Singing | Karen Collins | All Levels | Period 2 | Week 1 (July 7-12, 2024)
Gospel music has always been an important part of Classic Country music and many classic country shows included at least one Gospel song. Country Gospel is
emotional and intense and you can hear that influence in the singing of the great country singers like Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn and others.
All year I look forward to teaching the Gospel class. In addition to the songs being being fun to sing, there is just something inspiring and energizing about
singing Gospel songs together in a group. We’ll delve into some of the great classic country gospel songs. We’ll also talk a bit about the history of the songs,
the singers and the writers, but we’ll spend most of our class time singing together as a group.
Although this isn’t a harmony class as such, these Gospel songs encourage close harmony singing. So if you can hear a harmony part on a song, I hope you will
jump right in with it. If you don’t sing harmony, that’s also fine.
About the Instructor
Karen Collins grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia in a coal mining community. She spent a lot of time listening to country music on the radio and singing in the local Baptist Church. The echoes of those early country sounds stand out in her singing and her song writing. Her songs are written and delivered in a traditional country style on topics ranging from love and heartbreak to modern issues such as being stuck in traffic.
Karen is lead singer with the honky tonk country band, The Backroads Band, and the Cajun/Zydeco band, Squeeze Bayou. She also sings with an acoustic country quartet The Blue Moon Cowgirls and plays solo shows. In the summer she teaches vocal classes at Augusta Classic Country Music week. Karen & the Backroads Band have recently released a new CD, “Daddy Can I Use the Car”
In a 2012 CD review, New Classic Music described Karen : “With a voice that would have fit perfectly in the 50’s and 60’s era of country music, Karen Collins has a lot in common with artists like Loretta Lynn and especially Rose Maddox. You can tell this lady loved Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and probably both Loretta and Rose. Her voice is a quirky mix of country charm and offbeat humor. ”