Greg Bentley discusses his off-stage impact on Southern Gospel, through writing for Singing News and his work at Horizon Records/Crossroads Entertainment. Along the way, we discuss what the song publishing/pitching process looks like, how artist relations work, and what it takes to make it in Southern Gospel.
Show Notes
Keep up with the latest from Horizon Records and Sonlite Records.
Transcript
Lightly edited for clarity.
Daniel Mount
Thank you for listening to the Southern Gospel Journal podcast. My name is Daniel Mount, and I’m joined today by Greg Bentley. How are you doing this morning?
Greg Bentley
Doing great, Daniel. Good to see you again.
Daniel Mount
Good to see you. So last time when we talked, we talked mostly about your onstage career with several different groups. And I think this conversation, I’ve been thinking to mostly focus it on offstage, the things you’ve done behind the scenes. But there were a couple of loose ends to tie up first. One of which was, last time I asked the multi-part question and moved on before you had a chance to answer one of the parts. And oddly enough, it was the part about any memorable or funny or moving moments that come to mind from your time with the Hoppers.
Greg Bentley
Obviously, there were a lot of memorable times there, and a lot of moving times anytime you’re traveling with somebody like Connie Hopper. You know, there’s moments in concerts and services that are just there that are great. But it always seems to be the funny ones that kind of stick out, and there’s a couple that I could share with that.
I remember not long after I had joined them, we were going to Greenville, South Carolina, to Mark V Studios to record an album. So it’s a couple hours from Madison down to Greenville, South Carolina. So we were just taking the car down and if I remember right, Dean might have been driving, Shannon was in the front passenger seat, and Connie and myself were in the back seat of the car. And of course we had to leave early that morning, so we’re all real quiet, kind of almost not quite awake. And we’re going through Charlotte, North Carolina, and just out of the blue, she goes, “Did you know that the Great Wall of China goes all the way around China?”
Then she stopped. That’s all she said. Stop. And we’re all going, wait, what? And she said, I’m sorry. I just saw a billboard for a Chinese restaurant called the Great Wall. And it just reminded me of the Great Wall of China.
And I said, “I’m going back to sleep!” I remember that one.
Daniel Mount
That’s funny!
Greg Bentley
Then we did a live album when I was with the Hoppers, and Connie had written a song called “He’s Still God,” which was great, just driving, and had a lot of energy. So one night we were singing up in, I believe it was either West Virginia or Kentucky, and it was at a high school auditorium. It was in the middle of the summer. It was boiling hot, and there was no air conditioning, and we were singing in the gymnasium at the high school.
We got there set up, and I mean it was just miserably humid. Well, by the time for the concert to start, there might have been 50 people there. I mean, it was a really low crowd that night. But of course, our thing was, doesn’t matter how many people are there, you go in and you give them everything that you got, you know.
But often on those nights, we were a little bit more loose and a little bit more having fun. And of course, this wasn’t too awfully long after the McKamey song was really popular, “God on the Mountain.” And of course everybody remembers from the live album of that, Peg, you know, just in the middle was going, “He’s still God!” right in the middle of the thing.
Well, we’re up there singing “He’s Still God,” and Dean’s doing his verse, and I’ve got my back to Connie, she’s behind me, and then Claude’s behind Connie, and we’re just going at it. You know, that what crowd was there was really into it, and we appreciated that. And all of a sudden, unknown to me because my back’s to her, Connie has slipped up right next behind me, and she just yells in my ear, “He’s still God!” It was just so out of character.
So there’s always moments like that of fun times as well as very spiritual and very serious times that stick out of my brain with the Hoppers.
Daniel Mount
Any similar moments jump out from your time with Downing’s Boys or Squire Parsons?
Greg Bentley
I think the funniest thing with the Down East Boys was, we were headed to the Jubilee at Sea cruise in Florida, and we’re on the bus going down Interstate 95 down through South Carolina. And there’s a little town that really, there wasn’t much of anything in this little town. Well, our bus breaks down right on the interstate there. So needless to say, our first thought is, okay, we gotta try to find somebody to work on it. And we gotta try to make sure we get a way to get onto Florida for the cruise.
So a couple of the guys are calling back home saying, okay, who can go and get us a van or something? Come pick us up. We’ll get all the stuff unloaded on. And then Sherrill, that owned the group at the time, he was the bass singer, he was dealing with the garage guy that showed up with the wrecker. And so he’s out there, and he comes around the corner, and the garage maintenance guy comes around. He goes, “I’ve never worked on one of these buses before, but I thought, you know, it’s a Detroit diesel engine. We can figure it out.”
And so Sherrill’s like, “Well, come back here and, we’ll show it.” So he raises the rear engine cover on the back, and that guy goes, I’ve never seen one belt-driven before. Sherrill just reached up, pulled it back down. He said, “Yeah, we’ll tow it somewhere to have somebody who knows what they’re doing to work on it.” It’s like, “Okay, that’s not gonna work.”
There’s always those kind of moments on the road as well. We’ve all sat beside the road at one point or the other.
Times with Squire. Gosh, Squire was one of those. Everybody kind of looked at him as very spiritual, very professional in the way that he does things, which he was, very much so. But Squire was a prankster. He loved to pull pranks on people.
And so one weekend we were, once again, I think it was in Kentucky, if I remember right, a little church out in the middle of nowhere, and there was a well house out in the yard. So Squire’s son Sam, Squire said, “I’m going to play a little trick on Sam. So you go ahead and work with me on this.” And so I said, OK, I’ll follow your lead.
So we’re up here and we’ve gotten set up and everything, and Squire looks at Sam and goes, “Did you see that little house out there beside the church?”
And Sam’s like, “Yeah. What was that?”
And Squire said, “That’s where they keep the snakes.”
Sam was like, “What, what?”
And Sam looks at me, and I said, “That probably is where they keep them. You know, back off in the middle of nowhere churches, sometimes they’re snake-handling churches. I’m sure you’ve heard about them.” So this was really before Sam was doing a lot of singing with us, but he was still traveling with us.
