Family Day - Silver Dollar City's Southern Gospel Picnic - Day 8 2016

It seemed to be family day at Silver Dollar City yesterday. I got to see four different family groups and one soloist. Here's a recap of the day -


The Nelons

I made it out to Silver Dollar City in time to catch the Nelons' last show of the day. They started the set with "I Think I'll Read It Again" from one of their new projects.

It was good to hear them sing a lot of classics like "Because He Lives" and "Down to the River to Pray." They sang a little snippet of "Going Home With Jesus."

It's great hearing more from Autumn. She has such a pure, bluegrassy voice. She was featured on the hymn "Blessed Assurance."

Kelly sang "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," love this classic song! Amber ended their set with "Then Came the Morning," which is such a powerful song that she knocks out of the park!


Reggie Saddler Family

The Reggie Saddler Family took the stage at Red Gold Hall that afternoon. They did several of their more popular songs like "I've Got Me a Home" and "The Real Thing."

Ingra, Reggie's daugther who is newly engaged, was featured on several songs including "Home" and "We've Got to Tell the Truth." She has a beautiful voice!

Reggie did a special salute to all the veterans and military personnel in the audience. He had the medley of all the branches of service playing and gave tribute to each branch as the song played.


The Freemans

It had been a while since I'd seen the Freemans live in concert. They started with "Voice in the Desert."

Darrell was featured on a couple of songs, "The Next Step" and "Lead Me Home," which they closed with. Love that great song! They paid tribute to his mom with the song.

It was good to hear Misty and Caylon sing "Water Grave." Also, I loved that they staged "He'd Still Been God." It had been a while since I'd heard them sing this one live!

Chris also paid tribute to the Hinsons with "The Lighthouse." Love hearing her sing this one!


Pat Barker

Pat opened the night in Echo Hollow. This was my first chance to see him as a soloist. He started the night with "Ain't God Good." He sang several others from his new solo CD release, "It's a Miracle" and "Heaven Is Real," which has a cool 40s sound. He also sang "I Can See (Emmaus Road)," awesome song!! 

He also wrote a song for the occasion to help calm his nerves, check it out on the Singing News Facebook page.

He also sang one where the Guardians joined him on the track. As he was singing several policemen started walking down the aisle to a reserved section. And the audience responded by standing and clapping. Pat joked after it was over that he wanted to use a photo of the audience standing and clapping during his set. But Pat got a standing ovation of his own before the night was over.

Pat told the story of how he started singing "How Big Is God," which is probably his most requested song. He started singing it at Silver Dollar City when he was with the Dixie Echoes, so he said it was only fitting that he close his set with it. The audience loved it and so did I! Love hearing him sing this live!

Before the Martins took the stage, Silver Dollar City paid tribute to Aaron Pearson, a police officer who was injured in the line of duty. It was a touching tribute to him and all public service personnel. I'll post a video soon! Allen Asbury then sang "Somebody's Praying Me Through."


The Martins

Every time I get to see the Martins at Silver Dollar City, it brings back so many memories. This is the group that helped me discover Southern Gospel. I was sitting on the front row, right side at Echo Hollow as a high school teen watching them sing, and I fell in love with this music.

It was so good to hear them sing so many of their classic songs last night like "No Not One," "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever" and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho."

They opened the night with "Out of His Great Love" a cappella. No one sings a cappella like they do! They sang several others a cappella including the "Riverside Medley," "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "Shut De Door."

They also sang "The Promise," which I was so glad to hear! This is my favorite song that they sing!! They also brought out an older one, "Except for Grace," such a beautiful song.

Of course, they also had the audience on its feet standing and clapping along with songs like "Love's Gonna Drive This Train" and "So High," which they closed with. Pat came out and joined them on this one! It was such a great night!

Only four more days left!