Yes I have heard some of DL&QS on XM14.

Since I posted the originating message I attended concerts by Wildfire and Rhonda Vincent & the Rage. My opinions follow...

Wildfire was an enjoyable show. Phil Leadbetter does a good job of not hogging the show. The banjo player appeared to play effortlessly. Good vocals by both the guitar and mandolin players. Have loved the song "Can't Have One Without the Other" since I first heard it and they delivered a rousing rendition live. The only downside in the whole show is their gospel number fell completely flat from a spiritual perspective. It was just another bluegrbutt song.

To me gospel music needs to have some sort of a unique focus on the message and make the music subservient to the message. But at the same time, to be really effective the music must support the message and drive it home. It's a fine balance and Wildfire missed it by a mile IMO. Otherwise their show was great and well worth the money.

And then I saw Rhonda Vincent & the Rage. I suspect there are many in the professional bluegrbutt community who are jealous of her success but it's clear to me that she's paid her dues and deserves her current round of success.

RV&tR were brought to town by a local promoter who owns the venue. While I was super impressed by RV&tR the show was very difficult to truly enjoy. The promoter hired a local bluegrbutt band of dubious quality to be the opening act. Honestly, listening to them play was nearly a non-stop painful experience. The fiddle player was excellent. Otherwise they ruined the crowd for RV&tR. It's remarkable that RV&tR were talented enough to almost make you forget how bad the warmup band was. Almost that is. The stench still torments my ears.

What makes it worse is the math doesn't make sense. There were easily 1000 people who paid $20 each to see RV&tR. The promoter has an alcohol license and easily made another 50% of gate on food & beverage. I don't know what RV&tR charge for a 90 minute show but I think the promoter stunk up the show by going el cheapo. I have no doubt if he had put a decent warmup band in place it could have been a sell out (2300 seats). But that's all aside from the music.

RV&tR were fantastic. She has a phenomenal group of musicians in the Rage. And she's obviously talented with the mandolin. Whether it was the warmup band or the venue the show felt terribly short. My expectation was for two 50-60 minute sets. What we got was one continuous 75-90 minute set with a few worthless songs thrown in by Rhonda to keep things interesting for her. On the plus side every song was crisp and exact. You could have heard a pin drop during their encore rendition of "Fishers of Men". As a gospel song it was the anbreasthesis of Wildfire's attempt mentioned above. And Rhonda served up one or two other gospel songs equally riveting. And that's the opinion of this soft atheist. In contrast to the seemingly short set Rhonda and the band took plenty of time to meet with the audience after the show. So who can argue with that. They gave plenty - just in unexpected ways.

mc in MN How do you compare musicians skill levels when every time you think you've heard the very best you hear someone even better next week?