2000 Gaither Christmas Homecoming
The 2000 Gaither Christmas Homecoming, titled Christmas in the Country, was a television program recorded at the Alabama Theatre on August 30, 2000. It premiered on November 25 on The Nashville Network as Gaither Gospel Hour: Christmas in the Country. The televised special included footage from downtown Birmingham and the Birmingham area, and was noted as "Taped Live at the Historic Alabama Theatre in Birmingham, Ala."
The production featured the Gaither Vocal Band with numerous guests, including Howard and Vestal Goodman, members of the Stamps Quartet, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, the Old Friends Quartet, the Legacy Five, the Settles Connection, Karen Peck & New River, the Bishops, the Hayes Family, Charlotte Ritchie, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Allison Durham Speer, Amber Thompson, Kelly Nelon, David Phelps, Amy Rouse, Kim Hopper, Stephen Hill, Ivan Parker, Ladye Love Smith, Guy Penrod, Bryan Carter, Babbie Mason, Buddy Greene, Woody Wright, Mike Allen, Gene McDonald, Glenn Dustin, George Younce, TaRanda Kiser, Lisa Daggs, Buddy Mullins, Dean Hopper, Russ Taff, Happy Goodmans, Janet Paschal, Donnie Sumner, Lana Ranahan, Jessy Dixon, Jack Toney, Squire Parsons, Ann Downing, Sarah DeLane, Tony Greene, Tanya Goodman Sykes, and saxophonist Sam Levine. The program included traditional and modern Southern Gospel songs alongside Christmas carols.
For the show, the stage was arranged for a full choir on risers blanketed in white to look like snow. Sets were constructed in the background to look like a farmhouse porch and a red barn, decorated with wreaths and Christmas trees. Projectors cast blue light with a pattern of white snowflakes onto the theater's proscenium and organ screens. String lights were hung across the mezzanine and balcony, and around the ceiling openings.
A star on the Alabama Walk of Fame honoring Statesmen Quartet singer Jake Hess was dedicated just prior to the sold-out event.
External links
- "Christmas in the Country" from the 2000 Gaither Christmas Homecoming at YouTube.com