So Squire told him, “If while I’m up singing, you see a couple guys get up and go out, that maybe what they’re doing is going to get the snakes.”
So Sam’s at the back of the auditorium in the church, and sure enough, two guys get up and go out while Squire’s singing. You should have seen the look on Sam’s face. They scared him to death. And of course we knew what was going on. There was no snakes at that church, but things like that Squire loved to… he’s a practical joker. He enjoyed doing stuff like that.
Daniel Mount
All right, moving on. Now I can’t find this music anywhere online, but just going off memory, I believe that around the time you and I first met, you had a trio going called Message. So who sang with you in that group? You did at least one recording. Did you do a few recordings?
Greg Bentley
Yeah, we did a couple recordings. That was based out of our home church, Trinity Baptist Church here in Asheville. And it was basically the music minister and the associate music minister, Jay Boyce and Robert Pickens, were the ones that we started that trio with. Well then Jay left to take another church and Robert took over the main part of the music ministry part.
There was another gentleman there at the church that I was real good friends with, and he was involved with the music stuff. His name was Trevor Gibbs. And so we formed, just kind of brought Trevor in to keep Message going. And we actually did do a couple recordings. Went and did a few dates here and there…. Didn’t do a whole lot of dates because we were obviously involved heavily at the church. But we would go sometimes with Pastor Ralph. Ralph Sexton was the lead pastor at that time, and we’d go do some of his camp meetings, do music with him, and then of course other churches around the area. So we had a lot of fun. But yeah, I think it was two albums with Message.
Daniel Mount
Cool. And then you’ve done some solo dates and several solo albums too, right?
Greg Bentley
I have through the years. My very first solo album was actually while I was with the Hoppers.
Anthony Burger and Eldridge Fox, of course, were part of Hear Hear Studios, which eventually became Horizon Records. And they were going through and doing some solo albums. And so Anthony, of course, had done some instrumental solo albums.
And they got Karen Peck to do a solo album and myself to do a solo album. And so that would have been 1989, I guess it was. And on my solo album, we actually did a song called “From Here Through Eternity” that was a duet with Karen.
And of course, Anthony played on both solo albums. And so that was my first one. And then I did another solo album just before I started traveling with Squire, which would have been 1995, I guess it was, 94-95. And then did another one after that as well. So I think I’ve got three or maybe four total solo albums.
Daniel Mount
Cool. You’ve also filled in with the Kingsmen, I believe. And not just necessarily for like one weekend, but for like a little stretch there when they were between tenor singers. Do you have any recollections from that? And, who else have you filled in with through the years?
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm.
Through the years, actually, I filled in with Singing Americans more than anybody else. I filled in with them back in the days when Danny Funderburk actually was the tenor. He got sick one weekend and so I filled in with them one weekend.
And then when it came to the end of their traveling, David Sutton actually took the job with the Kingdom Heirs, and so I filled the last multiple weeks with the Singing Americans while they finished out dates that they had booked. So I filled in there.
My position with the Hoppers was because I was filling in for Connie. So that’s kind of how that position actually came about. But yes, I filled in with the Kingsmen while they were in between tenor singers.
I don’t think there’s anybody else that I filled in for years and years. When I was just graduated from high school, with the Dixie Melody Boys back, I guess it was the summer of ’81 maybe or ’82, that I filled in with them for a whole tour. And so yeah, I guess I’m a professional fill-in, I guess. But it’s fun!
I actually filled in, too, with the Hayes family, the original Hayes family. There was one weekend that Sharon was sick. That was Janet, Sharon, Mylon, and their dad Howard, and Lucy, their mom, and Sharon was sick. And they were singing close by. We grew up together in Boone. And so they called me and said, “Are you singing this weekend anywhere?” And I said, “No.” And they said, “Could you possibly go and sing Sharon’s part?” I think it was just a Sunday, if I remember right. And so that was a lot of fun. I had never got to do that with them.
Daniel Mount
That’s cool!
You know, there’s something I was noticing as I was listening through your recordings with different groups in preparation for this two-part interview. And that is… you know, there’s a generalization which isn’t always true, that Southern Gospel tenors often tend to like the big notes, the big moments, the spotlight. And then there’s the expectation that baritones like blending and harmony and making everyone else around them better.
And it almost seems to me that you have a tenor’s range with a baritone’s temperament. It really seems like you enjoy focusing on the blend and making everyone else better. Is that a fair assessment?
Greg Bentley
That is a fair assessment. I think it’s partially because of when I grew up singing, my big lead-in to and influences into singing tenor was not necessarily, even though I loved them, Kingsmen or Cathedrals. It was the mixed groups. You know, one of my big influences was the Happy Goodmans when Johnny Cook was there. And so I think that has a little bit to do with it.
I’m not necessarily the style tenor that often pops out there like the Ernie Phillips or Jay Parrack or Johnny Parrack, or some of those. I was more always just, you know, let’s make this blend tight type thing. And that’s kind of what I always strived at, was to do that, you know, more so than jump out there and, you know, do the “Glory Roads,” even though I’ve sung “Glory Road.”
And of course, the whole time I was with the Hoppers, Claude had us doing “Looking for a City” every night, so there was that. But I have always enjoyed the blending and the group harmony part more so than the big standout moments.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that’s cool. I mean, there’s obviously a place for both types of tenors in Southern Gospel, but I kind of feel like that’s one of the things that makes you unique in your years with different groups, you know, unique and distinctive and stand out.
Greg Bentley
Well, I appreciate that. It’s not something that most people actually even point out. I guess they almost say, “Well, he wasn’t the standout type tenor.” And I don’t know that they necessarily mean that in a derogatory way, but it’s just, it wasn’t that I was like the Brian Free or the Danny Funderburks, or the ones that just really got a lot of the attention through the whole time.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, neat. So I think this would be a good point in the conversation to move off stage with some questions. You’ve done so many interesting things behind the scenes. One of which was, and again, this is just going off my recollections because I don’t think I can see anywhere online that talks about it right now. But didn’t you actually work for Singing News for a little while?
