Vote For Boyz II Men at IBMA 2020

Marcel Ardans

What do contemporary bluegrass, gospel, 90’s R&B, and the Asheville Symphony have in common? Not a whole lot, which makes Steep Canyon Ranger’s new release of Be Still Moses featuring Boyz II Men and the Asheville Symphony a little confusing. I mean I like it, but I want to understand it. I even made some charts like this one to help organize my thoughts.

I don’t know, maybe if you listen to the track for yourself it’ll make sense. If it does make sense to you, feel free to make a few venn diagrams attach them to an email and explain the whole thing to me.

The only conclusion I can come to is that Steep Canyon has decided Gospel Recording of the Year is the only award that truly matters at IBMA 2020. You see this year one of the nominees for Gospel Recording of the Year is Roland White and Friends performing I Am A Pilgrim on the album A Tribute To The Kentucky Colonels. It’s near unbeatable, and recordings like this are going to change the IBMA game forever.

The worry on everyone’s mind is that with the game forever changed, are the Steep Canyon Rangers initiating a Gospel recording arms race? RIght now, it’s just Steep Canyon Rangers, Boyz II Men, and the Asheville Symphony but next year it’s going to be Chatham County Line, Mary J. Blige, and the Lawrence, Kansas Symphony Orchestra. The year after that it’ll be Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Salt-N-Pepa, and the Burlington High School Alumni Marching Band! Is that a future we want to see? Is that a world we want our children to live in?

All joking aside, you should listen to the recording, it’s good. If you want more info on this year’s IBMA nominees you should look here. Also, sorry Asheville Symphony, I feel like you guys took the brunt of the teasing there.