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A shepherd ( /ˈʃɛpərd/), or sheepherder, is a person who tends, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. The word stems from an amalgam of sheep herder. Also given to a fisherman who catches copious amounts of sheepshead.

Shepherd in Făgăraş Mountains, Romania.

Shepherd in Valdunquillo, Spain.

Middle Age Livestock Shelter or Paridera in a Natural Cave in Piedra River in the monk's old path from the monastery to the roe deer salt ponds, Aragon, Spain

History[link]

Origins[link]

Ernest Martin Hennings - The Sheep Herder

Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool. Over the next millennia, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia.

Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as chickens and pigs. To maintain a large flock, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture; this required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. In ancient times shepherds also commonly milked their sheep, and made cheese from this milk; only some shepherds still do this today.

In many societies shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elder who couldn't help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.

Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that travelled with their flocks.

Shepherding developed only in certain areas. In the lowlands and river valleys, it was far more efficient to grow grain and cereals than to allow sheep to graze, thus the raising of sheep was confined to rugged and mountainous areas. In pre-modern times shepherding was thus centred on regions such as the Middle East, Greece, the Pyrenees, the Carpathian Mountains, and Scotland.

Modern Times[link]

Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range, Madison County, Montana, August 1942.

In modern times shepherding has changed dramatically. The abolition of common lands in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth century moved shepherding from independent nomads to employees of massive estates. Some families in Africa and Asia have their wealth in sheep, so a young son is sent out to guard them while the rest of the family tend to other chores. In the USA, many sheep herds are flocked over public BLM lands.

Wages are higher than was the case in the past. Keeping a shepherd in constant attendance can be costly. Also, the eradication of sheep predators in parts of the world have lessened the need for shepherds. In places like Britain, hardy breeds of sheep are frequently left alone without a shepherd for long periods of time. More productive breeds of sheep can be left in fields and moved periodically to fresh pasture when necessary. Hardier breeds of sheep can be left on hillsides. The sheep farmer will attend to the sheep when necessary at times like lambing or shearing.

By country[link]

Australia and New Zealand[link]

Shepherd's watch box.

European exploration led to the spread of sheep around the world, and shepherding became especially important in Australia and New Zealand where there was great pastoral expansion. In Australia squatters spread beyond the Nineteen Counties of New South Wales to elsewhere, taking over vast holdings called properties and now stations.

Once driven overland to these properties, sheep were pastured in large unfenced runs. There, they required constant supervision.^[1] Shepherds were employed to keep the sheep from straying too far, to keep the mobs as healthy as possible and to prevent attacks from dingoes and wedge-tailed eagles. Lambing time further increased the shepherd's responsibilities.

Shepherding was an isolated, lonely job that was firstly given to assigned convict servants. The accommodation was usually poor and the food was lacking in nutrition leading to dysentery and scurvy. When free labour was more readily available others took up this occupation. Some shepherds were additionally brought to Australia on the ships that carried sheep and were contracted to caring for them on their arrival in the colony. Sheep owners complained about the inefficiency of shepherds and the shepherds' fears of getting lost in the bush.^[2]

Typically sheep were watched by shepherds during the day, and by a hut-keeper during the night. Shepherds took the sheep out to graze before sunrise and returned them to brush-timber yards at sunset. The hut-keeper usually slept in a movable shepherd's watch box placed near the yard in order to deter attacks on the sheep. Dogs were also often chained close by to warn of any impending danger to the sheep or shepherd by dingoes or natives.

In 1839 the usual wage for a shepherd was about AU₤50 per year, plus weekly rations of 12 pounds (5.4 kg)} meat, 10 pounds (4.5 kg) flour, 2 pounds (0.91 kg) sugar and 4 ounces (110 g) tea. The wage during the depression of the 1840s dropped to ₤20 a year.

During the 1850s many shepherds left to try their luck on the goldfields causing acute labour shortages in the pastoral industry. This labour shortage leads to the widespread practice of fencing properties, which in turn reduced the demand for shepherds.^[3] Over 95% of New South Wales sheep were grazing in paddocks by the mid 1880s. An 1890s census of fencing in New South Wales recorded that 2.6 million kilometres of fencing had been erected there with a contemporary cost of $AU3 billion. Boundary riders and stockmen replaced shepherds working on foot, who have not been employed in Australia and New Zealand since the start of the 20th century.^[4]

The Shepherd and his Flock, c. 1905

Religion[link]

Les Bergers d'Arcadie (The Shepherds of Arcadia) by Nicolas Poussin.

