struck by the fact
that Dottie virtually always — as part of the interview itself —
would stop and compliment and encourage me in what we were doing on the radio.
For example, in what turned out to be our last face-to-face interview less
than two years ago, she stopped and told me, "Paul, might I tell you that
you have the most wonderful gift, the greatest voice for radio I guess that
I've heard — not too deep, not too high. And it's very satisfying...
And you cover all the ground. You do a great job. And all I've ever heard
about you, Paul, are good things. That's true." Whether talking with
DJs or artists or fans, Dottie always found a way to encourage them. And
her heart was in it. It was real, not mere hyperbole or puffery.
At Dottie's funeral service, you heard an except of Gloria Gaither's remarks.
Speaking of Dottie's songwriting, Gloria said, "It had an undercurrent
of homesickness in it, a yearning for something she seemed only to glimpse
now and then on this journey here, something that on her best days her spirit
knew she had to pursue. As she put it, 'There was too much to gain to lose.'
 Many of
her lyrics strained to see that 'something.' But today all the sunsets lie
behind the mountain; she's crossed her last hot burning desert of the soul,
and there'll be 'no more valley's, no more hills.' She is in a place where
tears will never stain the streets, and although her house here may bear
a notice of her passing, she is in a new city where there'll be 'no wreath
of death on her mansion door.' ...She now walks without pain or assistance
through the hills that have been calling her for a long time...and Miss Dottie,
now finally perfect, has at last found shelter in the arms of God."
Excerpts that you heard on this broadcast from Dottie Rambo's funeral service
were graciously provided by The River at Music City Church. A DVD recording
of the entire home-going celebration service is available from that church,
operated by Reba (Dottie's daughter) and Dony McGuire.
Go to this site
for more information. The DVD includes a commemorative program from the church.
They are asking for a $15 donation to the Dottie Rambo Memorial Fund. In
any communication, please mention that you heard about this through The
Gospel Greats program.
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