Break out the balloons and confetti!

MusicScribe Blog is 20 years old today…actually, right now! This post is going out at 1:35 PM, the same minute the very first MusicScribe Blog post was published on September 27, 2004.

As a brand, MusicScribe is actually 26 years old. In 1998, MusicScribe was strictly a business page attempting to attract clients for my music arranging services. I also had a separate Geocities website called Dave’s Place where I posted CD reviews, but the precise date that site went online has been lost to history. In 2004, I realized that the blog format had visual advantages over the dated appearance of web-based forums, chat services, and usenet. I also theorized that the expression “music scribe” could just as easily refer to a person who writes about music as it does to someone who notates music for musicians. I carried over MusicScribe as the name for the new blog. I used the Blogger platform initially, but later switched to WordPress on the advice of another Southern Gospel blogger, Daniel Mount.

Many of my early blog articles focused on the history of Southern Gospel groups. These articles were eventually transferred to the wiki site, SGHistory.com. Of all the things that came out of MusicScribe Blog these past twenty years, the SGHistory website has the most lasting value. In 2020, I published much of what is on the site in book form. Of course, new details are constantly being added to the website. In 2021, the Southern Gospel Music Association approached me about sponsoring the cost of keeping SGHistory.com online. That partnership began three years ago, and I’m both grateful and pleased to announce it will continue for a fourth year!

For several years, I wrote a steady stream of reviews and opinion pieces mostly about the Southern Gospel industry but occasionally venturing into a related topic like music technology. In 2008, bloggers Wes Burke, Brandon Coomer, Daniel Mount, Adam Edwards, and Aaron Swain published the first “mega review” which you can still read over at Coomer Cove. I wasn’t there for that first one, but I participated in several of those over the next few years. In 2009, regular contributor Kyle Boreing joined the MusicScribe team and has been a consistent contributor for the past 15 years.

In 2013, MusicScribe Blog almost ceased to exist. I had spent the previous two years dealing with serious vertigo issues, and my ability to turn out content consistently on a weekly basis had diminished. Rather than shut it down, I approached bloggers Steve Eaton, Diana Brantley, and Phil Boles proposing a merger of all our blogs under the MusicScribe brand. They all agreed. Steve Eaton left to revive his own blog in 2014. Sony Elise was a regular contributor to Daniel Mount’s blog for several years, so I offered her a home at MusicScribe to continue posting her Sunday devotionals after he made the decision to shut his blog down.

On September 1, 2014, I posted a #NewsNuggets article for the first time. The format is pretty much the same ten years later. I’m not a huge fan of the typical Southern Gospel press release that takes 1000-2000 words to say what could be said in 50. Ten years later, I’m still convinced that a succinct, “just the facts” approach is best. The very first #NewsNuggets article also included a list of upcoming CD album releases. That feature has continued to the present day.

For several years, I made an effort to at least publish a rating for every Southern Gospel major label release and many of the independents as well. Even if I didn’t write a full review, at least there was something there for readers to see how I thought each recording stacked up against the rest. As most all labels began issuing new albums direct to streaming services including free-to-listen platforms, reviews of new releases became less necessary. Fans could simply listen for themselves and make up their own minds. I soon began creating playlists for all new releases to help fans discover them. At the same time, I knew that James Hales had a large backlog of reviews of classic albums, so in 2022, I invited him to start publishing those each Wednesday.

Time marches on. I plan to keep MusicScribe going for the foreseeable future, although I fully realized that social media platforms like Facebook and X are where most people spend time online these days. One goal I have going forward is to put safeguards in place to ensure that SGHistory.com will outlive me.

As for the blog itself, it’s been a fun 20 years, I look forward to…maybe not 20, but at least a few more. #NewsNuggets will continue. I may get back to writing an album review now and then. I’m still going to report on NQC annually for however many more years I’m able to attend.

As our anniversary articles rolled out this week, many of our readers have responded with your congratulations via social media and even a few in-person as I’ve seen you at the National Quartet Convention this week. Thank you, readers, for being part of it. It would be pretty pointless to do all this if no one was there to read it!

Most of all, thank you to all the writers who have contributed to the blog these past 20 years!