"A Sleeping Nymph Watched by a Shepherd" by Angelica Kauffman, about 1780, V&A Museum no. 23-1886

Traditional Midnight Mass with Shepherds in Provence.

Metaphorically, the term "shepherd" is used for God, especially in the Judeo-Christian tradition (e.g. Psalm 23), and in Christianity especially for Jesus, who called himself The Good Shepherd.^[5] The Ancient Israelites were a pastoral people and there were many shepherds among them. It may also be worth noting that many Biblical heroes were shepherds, among them the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob, the twelve tribes, the prophet Moses, and King David; and the Old Testament prophet Amos, who was a shepherd in the rugged area around Tekoa. In the New Testament, angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds.

The same metaphor is also applied to priests, with Roman Catholic, Church of Sweden, and Anglican bishops having the shepherd's crook among their insignia (see also Lycidas). In both cases, the implication is that the faithful are the "flock" who have to be tended. This is in part inspired by Jesus's injunctions to Peter, "Feed my sheep", which is the source of the pastoral image in Lycidas. The term "Pastor", originally the Latin word for "shepherd", is now used solely to denote the clergy of most Christian denominations.

The 5th-century Ravenna mosaic illustrates the concept of The Good Shepherd.

The Good Shepherd is one of the thrusts of Biblical scripture. This illustration encompasses many ideas, including God's care for his people and his discipline to correct the wandering sheep. The tendency of humans to put themselves into danger's way and their inability to guide and take care of themselves apart from the direct power and leading of God is also reinforced with the metaphor of sheep in need of a shepherd.

Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, prided himself in being part of a rich tradition of prophets who found their means of livelihood as shepherds.

Sikhism also has many mentions of shepherd tales. There are many relevant quotations, such as "We are the cattle, God almighty is our shepherd."

This concept has also been used frequently by critics of organized religion to present an unflattering portrayal.

See also Pashupati, Dhangar, Kuruba.

In popular culture[link]

The shepherd, with other such figures as the goatherd, is the inhabitant of idealized Arcadia, which is an idyllic and natural countryside. These works are, indeed, called pastoral, after the term for herding. The first surviving instances are the Idylls of Theocritus, and the Eclogues of Virgil, both of which inspired many imitators such as Edmund Spenser's The Shepheardes Calender. The shepherds of the pastoral are often heavily conventional and bear little relation to the actual work of shepherds.

"The Shepherdess" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau; note that the bare feet are clean, despite her occupation.

Shepherds and shepherdesses have been frequently immortalized in art and sculpture. Among the best known is the neoclassical Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen's Shepherd Boy with Dog.^{[citation needed]}

In the Latin American literary classic "Empire of Dreams" (Yale, 1994) by Giannina Braschi, shepherds invade the city of New York in a pastoral revolution.

The shepherd, in such works, appears as a virtuous soul because of his living close to nature, uncorrupted by the temptations of the city. So Edmund Spenser writes in his Colin Clouts Come home again of a shepherd who went to the city, saw its wickedness, and returned home wiser, and in The Faerie Queen makes the shepherds the only people to whom the Blatant Beast is unknown.

Many tales involving foundlings portray them being rescued by shepherds: Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, the title characters of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, and The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. These characters are often of much higher social status than the characters who save and raise them, the shepherds themselves being secondary characters. Similarly, the heroes and heroines of fairy tales written by the précieuses often appeared as shepherds and shepherdesses in pastoral settings, but these figures were royal or noble, and their simple setting does not cloud their innate nobility.^[6] In Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shepherdess and the Sweep" (1845), the porcelain shepherdess carries a gilt crook and wears shoes of gilt as well. Her lover is a porcelain chimney sweep with a princely face "as fair and rosy as a girl's", completely unsmudged with soot.

The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth is the story of a flight from Germany to England undertaken by a young Vampire pilot one Christmas Eve.

