SoGospelNews.com
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

AbsolutelyGospel.com (formerly known as SoGospelNews.com) is the Internet's largest
e-zine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...
based on Southern Gospel Music.


History

The site was formed over 19 years ago by Deon & Susan Unthank, then of Southaven, Mississippi. The site was birthed from an email discussion group by the same name. The SoGospelNews email discussion list was created by the Unthanks after the
Singing News Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
shut down its extremely popular discussion list. SoGospelNews started as a simple webpage listing artists, fans, individuals, etc. that were avid supporters of the newly formed SoGospelNews talk list. The site eventually took on printing news for Southern Gospel artists, and eventually took on reviewing the latest recordings from both signed and independent artists within the small genre. SoGospelNews became the most viewed Southern Gospel website on the Internet with over 4,000,000 hits per month. The Unthank family are now involved in the site, as well as the addition of several staff writers. The website is based out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In April 2010, SoGospelNews changed its name to AbsolutelyGospel.com. The name change allows them to cover news items of not only Southern Gospel, but also Country Gospel, Inspirational, and Black Gospel. On January 5, 2011, Susan Unthank died, leaving the website in control of Deon, their son, Chris, and their daughter Amy.


Content

The site contains Southern Gospel's largest message board forum, bi-weekly feature articles and interviews, bi-weekly album and DVD reviews, opinion columns, editorials, monthly artist articles, devotions, youth articles, a free chat room, staff blogs, and much more in addition to reporting news daily. The website's weekly chart, which is a mixture of fan voting and radio airplay, is the industry's foremost and respected weekly chart.


Shows and events

In addition, every April the site hosts two events: the AGM Music Awards Celebration, and the Absolutely Gospel Music Fan Festival. The Absolutely Gospel Music Fan Festival is a week-long series of concerts that is sponsored by AbsolutelyGospel.com. The event is held the last week of July and has now expanded to five days of Southern Gospel music. The event remains free to the public and is designed to give Gospel music fans a chance to relax, get to know their favorite artists, and enjoy great Southern Gospel music. The event has featured some of Southern Gospel's most popular artists{{Citation needed, date=April 2015 like the
Crabb Family The Crabb Family is a southern gospel group originally from Beaver Dam, Kentucky. They have had sixteen No. 1 songs on the national radio charts.Talley Trio The Talleys were a southern gospel trio composed of Roger and Debra Talley, and their daughter Lauren Talley as the lead and soprano singer. Performing over 20 years, they have made appearances all over the world. At the end of 2020 Roger and ...
,
Gold City Gold City is an American southern gospel quartet based in Gadsden, Alabama. Formed in 1980, the group was one of the most successful quartets through the 1980s and 1990s, charting ten number one hits in Singing News magazine and being host ...
,
Karen Peck and New River Karen Peck and New River is a southern gospel mixed group based in Gainesville, Georgia. Music career The youngest of three daughters, Karen was exposed to the traditional sounds of gospel music at a very early age. Her parents often took Ka ...
, The Kingsmen, LordSong,
Mike Bowling Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documenta ...
, Booth Brothers, Dove Brothers Quartet, The Imperials, McRaes, and many more.


AGM Music Awards celebration

The AGM Music Awards were founded in 2002 by the staff of AbsolutelyGospel.com. The award nominations are chosen by the staff of AbsolutelyGospel.com, and most of the winners are then chosen by the fans of the genre and readers of the site. In 2005, AbsolutelyGospel.com held its first AGM Music Awards Celebration which brought in all the artists, industry professionals, and fans for an official awards ceremony. In 2006, AbsolutelyGospel.com held a contest for the readers to name the statue that is presented to the winners at the Awards Celebration, in which "Ovation" was chosen as the winner. The Ovations are handed out on the third Tuesday in April every year. Southern gospel