Day 11 and 12 - 2018 Southern Gospel Picnic - Silver Dollar City

Well, it's been back to the real world for me, so I'm getting up my recap of last two days of the picnic finally today. Sunday, I got to see a new group, the Arenos, and the Ball Brothers and Jeff & Sheri Easter. Sunday I made it out to see Spoken 4, the Diplomats and Poet Voices before heading to Arkansas.


Here are highlights from those days -


The Arenos

This was my first time to see this group in person. They are based in Louisiana and travel with a live band! The group consists of Jonathan Areno and his children Penny and Nathan on vocals plus band members. They write and sing a lot of their own material.

• "Thou Knowest" 
• "Jesus Lives Here" 
• "Still" 
• "Little Prayers" 

The group even had a little music duel with the mandolin and guitar between father and son. Expect to hear more from this group in the future!



Ball Brothers

• "Count Your Blessings"
• "Redeemed"
• "Victory in Jesus"
• "Smile"
• "Happy Rhythm" - Stephen was filling in for them last weekend, but not really as a bass. So they had Chad sing the bass part on this song, and he did a fantastic job!
• "It's About the Cross" - Always a highlight to hear them sing this one live!

Jeff & Sheri Easter

• "Small Town Someone"
• "Over and Over"
• "Like My Mother Does"
• "Sitting on Top of the World" - So glad they sang this one!
• "He Looked Beyond My Fault - Jared played this on steel guitar.
• "Wayfaring Stranger"
• "This Flight That Is Leaving Soon" - They payed tribute to Sheri's mother
• Jared shared an original song he wrote about fatherhood and his little boy. It was precious!
• "The Seeker" - Love to hear Sheri on this song!
• "Roses Will Bloom Again" - Of course, this was a request during the second half.
• "Why Me Lord" - Jeff said they had played around and sang this one in soundcheck one day. This was a new one for me to hear them sing. Morgan and Jeff each took a verse.
• "Thank You Lord for Your Blessings on Me" - Jeff asked Mike, the Echo Hollow stage manager, to join them on this song. For the past few years, he's pulled him on stage at some point during the concert.
• "Keep on the Sunny Side" - Thankfully Duane persuaded them to sing one more before the evening ended!

Spoken 4 Quartet

• "Standing on the Solid Rock" - Love hearing them sing these standard quartet songs.
• "Jesus Cried" - This was a brand new song that featured tenor, Brandon Britton.
• "He Set Me Free"
• "There Is a Light" - Cecil showed off his bass vocals on this song. He's one of the best. The lights in the Opera House theater started flickering at one point!
• "Because He Lives" - They did a great job on this classic hymn!

Poet Voices

I forgot how many great songs that Phil wrote. It was good to hear them sing a few and remind audiences of what a talented writer he is. I really love the way this quartet is sounding together. My first time to see them back was in Memphis, and it was good to hear them live again!

• "Jesus Built a Bridge"
• "I Saw the Light"
• "When I Get Carried Away"
• "Champion of Love"
• "Yes, I Am"

The Diplomats

• "Joy in the Storm"
• "I Wanna See Jesus"
• "Buried Our Sins in the Past" - Corey is one of the most talented and underrated people in gospel music.
• "There's a Light Shining for Me" - Alex is one incredible bass singer! It's always fun to see people who seem them for the first time figure out where the big sound is coming from.
• "I Wanna See Jesus"
• "Let Your Light Shine" - They had a lot of fun with this one getting the audience to use their phones as flashlights.