Family Ties - Silver Dollar City's Southern Gospel Picnic 2016 - Night One

Today was the first day of Silver Dollar City's Southern Gospel Picnic. If I ranked my favorite times of year, it would be Christmas and then the Gospel Picnic. I look forward to this all year long.

This afternoon, I drove up Hwy. 65 from Arkansas to Branson, Missouri. I got there just in time for the first evening concert of the festival in Echo Hollow. The groups kicking off the nightly concerts were Aaron and Amanda Crabb and the Bowling Family!

Aaron and Amanda Crabb took the stage tonight with "I'm on the Battlefield" to get the crowd going and singing along. They sang several old familiar favorites like "Going Home" and "He Looked Beyond My Faults." The duo has a new project releasing tomorrow (can't wait to hear it), so they sang a couple from it, "Lord Have Mercy" and "Restore Me," which is the title track that Amanda wrote.

The couple also let their daughter, Eva, sing "God Girl" with cousins Katelanne and Gracie. This was a song that Eva wrote! 

I love watching Aaron and Amanda sing together on stage. It was the perfect way to kick off night one!

The Bowling Family opened with "Praise God He's Alive" from their most recent project. They sang several from this CD including "Mourning Into Dancing," "I Was There" and "One Glorious Moment."

They also featured their girls. Of course, Hope now sings full-time with them. If you haven't heard her recently, you should change that. She was featured on both "One Glorious Moment of Faith" and "How Can It Be." Katelanne and Gracie joined Hope for "If That Isn't Love." I love their sister harmonies. These girls have such a bright future ahead of them!

Mike sang a lot of old Hinson songs at the request of the audience. During "The Lighthouse" he heard someone in front of him singing with a deep bass voice. He pulled him on stage to sing the bass line of the song, and he did an awesome job! Mike asked him if he had a job, and he replied unfortunately yes.

After Aaron and Amanda finished, it was sweet to see them find a place on the front encouraging their family. It was good to see them bring back some of the Crabb songs and have Aaron join them. They sang "Don't You Wanna Go" and then ended with "Through the Fire," featuring Aaron. I think most of the audience was singing along. t was a great way to end the night. 

Looking forward to being there the full day tomorrow!