Osage Beach, MO

At first I thought, "I didn't know Missouri had an ocean!" Uh, they don't. But, they do have a beach. Osage Beach.

Todd Forman and Joel Pottinger promote a quality southern gospel event called ,"Great Lakes of the Ozarks Gospel Sing."

I was privileged to represent the Singing News at their event a couple of weeks ago. Every concert was almost sold out, except the Saturday afternoon matinee and evening concert which WERE sold out. I'll have more on Todd and Joel in a moment.

I was sorry I had to miss the Thursday evening concert which featured the Ball Brothers and Greater Vision. The Ball Brothers are solid up and comers and, as most of the world knows, Greater Vision is one of my all-time favorite groups.

Friday evening featured the Higher Power QT and the Lesters. The strong male quartet sounds of the Higher Power QT were a pleasant surprise. The Lester's did a wonderful job, like always. There's a renewed energy and spirit amongst my friends from St. Louis. They blessed me Friday evening.

Speaking of blessings, the Booth Brothers Saturday afternoon matinee was one of the best programs I've ever witnessed. It was much more than your run-of-the-mill southern gospel programs. It was a program, with a purpose. Each song seamlessly dove-tailed into the next. There was rhyme and reason to every song and comment. If it was staged, you sure could have fooled me. I'm glad I've heard them during this special time in their career.

Crossroads Recoding artists, the Crist Family, were also a part of the Saturday matinee. They also did a fantastic job. In addition to their own material, they have a knack for finding classic southern gospel songs and breathing new life into them. Nice job!

Saturday evening featured the Hoppers and Gold City. No surprises here, straight ahead traditional southern gospel music, family and quartet style. Absolutely stellar performances. Hey, do me a favor. The next time you see Claude Hopper give him a rubber band. Tell him it's courtesy of his ole friend, Les Butler.

Now, allow me to brag on Todd and Joel for just a moment. They know what they're doing.

They treat those of us who worked the event, including the artists, like equal partners in the event. They helped load-in and load-out. They prepared hot meals for all of us, all day long. They were constantly checking to make sure we had what we needed. I'm talking red carpet treatment.

Not only did they deliver the highest quality talent, they did special little things. For example, the Booth Brothers were supposed to sing at last years event, but they couldn't get there due to a snow storm. Right in the middle of their set Joel and Todd made it "snow" on them. The Booth Brothers amended their program and sang a Christmas song. It made for a very special moment.

The Main Street Music Hall is a fine venue. It's located at the back of a quaint little specialty mall in Osage Beach. At just shy of a thousand seats, it's just the right size for this type of event.

They already have the 09 event ready to roll. For more information check out,greatlakeoftheozarksgospelsing.com. You can count on me being there.

Posted by Les Butler at 3:40 PM - Send Comments - Email This Post