Greg Bentley
When I was with the Hoppers, of course, being from Boone; and Maurice Templeton that owned Singing News for years, Singing News was based in Boone. So I was very, very tied in with that part of it there.
Maurice came to me one time and he said, “You’re young, you’re really in with all the young people that are in the music. I want an article for Singing News called ‘Youth in Gospel Music’ that focuses on the youth, and I want you to do it.”
Well, of course, my first thing was, “Maurice, I’m not a writer. I said, I can get you stories but they’re not going to be well put together.” And he goes, “Don’t worry about that. We’ve got editors for that. You get me the stories, and we’ll put that together.”
So yeah, I did the original “Youth in Gospel Music” article for Singing News for a long time. I would say seven to ten years. I don’t know exactly how long we did it, but yeah, yeah, I was heavily involved there.
And then of course because of that, myself and Deana Surles at the time, Deana Warren now, Maurice wanted to put together the Singing News ski retreat where we could all come together, not be worrying about concerts and all that kind of stuff. Just a time for the young people in gospel music to get together and spend some time as friends.
And so we did many years of the Singing News ski retreat. Deana and I were in charge of that. And I still to this day, every year at Quartet Convention, I have some people, Jeff and Sheri Easter, Jonathan Wilburn and his wife, different ones, come up and say how much they miss the Singing News ski retreats because they were so much fun, and it was just so nice to get together and let your hair down, just relax.
You don’t have to get dressed up, all that kind of stuff, and just have fun with each other. And basically every evening or morning, we would do a devotion time and have one of the people do a devotion with us. And so it was just a really great retreat all the way around.
Daniel Mount
Very neat. So were those in Boone, or did you go out to like Colorado or something for that?
Greg Bentley
No, they were in Boone. Boone, North Carolina is kind of the southeast ski hub. You’ve got Appalachian Ski Mountain, Sugar Mountain, and Beech Mountain, all ski resorts right there around the Boone area…. Maurice and his brother owned a resort up there called Chetola Lodge. And so we would rent the whole hotel for that week. And so no one was in the hotel except just Singing News ski retreat people. And so that also made it a lot of fun, you know, just to get to hang out. But yeah, it was always there in the Boone area.
Daniel Mount
Neat! Then doing this column for a decade or so… You know, I did something similar when I was blogging. I did a lot of interviews with somebody when they first joined a group. Those are often 18, 20, 22 year olds. Not always, but, you know.
The thing of it is, there’s a lot of people who come sing for a couple of years and then they go get a ministry music job or an 8-5 job and go home. And that was their time on the road, and that was great, and they still contributed something to our music. And then there were always some lifers, you know, people who are in for life.
So I’m sure… and so for instance, I did Pat Barker’s first interview when he joined the Dixie Echoes. And of course everybody knows him now. And it was fun because he and I revisited when I did an episode with him fairly recently. He was like, you know, you were actually my first interview, and this is kind of full circle.
So I imagine you had some of both kinds of moments. I imagine you interviewed plenty of people who were around for a couple years, and then some people who are still in the industry. I’m sure there are people who you first connected with through that column who you’re still friends with probably. Yeah.
Greg Bentley
Sure. Yeah, there’s quite a few people that I interviewed through there. Some that are working behind the scenes now in the industry, and some that, you know, obviously are still on stage because of…
A lot of them were close to my same age. So like Karen Peck, Dean Hopper, there’s a whole group of us that are roughly within two or three years of each other. They’re still on stage every night.
Daniel Mount
Yeah.
So then, moving on, about when did you start working for Horizon, now Crossroads, and what were you doing in the early days with Horizon?
Greg Bentley
I started working with them in March of 1993.
Daniel Mount
Okay.
Greg Bentley
I was with the Down East Boys at the time, or just coming up to that point, and just, you know, it’s time for a change. You know, I just… sometimes you can just tell that it’s just time for a change.
And so I had reached out to Eldridge [Fox], and he said, come up to the studio. I want to run some ideas past you. And I said, okay. And so I came up and met with him and of course Mickey Gamble, and at that time Eddie Swann, were the owners of Hear Here and Horizon, and they offered me a position.
At that time it was a kind of a mixture of things. I did a little bit of radio promotions, but I was to be working with new custom artists that were wanting to come there and record, to make sure they had all their pieces together for their recording and stuff like that. So that’s kind of what it started out as.
And then I kind of morphed from there into publishing side of it and work the publishing companies, which I actually still do today, handle the publishing portions of it. And of course it just continued to, okay, let’s try this. Let’s do this. Let’s do this. Now, you know, I do artist relations for all of the gospel side of the company, which entails all kinds of pieces of it. Radio promotions, finding new songs, lining up recordings, the whole works.
Daniel Mount
I would love to break down, in fact a good portion of the remaining conversation, break down a couple different aspects of this. You just kinda gave us the big picture overview. One of which is, I haven’t posted it as of when we speak, but I’ve recorded a first episode with Chris White on the history of Sonlite. And we’re hoping to make that a multi-part series if his schedule allows.
Greg Bentley
Cool.
Daniel Mount
Eldridge Fox has passed away; I can’t talk to him for the history of Hear Here and Horizon. Maybe I’ll get a chance to talk to Mickey [Gamble] at some point if his health and schedule lines up.
But as the case may be, while I have the chance to ask you, I’d love to talk a little bit about what you know from the early years. Hear Here; I think there’s some connection to Dawn; Horizon; how the early years came to gether, the history of what would become Crossroads.
Greg Bentley
Yeah. Actually, I came in as a lot of that was happening. They’re kind of… nutshell a little bit here.
There was Hear Here Studios, which was Eldridge, Mickey, Anthony Burger. And then you mentioned Dawn Studios, Dawn Records, which was Eddie Swann’s company. And these were both record companies that mostly dealt with weekend groups and stuff like that. None of them really had a major full-time touring artist on them, but they were both based within a couple miles of each other in downtown Asheville.
