This month, we continue our look at the various southern gospel recording labels. Last month, we began our journey in the mid-1950s, discussing the various gospel/sacred releases on RCA Victor, and also the emergence of one of the first companies to be devoted entirely to gospel music – Skylite Records.
We now move into the 1960s. The ‘big two’, as they’re often referred to, will come about in this decade: HeartWarming Records and Canaan Records. Many of southern gospel’s most well-known and beloved groups recorded for either HeartWarming or Canaan. This month, we’ll discuss HeartWarming Records.
HeartWarming Records
In 1962, the John T. Benson Publishing Company of Nashville, Tennessee, launched their first record label – Heart Warming Records. (The space between ‘Heart’ and ‘Warming’ would be removed in later years). According to available information, it appears that the first release on HeartWarming was by the Tennesseans Quartet – Sing With The Tennesseans.
As was common, these early albums were available in mono (high-fidelity) or stereo. Interestingly, though, HeartWarming gave each version different catalogue numbers. For example, take a later release by the Tennesseans – It’s In The Book: catalogued as LPS-1758 (stereo) and LPHF-1759 (high fidelity/mono). This practice was discontinued around 1966, when both releases were given the same number, but different prefixes (i.e. HWM/HWS-1901).
Early releases from HeartWarming came from artists such as Max Morris, Carol & Jimmy Snow, the Frost Brothers, and Elmer & June Childress. As the sixties progressed, the label would welcome names that are perhaps more familiar to us: the Imperials, the Oak Ridge Boys, the Speer Family, Doug Oldham, the Bill Gaither Trio, and the Gospel Echoes – later renamed ‘The Rambos’.
Over the years, HeartWarming’s parent company, The Benson Company, would develop ‘sister’ labels to accommodate the ever-growing diversity of Christian music. In 1966, Benson added Impact Records, a label designed for artists with a more progressive or ‘cutting-edge’ sound. (For instance, the Imperials would move from HeartWarming to Impact). By the mid-1970s, Impact records began to carry artists with an overall inspirational or ‘middle-of-the-road’ style, while Greentree Records was added to accommodate contemporary artists (i.e. Andrus, Blackwood & Company, Reba Rambo, and Dallas Holm).
The Benson Company carried their three subsidiaries, HeartWarming (southern gospel), Impact (inspirational), and Greentree (contemporary), into the 1980s. Then, some changes began that affected the HeartWarming label. Here is where it gets a bit complicated, and frankly, documentation is rather sparse…
RiverSong Records
In 1983, CBS-Priority Records (yes, the CBS) launched a southern gospel label – RiverSong Records, headed by Bill Traylor. The first artist to sign with RiverSong – one of southern gospel’s premier groups: the Cathedral Quartet. They released their popular Live In Atlanta album on RiverSong. Soon, the Singing Americans are also added to the roster.
In 1984, RiverSong was sold to the Zondervan Corporation, which had purchased the Benson Company in 1980. So, by 1984, HeartWarming records transitioned to RiverSong records. By the late-eighties, RiverSong was home to groups such as the Cathedrals, the Hemphills, the Speers, the Kingsmen, Heaven Bound, and the Lewis Family. RiverSong would also become home to the new and wildly popular Gold City Quartet.
The RiverSong name was slowly phased out in the mid-to-late 1990s, and many artists found a home on other labels (which we’ll discuss in future articles). RiverSong’s parent company, Benson, had a great deal of success in the Contemporary Christian market throughout the nineties, before eventually being sold to Sony/Provident music.
Availability of HeartWarming/RiverSong Releases
Unfortunately, much of the HeartWarming and RiverSong catalogue has not made it to digital streaming platforms. The masters are controlled by Sony/Provident. Sony has added a great deal of the contemporary catalogue (Benson Records) to digital platforms, but very few – if any – releases from the HeartWarming/RiverSong catalogues (one can only hope they surface in the coming years).
The ‘best bet’ is to simply collect the LPs and CDs. The Benson Company did release many ’20 Favorites’ compilation CDs throughout the 1990s, which provided fans with classic selections from the HeartWarming catalogue, direct from the masters.
Next month, we’ll discuss HeartWarming’s competitor – Canaan Records – home to the Happy Goodmans, the Inspirations, the Kingsmen, the Cathedrals, Wendy Bagwell & The Sunliters, the Florida Boys, and the Talleys, just to name a few.
