July 2006 ~ The Southern Gospel Players - Volume 2
Back in 2004, I released an instrumental recording titled, "The Southern Gospel Players". I have released several piano recordings, but this one was a little different. It featured over 30 of Gospel Music's best musicians, and gave them a chance to showcase their talents. It quickly became my best selling project ever and was voted Album of the Year in the 2005 U.S. Gospel News Awards! After many, many requests, I decided to produce a sequel. It is simply titled, "The Southern Gospel Players - Volume 2".

This recording took eight months to make! I began with the song selection. Then I headed into a Nashville studio in October of 2005. The project began with just the piano playing along with a click track. We then headed to Red Hill Digital Studio in Temple, GA, to record some of the drums and bass guitar. Thanks to modern technology, and a little program called ProTools, this project was done by sending the musicians dvds with the songs on them, instead of adat tapes as we did on the first volume. Even though the first volume featured over 30 musicians, there were still a lot of great players I wanted to use that I was unable to fit onto the first recording. This album welcomes several new players, as well as a few that were on the first project. Volume One featured musicians from the Crabb Family, Isaacs, Gold City, Hoppers, Primitive Quartet, also Tim Surrett, Tim Lovelace, Andrew Ishee, Dottie Rambo, Loren Harris, and Squire Parsons.

Volume Two features some excellent drummers like Greg Ritchie (Jeff & Sheri Easter), Ricky Free (Brian Free & Assurance), Scoot Shelnut (Dixie Echoes), Brandon Reese (Kingsmen), and Dennis Murphy (Kingdom Heirs). On bass guitar, we have Jason Selph (Kingsmen), Kreis French (Kingdom Heirs), Jordan Bennett (Legacy Five), Scoot Shelnut (Dixie Echoes), and Adam Borden (formerly of Gold City). Adam is one of the best bass guitarists that I've ever heard, and even though he's no longer traveling full time, I still wanted to include him on a few selections.

Once we had the piano, drums, and bass guitar recorded, I began to assign solos out to the rest of the musicians. Unfortunately, live bands in Southern Gospel Music are becoming a thing of the past, and there aren't many stage musicians that I can call to play certain instruments. For instance, to have steel guitar, the first guy to come to mind is Steve "Rabbit" Easter. Many will remember him from his years with the Happy Goodmans and traveling with Jeff and Sheri Easter. "Rabbit" played steel guitar and dobro on the cd. Randy Miller (formerly of the Kingsmen, but now traveling as a soloist) did an outstanding job on the harmonica. Jeff Tolbert and Mike Riddle (both of the Primitive Quartet) added fiddle and acoustic guitar. David Johnson, a musician from North Carolina, who plays on every recording by the Kingsmen, Kingdom Heirs, Palmetto State, and so many more of your favorite artists, helped me out on two songs by playing steel guitar, fiddle, harmonica, dobro, and acoustic guitar. Corey Pearson of the Diplomats recorded some fender Rhodes on "Just Over In The Gloryland". Roger Fortner of the McKameys took an electric guitar feature on a big band version of "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder".

Some of the other new musicians to join us on this project include Joel Key (formerly of Karen Peck & New River), Kelly Back, Gordon Mote (the new pianist on the Gaither Homecoming Tour), Les Butler, Jeremy Brown and his sister Stephanie (Jody Brown Indian Family), Lewis Phillips (Lewis Family), Bryan Sutton (formerly of Karen Peck & New River), and Jeff Easter played the harmonica. We had some live brass and live string players on this recording also. Steve W. Mauldin conducted the brass and strings. Roger Bennett played a song with me on this recording too! It is no secret that Roger is my favorite pianist, and it was an honor to have him and his son Jordan help me out on this project.

This project features 12 old songs, including: Just Over In The Gloryland, Down By The Riverside, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul, I Feel Like Traveling On, The Holy Hills of Heaven Call Me, One More Valley, The Lighthouse, When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder, If That Isn't Love, He Keeps Me Singing, Just A Little While, and The Unclouded Day.

The project is titled, "Stewart Varnado presents THE SOUTHERN GOSPEL PLAYERS volume two". We have some great musicians traveling with our Southern Gospel groups, and I'm glad that they are using their talents to glorify God! They have been truly blessed, and it shows with every note they played on this recording. Only released on compact disc, this project is available now on my website, www.stewartvarnado.com, or you can send a check or money order for $15 per cd (please add $3 per order for shipping) to: Stewart Varnado - 2185 Kathleen Avenue - Cantonment, FL 32533. If you don't already own Volume One, it is available for only $10 more. So, for a total of $25 (plus $3 for shipping), you can own two of the best instrumental recordings in Gospel Music!

Hope you enjoy the Southern Gospel Players Volume 2!