And so basically they decided to merge together, bring Dawn over to the building where Hear Here was because it was a little bit larger building. And so Dawn merged in, and that’s when Horizon Music Group formed.
And it was Horizon Music Group. Of course, you know, at that point, then they started bringing in, that’s when we, you know, of course did Anthony Burger albums, the first Karen Peck album was on there.
So we had Dawn Records and we had Pinnacle Records. Pinnacle Records was kind of the Hear Hear side. Dawn Records, of course, was the Dawn Records side of it. And so we had those two labels working.
And then that’s when they decided to launch Horizon Records, which would have been 1990, maybe somewhere right in there, is right close to when I started. And the Kingsmen were the very first label artists on Horizon Records. They left the Benson Company / Riversong, one of those areas there, and came to Horizon Records.
And of course, Eldridge wanted to really grow the label as a mainline label. Talked to Ruben Bean; they [the McKameys] were with Morningstar Records, Eddie Crook’s company. And so Eldridge talked Ruben into signing with Horizon Records too.
And then I think the next group, I think, was the Isaacs that signed to Horizon Records. They were also over there.
And then that’s right around the time that Karen launched Karen Peck and New River. And so Karen Peck and New River signed with Horizon Records as well.
Singing Americans signed there at one point. Teddy Huffam and the Gems, I think their last album was on Horizon Records before Teddy passed. And so that’s kind of how Horizon Records actually started.
And so that kind of pulls you to that part. And then of course, after that, then the merging of Horizon Records and Sonlite Records happened, which created…
Daniel Mount
Can I pause you for one second before we get into that part? I’m just curious. So when… if you’re there around this time that the Kingsmen are moving from Benson, which is one of the big two, Benson and Benson’s labels and Canaan are the big names in this music. And the Kingsmen are one of the biggest groups out there. You got them coming on.
Does that bring for you and your coworkers like a sense of confidence? With the Kingsmen behind us, we’re gonna succeed? Or is there like a sense of pressure of like, boy, we better make this work, you know? Or some mixture of both?
Greg Bentley
Yeah, both.
It was definitely, there was the confidence because not only did we have the Kingsmen signed on, but of course we had the owner of the Kingsmen as a partial owner in the company. So he’s going to make this successful.
But yes, there was pressure of, especially once we brought on McKamey’s as well, because McKamey’s were in their full stride at that point.
And so there was that pressure of, “Okay, we cannot bring them in here, and it flopped,” because they are really on that upward trajectory at that point.
And thankfully, the very first album that we put out with them had a number one song on it. We were very fortunate and very blessed that all the pieces kept going and working in the right direction.
Daniel Mount
Perfect.
Yeah, just was curious what the mood was like once you started getting these big names come on before we move on to that next part of the merger.
And so that merger with Sonlite, didn’t it happen first as like a joint distribution deal? And before you become one unitary organization, you’re doing joint distribution, then you become one organization together.
Greg Bentley
Yeah. Yeah…. It did. Yes. Yes, that is correct. Chris White had Sonlite Records in Nashville, and of course we were here in Asheville, North Carolina. And we’re looking for forming a distribution company to help get all of the music into the Christian bookstores.
And so that’s when Crossroads Distribution became a company, and it was to specifically distribute Horizon Records and Sonlite Records product. Its sole goal is to do that.
And so we ran that way for quite a few years before Chris actually merged the Sonlite company into what became Crossroads Entertainment and Marketing, past the Crossroads Distribution Company.
Daniel Mount
Cool. Okay. I think maybe we talk about a couple of your specific roles, and then we can wrap up with any of the more recent history of the label.
So you mentioned, there’s two things you mentioned. One is: You did publishing. And I think, you know, there are definitely some industry people who are listening to this who will know exactly what we’re talking about.
But part of the reason I’m doing these episodes is for fans who enjoy the music but don’t always understand the process by which it comes to them. And I think it would be interesting if you don’t mind to just kind of explain the song publishing process of what happens from the point a writer finishes a song, your role in getting it to be recorded, and the steps in between.
Greg Bentley
Yeah.
Okay, basically the songwriters get the songs finished. Demo, lyric copies, and stuff like that turned into us as the publisher.
Now, I guess part of it would be a thing of… writers looking for publishing companies. Some of them, you know, are already signed with publishing companies. We have a roster of exclusive writers for us, but we do dabble a little bit in song-by-song deals, which is we used to do a lot more, but we just don’t have the time and the manpower to deal with it as much.
But basically, the songs come in. I make sure that they’re all set up correctly with the writer’s PRO, BMI or ASCAP or CSAC, so that anything can follow through once somebody does record it.
Daniel Mount
And I’ll just interject here that if a song gets played on radio especially, that writers get their money from the radio airplay in particular through those organizations. Sorry, just trying to throw in a few clarifications for people who really don’t know that side of things.
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm.
Correct. Yeah, exactly. And every writer has to be affiliated with one or the other, but you cannot be affiliated with multiple ones. So the majority of our writers and the majority of Southern Gospel writers are BMI writers. There’s a few ASCAP and a few SESAC, but the majority are BMI.
Making sure all of that stuff gets together. Then, from that point we start pitching songs to anybody that we know is looking to record an album. Try to find out if they’re looking for anything in particular. Fast songs, slow songs, ballads, songs about a certain theme or a certain storyline. We try to find those things out, and then we pitch them out.
Used to be the days we would send out physical CDs with printed out lyric sheets. Now it’s all email or texting songs into whoever is listening.
Find out in the group there’s almost always one or two people that… their job is to corral songs for everybody to listen to. So we’ve tried to find out who that is and then pitch to that certain person.
Some artists, not too many in our genre, but some of them rely heavily on their producers, and they want the songs to all go through the producer. So we find out who that is and then pitch it to them. Let them know, if you’re interested in this, please let us know. We’ll gladly hold the song for you so that we’re not pitching it to multiple artists and then two or three artists come back and say, hey, I want this song. Or we just recorded this song and somebody else has already recorded it as well.