Biographies of David Ben-Gurion published in the early years of Israel emphasized his having been a shepherd immediately after his arrival in the country in the 1900s. Later, however, historians concluded that he had been involved only very briefly in this profession and was not good at it.

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Shepherds

• A Beginner's Guide to Raising Sheep
• A Shepherds Songbook
• American Karakul Sheep Registry
• American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
• Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand
• Scottish Blackface Sheep Breeders Association

Ashton Delilah Shepherd (born August 16, 1986 in Coffeeville, Alabama^[1]) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She was first signed to Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA Nashville division in April 2007. Her 2008 debut album Sounds So Good produced two top 40 hits on the Hot Country Songs charts: "Takin' Off This Pain" and the title track. In 2011, she released her second album, Where Country Grows, which includes the top 20 hit "Look It Up".

Biography[link]

Ashton Shepherd was born August 16, 1986 in Coffeeville, Alabama. She began singing at an early age, and started writing songs at age five.^[2] By age eight, she had entered her first talent competition, where she sang Patsy Cline songs, and soon afterward, she began performing at various local venues as well. Her parents helped her finance a self-titled CD, which she released independently at age fifteen.^[2] In June 2006, she entered and won a talent contest in Gilbertown, Alabama. The prize was being the opening act for Lorrie Morgan in concert. Shepherd won the opening slot, and while performing as Morgan's opener, she was spotted by a representative of MCA Nashville Records, who then signed her to the label in April 2007.^[3]

Her debut single, "Takin' Off This Pain," was released in September 2007, the same month in which she made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry.^[4][5] The song, which peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, was the first single from her debut album Sounds So Good, which was produced by Buddy Cannon and released on March 4, 2008.^[2] She also appeared on CMT's Unplugged at Studio 330 television program and subsequent interview March 5, 2008.^[6] The album's second single, its title track, was released in May 2008 and peaked at #21.

Shepherd's third single, "Look It Up," was released to country radio on January 3, 2011 as the lead-off single to her second album for MCA Nashville, Where Country Grows. It debuted at number 56 on the country charts for chart week ending January 15, 2011.^[7] The song entered the Top 40 of the charts in its third week and became her second Top 20 hit on the chart, reaching a peak of number 19 in May 2011. The title track was released as the second and final single from the album, and reached a peak of number 42 on the charts, becoming her first single to miss the Top 40.

Personal life[link]

In 2006, she welcomed her first child, James, with her husband Roland Cunningham, whom she married in 2007. And in March 2011, Shepherd announced she was pregnant with her second child. ^[8] She then welcomed daughter, Raden Delilah Cunningham, on September 9th 2011. ^[9]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Extended plays[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

Other appearances[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ashton Shepherd at UMG Nashville
• Ashton Shepherd on Myspace

Gheorghe Zamfir
Background information
Birth name	Gheorghe Zamfir (flute artist)
Also known as	Pan Flute Master
Born	(1941-04-06) April 6, 1941 (age 71) Găeşti, Romania
Genres	Romanian popular music Instrumental Pop Easy listening
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Music teacher
Instruments	Pan flute
Years active	1960 - present
Labels	SonArt Records
Website	http://www.gheorghe-zamfir.com

Gheorghe Zamfir (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡe̯orɡe zamˈfir]; born April 6, 1941) is a Romanian pan flute musician.

Zamfir is known for playing an expanded version of the traditional Romanian-style pan flute (nai) of 20 pipes to 22, 25, 28 and 30 pipes to increase its range, and obtaining as many as eight overtones (additionally to the fundamental tone) from each pipe by changing the embouchure.