Obviously you try to keep away from that, but sometimes it happens.
Daniel Mount
Neat.
Can you think of any songs that you’re especially fond of having matched the right song with the right group? And it went on and maybe it was big for the group, but maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it’s just an album cut that you’re really… you know, I’m really happy this artist, this was the right song for this artist at that point in their life.
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm.
I have two that pop into my brain right away. One is a Chris Binion song. Chris is a great songwriter, he’s written a lot of songs that people might recognize. But when I first started working with Chris, he sent me this song and I was like, my gosh, this is a great song.
And my thing with telling songwriters all the time is, it’s a timing thing. Your song may be a great song, but it may not be the right time for it. And I always say, you know, God has the right group for the right song at the right time. And this is the perfect example of that.
He wrote the song “God Is Faithful,” that Karen Peck and New River ended up recording. That song, I pitched for a year before it came back around to where Karen was getting ready to record. And so nobody picked it up through that whole time. And so I pitched it to Karen. She goes, “I love this song. I want to record it.”
So they recorded it, became a great hit for them. Actually got on the Bill Gaither Homecoming video from the Georgia Dome, which was one of the biggest-selling Gaither videos that’s ever been. And so that song became hugely successful for Karen and for the writer. And it was just the right time at the right place because it had been pitched to a dozen or more groups before Karen, and none of them picked up on it.
Another one would be “I Can Pray,” that the Dove Brothers recorded. Nathan Markee is a writer up in Virginia, and he had just sent me a song. I didn’t know who he was, and he sent me the song and I was like, “Well let me listen to this, see what it is.”
And it was “I Can Pray.” And I was like, “My word, what a song!” And I’m not sure who I’m gonna get it to, but this is gonna be big for somebody.
And it just so happened that the Dove Brothers were coming in to record. Chris White told McCray, he said, “You need to hear this song.” And McCray listened to it and he was like, “That’s a good song, but I’m not sure I hear us doing it.” And Chris said, “Yeah.” It really didn’t fit what their style was at that time.
And Chris said, “You need to cut that. I may even put my foot down. This is gonna be on the album.” And sure enough, they cut it. We sent it to radio, and it became a statement song for them for a long period there.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, very neat. So before I move out of the Crossroads portion of it, we kind of brought the Crossroads history up through about the time of the merger. Are there any other highlights or stories that stand out from some of the groups that have come on, some of the moments in the years since that point?
Or if there’s not one moment, maybe you can just kind of summarize, because eventually you move down south to Asheville, both the studio you’re in now. Maybe you can summarize a little bit of the history, a little overview of the history that brings you up to the present day.
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm. Yeah, we basically outgrew the location that we were in in downtown Asheville. And so started searching, found a building that was available down here on the south side of Asheville, close to the airport, right off of the interstate. It was easy for groups to get buses in, all that kind of good stuff. And so we relocated here in 95.
Just, you know, things just kept rolling great. A little bit of the history of the company, we were doing really well. A lot of artists had signed, which obviously brings a lot of attention from the Christian music industry as a whole.
And there was a gentleman in Oregon that owned a Christian music company called Pamplin Entertainment, and they focused more on contemporary Christian music and inspirational music. And they heard of us and started finding out what we were, and he wanted a portion of his company to be in the Southern Gospel market as well.
So Pamplin Entertainment actually bought Crossroads Music for a period of time, which was very beneficial for us because it actually put more eyes in the music world itself onto us.
And we were within the Pamplin Corporation for quite a few years. And then they just decided they were getting out of the music business completely. And so they were selling off everything. And so we actually bought ourselves back out of that company and became Crossroads as a standalone company again at that point.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm.
And that could have gone wrong, because I think other divisions just didn’t make it at all. So it’s kind of a blessing that the people were in place and you were able to get that deal together to bring it back, because that might have been the biggest choke point where Crossroads might not have made it.
Greg Bentley
Yes…. That could have very easily been that way because, like you said, all of the contemporary labels that they had basically ended up just going away. There was not the machine behind it to sustain it, as to where he had bought us and all of our employees and the studios and everything. And so we could still self-sustain ourselves after we were purchased back out of their corporation.
Daniel Mount
Yeah.
Neat. And then I guess the other main point, which is actually because I worked there for six years, but since that point… When I worked there, you were largely involved in publishing and in just the mechanical process of getting the CD layouts done and all the licensing for the CDs and that kind of thing.
You’ve added one big hat that you’ve mentioned in passing. And that was at least Chris White from the Sonlite side, and maybe Mickey from the Horizon side, have stepped back in their day-to-day artist relations. You’ve kind of become the main artist relations person, at least for the Sonlite side of things, in the last few years.
Like, how did that happen? And was it a challenge? Because Chris had like 30-year relationships with some of these artists. Now, you’d known them too, but he’d been like their main contact person for like 30 years sometimes. So was it a challenge for you to move into his shoes, so to speak?
Greg Bentley
Yes. Yes.
It was when him and Mickey both had decided they were gonna kind of work towards the stepping back portion and start building for the future of the company. And of course, they knew they needed someone to do the A&R for all of the gospel side.
Of course, Crossroads has two sides of the company, even though we’re one company. We have a huge bluegrass side of our company, as well as the gospel side, which is Horizon Records and Sonlite Records.
So Chris came to me and he goes, “I’m going to drop this out there, see if you’re interested in it. And if you are, it’s going to be hard work, and it’s going to be a lot of hours, and it’s going to be a lot of training to teach you this. But we’re looking at putting you in the position of A&R.”
Well, of course, I was like, “Sure. Yeah, yeah. I’d love to do it.” I already had the relationships with all of the artists, which was a big plus because I was already working with all of them when they came in to record, on getting their song information, doing their album layouts, you know, getting all of that stuff, pitching them songs for the albums. So I already had a great relationship with all of the artists.