He is known as "The Master of the Pan Flute", though his standing as a leading figure within the history of Romanian folk music has not been without criticism.^[1][2]

Career[link]

Zamfir came to the public eye when he was "discovered" by Swiss ethnomusicologist Marcel Cellier who extensively researched Romanian folk music in the 1960s. The composer Vladimir Cosma brought Zamfir with his pan flute to western European countries for the first time in 1972 as the soloist in Cosma's original music for the movie Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire. This was very successful, and since then, he has been used as soloist in movie soundtracks by composers Francis Lai, Ennio Morricone and many others. Largely through television commercials where he was billed as "Zamfir, Master of the pan Flute", he introduced the folk instrument to a modern audience and revived it from obscurity. In the United States his commercials were widely seen on CNN in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Zamfir's big break in the English-speaking world came when the BBC religious television programme "The Light of Experience" adopted his recording of "Doina De Jale", a traditional Romanian funeral song, as its theme. Popular demand forced Epic Records to release the tune as a single in 1976, and it climbed to number four on the UK charts. It would prove to be his only hit single, but it helped pave the way for a consistent stream of album sales in Britain.

After nearly a decade-long absence, Romanian pan flute virtuoso Gheorghe Zamfir returned to Canada in January 2006 for a seven-city tour with TRAFFIC STRINGS quintet . The program included a world premiere: Vivaldi's Four Seasons for PanFlute and string quintet arranged by Lucian Moraru, jazz standards, and well-known favourites.

Gheorghe Zamfir & Traffic Strings

Most recently, Zamfir has been sampled by Animal Collective in the song "Graze" on their EP Fall Be Kind.

Soundtracks[link]

One of his most notable contributions was to the soundtrack for the classic Australian film Picnic at Hanging Rock. His first appearance in 1972 as soloist interpreter in a movie soundtrack was in Vladimir Cosma's "Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire" with a very famous and successful melody known all over the world. His music has also been heard on the soundtracks of many Hollywood movies. He was asked by Ennio Morricone to perform the pieces "Childhood Memories" and "Cockeye's Song" for the soundtrack of Sergio Leone's 1984 gangster film Once Upon a Time in America. His music is heard throughout the 1984 film The Karate Kid, and his piece "The Lonely Shepherd", recorded with the James Last Orchestra, is featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Kill Bill Vol. 1. The melody "The lonely shepherd" was written by James Last and first released on his album "Memories from Russia", released 1977 (Polydor Germany 2371 856). The panflute was played by Gheorghe Zamfir, who had a contract with the Philips record company. An agreement was made that Philips could release "The lonely shepherd" as a single (45 rpm) on the Philips label.

His song Frunzuliță Lemn Adus Cântec De Nuntă (Fluttering Green Leaves Wedding Song) appears in the Studio Gibli film Only Yesterday.

Criticism[link]

Although Zamfir is considered the most important person to popularize the pan flute worldwide, he has also received significant criticism, mostly for his propinquity with easy listening and kitsch.^[3][4] His personality often put him in disputes with other pan flute players such as Dalila Cernătescu, Simion Stanciu or Damian Draghici. Zamfir has been mocked by critics in comparison with Draghici on several occasions.^[5][6]

Another line of criticism came from his promotion of Romanian popular music as opposed to the genuine traditional music.^[7]

Comparing Zamfir with his master, Fănică Luca, jazz-man Johnny Răducanu said that a single fart of Luca would equal the entire music of Gheorghe Zamfir.^[8]

Personal life[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Zamfir was born in Găeşti, Romania on April 6, 1941. Although initially interested in becoming an accordionist, at the age of 14 he began his pan flute studies with Fănică Luca at the Special Musical School no. 1 in Bucharest. Later he attended the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory. He currently^[when?] resides and teaches pan flute in Bucharest. His son, Emmanuel Teodor (who resides in Montreal, Canada), is also a drummer/musician.

Cultural references[link]

• Zamfir is mentioned in the television show King of the Hill in the episode "Propane Boom (Part 1)". Hank claims that Zamfir has sold more records worldwide than The Beatles.
• He is also mentioned in the show NCIS in the episode "Family Secret".
• He is also mentioned in the television show "Sports Night" during an episode.
• He is referenced by Bill Engvall in Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One for the Road
• 30 Seconds to Mars often references 'Zamfir pan flutist' as one of their favorite musicians in interviews.

Bibliography[link]

Zamfir has written an instructional book, Traitė Du Naï Roumain: méthode de flûte de pan, Paris: Chappell S.A., 1975, ISBN 88-8291-286-8, and an autobiography Binecuvântare şi blestem ("Blessing and Curse"), Arad: Mirador, 2000, ISBN 973-9284-56-6.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Zamfir at Allmusic
• Gheorghe Zamfir at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

James Last in 2006

James Last (also known as "Hansi") (born Hans Last, 17 April 1929, Bremen, Germany) is a German composer and big band leader. His "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom. His composition, "Happy Heart", became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark. According to the British Hit Singles & Albums book, he has reportedly sold in excess of seventy million albums worldwide.^[1]

Early life[link]

Last's father was an official at the public works department of the city of Bremen and he grew up in the suburb of Sebaldsbrück. He learned to play the piano from the age of 12, then switched to double bass as a teenager. His home city was heavily bombed in World War II and he ran messages to air defence command posts during raids. At 14 he was entered in the Bückeburg Military Music School of the German Wehrmacht.^[2]

After the fall of the Nazis, he joined Hans-Gunther Österreich's Radio Bremen Dance Orchestra in 1946. In 1948, he became the leader of the Last-Becker Ensemble, which performed for seven years. During that time, he was voted as the best bassist in the country by a German jazz poll for three consecutive years, from 1950–1952. After the Last-Becker Ensemble disbanded, he became the in-house arranger for Polydor Records, as well as for a number of European radio stations. For the next decade, he helped arrange hits for artists like Helmut Zacharias, Freddy Quinn, Lolita, Alfred Hause and Caterina Valente.

Work[link]

Last first released albums in the U.S. under the titles The American Patrol on Warner Brothers around 1964. He also released a series of nine albums in a series called Classics Up To Date vols. 1–9 which served up arrangements of classical melodies with strings, rhythm and wordless chorus from the mid 1960s through the early 1970s. Last released an album, Non-Stop Dancing, in 1965, a recording of brief renditions of popular songs, all tied together by an insistent dance beat and crowd noises. It was a hit and helped make him a major European star. Over the next four decades, Last released over 190 records, including several more volumes of Non-Stop Dancing. On these records, he varies his formula by adding different songs from different countries and genres, as well as guest performers like Richard Clayderman and Astrud Gilberto. He also had his own successful television series in the 1970s with guests ABBA and Lynsey de Paul.

Though his concerts and albums are consistently successful, especially in the UK, where he had 52 hit albums between 1967 and 1986, which made him second only to Elvis Presley in charting records,^{[citation needed]} he has had relatively few hit singles. In the UK, his only chart singles were "The Seduction", the theme from American Gigolo (1980) composed by Giorgio Moroder, and "Biscaya" from the album Biscaya. In the US, where "The Seduction" became a Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary chart in May 1980, Last was somewhat more successful on the singles charts. In 2003, his song "The Lonely Shepherd" which features the pan flute of Gheorghe Zamfir appeared on the soundtrack of the Quentin Tarantino movie Kill Bill: Vol. 1.^[3]

He has won numerous popular and professional awards, including Billboard magazine's Star of the Year trophy in 1976, and has been honoured for lifetime achievement with the German ECHO prize in 1994. His song "Music from Across the Way" (recorded by Andy Williams in 1972) is a melody with a classical feeling and was a worldwide hit; it is the only other Last single apart from "The Seduction" to reach the U.S. Hot 100, where it peaked at No. 84 (and No. 18 on the Adult Contemporary chart) in late 1971. (His only other U.S. chart single was a double-sided entry featuring remakes of The Village Stompers' "Washington Square" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary", which reached No. 22 on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1971.)

Last has a large fan base in Europe and elsewhere. His trademark is big band arrangements of pop music hits; his series of party albums is equally well known. Over the course of his career, he has sold well over 100 million albums.^[4] In the United States, Last's music was a staple of the mainly instrumental-based Beautiful Music radio format for years.

European concert dates for April 2011 have been advertised.^[5]

Personal life[link]

Last divides his time between Florida and Germany. He gives much credit to his wife and son, who help with his music.

Discography[link]

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See also[link]

• James Last Orchestra
• List of best-selling music artists

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Last

• Official website

The Crabb Family is a Southern Gospel group originally from Beaver Dam, Kentucky. They have had sixteen No. 1 songs on the national radio charts.^[1]

Members[link]

The group was originally composed of Gerald and Kathy Crabb, oldest son Jason, twins Adam and Aaron, and daughters Kelly and Terah.