The challenge was gonna be, how would they take me as a lead person for the decisions that were being made. And so I give Chris top props for this. He went to the artist with me and said, “OK, here’s what we’re doing. I’m training him. He’s going to get to that spot. But for right now, you ask him questions, and then he’s going to bring them to me. And then we’re going to get through this stuff to kind of help Greg learn how to do these kind of things in the right way,” which was a huge plus.
And I believe that helped the artists to understand what I was going to be doing, how I was going to be doing it. And initially, if they weren’t sure of an answer that I was giving them, that they knew that Chris was backing that decision.
And so it was quite a challenge. It’s still a challenge from day to day. Artist relations is not an easy thing because there’s a lot of pressure to that. You’re trying to help guide somebody’s career, and there’s a lot of pressure. But thankfully, things have done well. And now I am the first contact between the artist and the company for all the gospel side of the company. Yes, yes.
Daniel Mount
Yeah.
So that’s both Horizon and Sonlite, not just the Sonlite artists.
Greg Bentley
Yes, I do both. Mickey is still involved to an extent in day-to-day here, but he’s more of, I guess you’d say, almost like an overseer for the whole company, more so than he is day to day with artists.
We have A&R people on the bluegrass side, and A&R for the gospel side, which basically right now is myself, and Roger Talley helps me with A&R stuff since he does so much of our producing as well.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm.
Cool. So I guess one more follow-up question to that. There’s more to A&R than just helping an artist figure out a strategy for their next recording. That’s part of it. You know, giving us suggestions of, you know, maybe if you add, take this song or this particular step, kind of like Chris White really nudged the Dove Brothers toward recording “I Can Pray.” He was convinced it would be a big song for them, and it was….
But there’s more to it. Like what are some of the other things that you… I’m not asking you to break any confidentialities or anything like that. But in a broad sense, what are some other things that you might help artists with or help talk them through over the course of a year, beyond just their next record?
Greg Bentley
There are multiple different things. Obviously, trying to help steer them on what the next radio singles should be. You know, trying to help them pick those things. You know, what are their thoughts? What’s going over well in concerts versus what might be just more commercial-sounding for radio?
Sometimes what goes over great in a concert doesn’t do well on radio, and vice versa. Sometimes what does well on radio doesn’t do well in a concert. So things like that.
There’s more in-depth industry things that I deal with for the A&R side that pertains to the artist dealing with external things like Singing News, Singing News TV, even if another label or another artist wants them to sing on their album.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm, guest performance.
Greg Bentley
Yeah, there’s things that you have to do legally to make sure all of those things are done correctly. It’s helping to steer them in those type of things. And also even marketing in the world that we live in now.
The majority of your marketing is social media-driven. And so, trying to help them understand, you’ve got a new single that’s getting ready to drop on streaming platforms. Here’s some things we’d like for you to do that would be helpful because the fans obviously want to hear from the artist. They don’t necessarily care about hearing from the label.
And so, trying to help the artist understand that and help them get direction on those kinds of things, and building in the new world of music as it is.
You know, physical CD sales used to be what kept everybody in business. Well, now physical CD sales are minimal compared to what everybody is doing with the streaming world. Most people listen to music on their smartphones and everything else online. So, trying to help the artists understand how that is beneficial to them as well.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm.
Great. All right, so I’ll let us shift gears for a couple of minutes and give a shout-out to your church, Trinity Baptist Asheville. I went to many concerts there in the years I was in North Carolina. How long have you been going there, and how did you become involved with running sound and with the music program?
Greg Bentley
Yeah.
I’ve been going there basically since I moved to Asheville back in the early-to-mid-90s. Moved up here. Of course, I was really good friends with Rory Rigdon. He’s been with the Kingsmen through the years; he was with Gaither for many years, in his last parts of road type stuff.
And so we were actually roommates when I moved up here, and he was with the Kingsmen at the time. And so I was asking him, “You know, I know you’re gone on Sundays, but you know, what are some good churches around?” And so, of course, he mentioned Trinity. I knew of Trinity because Trinity’s always had a big footprint in the Southern Gospel world. And so I started going there back then, and I’ve basically been there ever since.
As a matter of fact, yesterday at church they were going through anniversaries of the staff, and I have been doing sound for the church now for 18 years, which it doesn’t seem like it’s been that long, but it has.
So I love my church, great church, great church family. It’s one of those churches that’s… it’s large, but it doesn’t seem large. Everybody is very loving and caring there.
Daniel Mount
Yes. So from a Southern Gospel standpoint, also you mentioned Rory Rigdon. There are a number of other names people who love Southern Gospel know who have different connections with the church and involvement in the music program. Can you mention a few of the other people there you work alongside in the Trinity Baptist music program?
Greg Bentley
Yeah, through the years, of course, Trinity’s been the home for many of the Kingsmen members. Ernie Phillips was a member at Trinity, Squire was a member at Trinity, Arthur Rice was a member of Trinity from back in his Kingsmen days, and then, of course, he went with the Kingdom Heirs, moved to Tennessee, so he wasn’t over here, even though he considered Trinity as his home church. But now Arthur Rice is our music minister.
He’s been there four years, I guess, maybe, somewhere around there, four to five, and has really done an amazing job with the music ministry at the church. We’ve always had mostly traditional music with little touches of, you know, some outside things with the choir and stuff like that. And he’s done a great job of keeping that while blending in some of the more newer music that a lot of the church membership loves, because that’s what they hear on, you know, local radio.
Unfortunately, our area is not a big area for Southern Gospel radio. There’s no big FM Southern Gospel channel here, but there are two contemporary stations. And so a lot of people know some of those songs.
And so Arthur has come in and done a great job. The choir has literally doubled in membership. We’re running 85 or 90 or so almost every Sunday in the choir now. And so it’s been great having Arthur there, and having his Southern Gospel background as well as just music love in general.
Daniel Mount
Yes. And I also want to shout out, isn’t Amber from 11th Hour, isn’t she also involved in the music ministry there too?