Group history[link]

The group was formed in Beaver Dam, a town in rural Kentucky. The family patriarch, Gerald Crabb, was the founder of the group and lead songwriter. Throughout their career, the group has released numerous albums and received several awards.

Although their roots are primarily Southern Gospel, the Crabb Family’s recording, Blur The Lines features a variety of styles of music. The Crabb Family also reached a vast concert audience. Their schedule lead them from the Grand Ole Opry to a Contemporary Christian Festival in South Dakota and everything in between the two venues.

Farewell[link]

In August 2006, the Crabb Family, Jason, Adam, Aaron, Terah and Kelly decided to follow individual paths. The siblings felt it was time to move to a new season in their lives. Each member plans to pursue their separate ministries. The Crabb Family has finished their tour to thank their fans for their unwavering support over the past ten years. Their last tour date as a group was August 1, 2007.^[2]

After that, Jason Crabb has started his own solo career. His brother Aaron started a duo with his wife Amanda called simply Aaron & Amanda Crabb, while Adam and Terah started a band called Crabb Revival. In 2009, Terah decided to leave the band to become a full-time mother.^[3] Kelly Bowling has also joined her family in a musical career.

The Crabb Family reunited for a Celebration Tour in November 2011 through February 2012, as well as a new album, Together Again, released Februaury 7, 2012.^[4]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Compilations[link]

• 1998: The Best of the Crabb Family
• 2001: A Crabb Collection (Daywind)
• 2005: Super Southern Gospel (Daywind)
• 2005: The Hits... Live (Daywind)

Radio Singles[link]

The Crabb Family holds the record of having the most No.1 songs on the Singing News Top 80 Radio Airplay Charts. They had fifteen: "Please Forgive Me", "Trail of Tears", "The Lamb, the Lion, and the King", "I Sure Miss You", "Through the Fire", "That's No Mountain", "The Reason That I'm Standing", "Don't You Wanna Go?", "Please Come Down to Me", "The Walk", "The Cross", "Jesus Will Do What You Can't", "He Came Looking for Me", "Good Day", and "The Shepherd's Call." The group has also ranked No. 1 on the Singing News yearly Top 40 Charts of the most played songs. Songs that hit that position are: "Please Forgive Me", "Through the Fire", and "The Reason That I'm Standing."

Awards and honors[link]

The band has been presented the "Favorite Band of the Year" award by the Singing News readers in 1999, 2001, and 2003. The group has also won numerous SGN Music Awards (presented by SoGospelNews.com) including Song of the Year, Mixed Group of the Year and Album of the Year over the years.

Jason Crabb was the recipient of the "Favorite Young Artist" award at the 2000 Singing News Fan Awards and "Male Vocalist of the Year" at the 2004 Harmony Honors and SGN Music Awards. Meanwhile, sister Kelly Bowling garnered a "Female Vocalist of the Year" in the 2005 SGN Music Awards. Justin Ellis, the group's pianist, was awarded Musician of the Year in the 2007 SGN Music Awards.^[1]

Besides eleven GMA Dove Awards, the group received two NARAS Grammy Award nominations.

GMA Dove Awards

Video[link]

• 2003: #1 Hits Live (Eagle Vision)
• 2004: Crabb Fest Live 2003 (Word)
• 2005: Live at Brooklyn Tabernacle (Daywind)
• 2005: Remembering The Greats (Daywind)
• 2009: The Best of the Crabb Family (Spring House)
• 2009: Grand Finale: The Ultimate Concert Experience (Provident Music)

Gaither Homecoming Video Performances[link]

• 2001: What a Time "Please Forgive Me"
• 2002: New Orleans Homecoming "Through The Fire"
• 2002: God Bless America "The Lion, The Lamb, And The King"
• 2003: Red Rocks Homecoming "The Reason That I'm Standing"
• 2003: Dottie Rambo with the Homecoming Friends "Tears Will Never Stain The Streets Of That City"
• 2003: Build A Bridge "Greater Is He In Me"
• 2007: How Great Thou Art "I'd Rather Have Jesus"

External links[link]

• Official website

References[link]