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm. Amber and Garrett are members at the church as well. And when their schedule allows, they’re there at the church.
There was a period there where their schedule was allowing it two or three times a month sometimes that she was there. Their schedule has picked back up again, and so they don’t always get to be there, but she is involved with the music ministry there as well. Yeah.
Daniel Mount
Neat.
All right, one other thing for Trinity, and that is one of the things I always think of when I think of your church, is it’s been the location for the memorial services of a number of the most beloved people in the history of Southern Gospel.
What are some of the memorial services you’ve helped with, you’ve helped put on, and any special moments from those that really stand out in your memory?
Greg Bentley
I guess I’ve helped at least a small amount in the majority of them since I do sound for the church. There’s been a couple that, you know, musically, singing wise in them, as well as doing sound for them.
Like you said, there’s been quite a few that have been handled there. Ernie Phillips was just really amazing. God moved in a special way during that service.
Of course, it was a very unusual way too because while on stage during Ernie’s home-going service, Squire had a heart attack.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
I heard that. I’d forgotten about that, yes.
Greg Bentley
Yes, and so it was very unusual, but handled extremely well. You know, family… Ernie’s family, of course, were concerned for Squire as well, but were not upset in any way, you know, because we had to, right in the middle of the service, kind of pause for a little while while they got EMS in there to deal with Squire because he literally was on the platform sitting there when it happened.
So that’s very memorable from that, for sure. Squire even talked about that afterwards.
And of course Squire’s… the couple things that have been done for Squire there. There was one, of course, while he was still living, that Jim Brady kind of lined up to honor Squire and had a lot of people come in and do the songs of Squire, which was just an amazing day.
And then of course, Squire’s home-going honoring service that we did there too was just amazing to get to see everybody come together and just worship and honor such great people as those.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm.
Neat. All right, so I think I’ll close with this question, other than how people can keep up with Crossroads.
For a group or a soloist who has the necessary baseline of talent, you have to be able to sing well, sing on pitch, and be able to sing a harmony part usually. So for somebody who has that necessary baseline of talent, what does it take to make it in Southern Gospel?
Greg Bentley
That’s a big question! [Laughter]
I always tell people, I wish there was a formula for it that was like, “You do this, this, this, this, this, and this will happen.” Unfortunately, it’s not always that way.
But you started at the right part. You’ve got to have the baseline of God-given abilities to be able to sing, have parts, those kind of things to really get it started.
We’ve had a couple groups that we’ve brought in that have had that baseline. One example that I’ll use is Endless Highway.
I was actually filling in with the Down East Boys one weekend, and we were out in Missouri at a big outdoor event. While I’m sitting over at a picnic table to the side, this group comes up to sing, and I’m sitting there talking to songwriter Barbara Huffman. And so I’m not really paying close attention to what’s going on, but I can hear it in the background, and we’re having a conversation.
I said, “Barbara, excuse me, man, I gotta hear this group. I don’t know who they are, but boy, they’re really good.” And she turned and she goes, “I know them.” At the time, they were known as the Joylanders. It was a family tradition that had been going on for years.
I listened to them, and I was like, “Oh my gosh, they’re really, really good.” And so I started watching them, and their stage performance was good. They had all the right pieces. They were obviously talented.
And so, I don’t know, maybe three or four months later, there was a session booked here in one of our studios with an independent artist. And they came in, and I was like… I hadn’t even been down there to the studio. And I looked on the calendar, I said, the Joylanders.
And I was like, wait a minute, is that the group that I just heard in Missouri? And so I went down there, and sure enough, they were here recording. And they had wanted to come here to do a recording because they had seen the quality of the recordings that we do for all of our artists, plus the independent artists that record here.
So I went down to talk to them for a while, and it ended up we offered them a label deal from this because I had seen them, what they could do live, and then the studio was hearing what they could do recording-wise. And so, I guess you could say it was the perfect storm. The two pieces came together.
And so we offered them a deal, and, of course, they were with us for five or six years.
And at that point, we… this was another one of those A&R discussions that it’s hard to do sometimes, but we really felt they needed to change the name of the group to something that separated them out a little bit more from a lot of your normal weekend warriors, as we call them, give them something that sets them apart.
Which was hard because that name had been there for generations. But they had actually been having that same discussion. Is the name holding them back from getting farther in what they were hoping to do? And so we worked with them through that period as well.
That’s a key one example of a group that had what it takes but needed that extra side from the working with a label to promote them onto the next spot.
There are some artists out there that have all the tools. Some of them never want to go any farther than what they are, you know, just working. They are…
Daniel Mount
Yeah, they’re content doing what they are. If that’s where God puts you and you’re content doing that, go do what God tells you to do, for sure. For sure. Yes.
Greg Bentley
Yes. Yes, exactly. And be the best at that that you can be.
Make great recordings. Don’t go in and do a recording at a studio because you can do it for $5,000 versus this other place that’s gonna cost twice that much to record. It is going to sound the difference to professional people who will listen to it.
But now if all you plan on doing is just singing with the local churches, which is awesome, there is a calling for that. There is a place for that. But if your goal is to go farther in music ministry, then you’re gonna have to put that extra effort in and you’re gonna have to spend that extra amount to get the quality recordings that will actually get played on radio. Because you’re at that point… hate to use the word competing, but you are competing for airspace and airtime with people who are spending that extra money for a recording.
Daniel Mount
Little bit. Yeah.
Another detail I’d throw in there is it helps to sing at least some original material.
Greg Bentley
It does. It does.
Daniel Mount
There’s nothing wrong with singing in your area and singing your favorite songs by the Perrys and Karen Peck and the Kingsmen and Gold City. If that’s what you believe, if that’s what God’s blessing, if that’s what you want to do, go do it. But if you want to play on a national level and get radio airplay, you have to record your own music genre.
Greg Bentley
Mm-hmm. Yes, yes. And an example of that for the people listening, and the people that might be interested in this, you may have seen news or more stuff about a group called the Rogers Family from here in North Carolina. Great family group, love them to death….
First time I ever heard them, they were at our church for our jubilee. Did not know who they were, never heard of them before in my life. I’m just in there getting ready to do sound check and I said, “Okay, what do you need?” They tell me. Start into the sound check and my mouth just drops open because my gosh, these people are great.
And so I followed them for a couple years and then talked to them about, “What do you want to do? Do you want to do this further than what you’re doing it now,” which they were hoping to do, expand what their ministry is. And so we offered them a position here on one of the labels, which they took. They were excited about that.
But we’re working on their new album. In fact, they’re tracking tomorrow and Wednesday as of this recording. And Roger Talley’s producing them. And our key to them was, the majority of the stuff that you do is covers of old songs and other people’s stuff. We need to find you some original music that is still your style and who you are. We don’t want to change who you are, but we need original stuff.
And so we started getting songs sent to them from great writers, Adina Bowman and Sandy Blythe, and just some great writers getting them some stuff that fits their style. And they’re so excited to actually get to record some songs that will be theirs instead of, like you said, covering the Perrys or Karen Peck and New River or the Kingsmen or, you know, whatever like that.
And so that is a huge part in that next step of getting airplay, because it’s hard to get airplay if you’re just doing covers of old stuff. Radio wants new stuff the majority of time. Not all the time, but the majority of the time. And so that is a key point in trying to get that to your next recording.
Daniel Mount
And then the other thought I would throw in there is, from doing a news website for eight years, but also working for Crossroads for six years. One of the biggest differentiators between the artists who stick around and have a lifelong career and those who try for a couple of years and maybe don’t have the same longevity, a big part of longevity is just treating people well.
Be the kind of person you want to be friends with to the fans, to the songwriters, to the radio people, to the media people, to the record company people, to other groups, cheer on other groups. I mean, there’s always a little natural competition, but be other groups’ biggest cheerleaders. Be the kind of person somebody wants to be a friend with. This industry is so relational. That goes as far as anything does.
Greg Bentley
Yes, yes. Like you said, this industry is really built on relationships. From artist to fans, to artist to songwriters, to artist to record labels, to artist to promoters.
If you are wanting to get on some of the larger concerts, you need to be friendly and not pushy with those promoters. Don’t go and say, “Hey, you know, we sing 200 dates a year ,and we want to be on your event. We’ve got a great fan base following. We think that you should put us on your event.”
Now, you go to that promoter and you say, “Man, I’ve been coming to your events for years, and I always enjoy your concerts. You always do a great job of putting on what the fans want to hear. If you’re ever looking for a group, we’d love to be a part of it,” and give them contact information, some way that they can look you up if it’s on YouTube or wherever it happens to be so the promoters can see what you do, and just be friends.
And it’s that way even with the other artists. Become friends, become people that you can just call up and say, “Hey, how’d your weekend go? You know, I heard you were singing so-and-so. We weren’t able to get there, and you know, we were singing too, but hope it went well.” And just become friends with these people. And then they will become cheerleaders for you.
That’s one thing that I have seen with Endless Highway and with Rogers family, is the industry people actually really enjoy when I bring up either one of those people. “I love them. They’re so great. They’re such great people.” They don’t say, “Wow, they do some of the best recordings and have spent some of the most money on albums.” They talk about them as people and their way of dealing with them, how friendly they are and stuff like that.
I saw the Rogers family up at Inspiration Park this past year. They actually volunteered just because they wanted to be around. They weren’t scheduled to be on the program at all, but they volunteered to help with ushering and seating and anything like that because they just wanted to be there. They wanted to spend that time and get to listen to all the music. And so Troy Burns and the Inspirations said, “Well sure, we’ll find something to do.” Well then of course, they ended up getting them up on stage to sing even though they weren’t actually booked for it.
Those kind of things happen organically as you are that way. And it’s going to be that way all the way through if you try to go farther in a career, and even if you don’t.
To work even just churches that have an annual fourth Saturday night sing, you want to be that way with that church because there’s going to be somebody at that church that has a fifth Sunday night sing that might like to have you there. And if they talk to church B, and church A says, “Well yeah, they do a great job but they’re a little hard to get along with,” or anything like that, that’s not going to be good. You want them to be, “You need to have this group in your church if you’re looking for some music. They do a great job. They’re plugged in with what the Lord wants them to do. Their music, you can tell they pray about the songs that they record. They have great messages and they’re just good people.”
Daniel Mount
Yeah. You know, people ask, what is Southern Gospel? Well, there’s the gospel in the lyrics. There’s usually harmony singing. But beyond that, it’s not defined like any other industry. It’s defined by the relationships, I feel like.
Greg Bentley
It really is.
It truly is. It’s one of the few entertainment companies or industries that you go to and the fans have as much access to the artist as anything else. You can easily walk up and talk to, you know, Connie Hopper or Karen Peck or Mark Lowry or Bill Gaither. You have access to them at a certain extent, and that’s the relationship value of the Southern Gospel industry.
Daniel Mount
Yes. Thank you so much for coming on, for your time, for going a few extra minutes. I really appreciate your time.
Greg Bentley
Yeah, yeah. Hey, I’ve enjoyed it, Daniel, as always. I hope that the fans enjoy some of the background and information, and that it’s helpful to them.
Daniel Mount
Thank you! Hope so! And how can people keep up with what you and Crossroads are doing?
Greg Bentley
Best way is actually social media. We do have a website, but it’s kind of there. But with constant stuff, Horizon Sonlite Records on Facebook and Instagram is the best way to keep up with us, or Crossroads Studios. We’ve got a Facebook and social media side for that well. So either way, Crossroads, Horizon, Sonlite Records, search us out. We’re there, and we’re hopefully putting out great music that the fans are still enjoying and want to keep following.
Daniel Mount
Wonderful. And to the listener, thank you for listening to Southern Gospel Journal. You can keep up with the latest episodes on YouTube, Facebook, your favorite podcast platform, or on southerngospeljournal.com. Thanks for listening.