Sunday Edition - “Absolutely Free”
A group that is slowly making a name is SoGospelNews' own, Sunday Edition. In preparation for the release of their new recording, Absolutely Free, which releases in late July, I had the opportunity to talk with Deon, Chris and Amy Unthank about the group and their new recording.
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Sunday Edition actually is not a new group. When did the group get started?
Deon: Back in 1972, after I was with a couple of local groups and after I had been to the Stamps Conservatory of Music for three consecutive years, I decided that I wanted to put into practice some of the ideas that I had learned at the school. Since the local groups were not conducive to change, I decided to start a group of my own. As I was talking on the phone one day to my cousin, Janice Crow, who just happens to be an excellent piano player, she made mention that she would love to be in a group also, so from that, the start of Sunday Edition was in progress.
We started off as a male quartet with Janice playing the piano and we made a pretty good splash in the St. Louis, MO area as the Lesters sort of took us under their wings and helped us a lot by letting us open on many of their big promotions. I also sang with the Lesters while Brian Lester was singing with Jerry and the Singing Goffs, and that helped with some name recognition in the St. Louis area.
Sunday Edition actually entered and won the NQC Talent contest in 1972, the year I was born, I might add!
Deon: Sorry that you were born so late that you didn't have the opportunity of hearing the original Sunday Edition live, but I have the old group on CD, so you can buy one to hear what we sounded like. (laughing)
Yes, we entered the talent contest in 1972 and won. I still have the trophy to prove it. It was a tremendous ego booster to us as a group and gave us a lot of confidence in what we were doing.
After we won the contest in 1972, my Bass singer decided God wanted him to take a Minister of Music position, my Tenor decided that God had called him to preach, and my Baritone decided that God had called him to be a missionary overseas. That left my cousin and myself to start all over. At that point, we discovered that my cousin was actually a talented singer and my sister Cheryl, joined us to form The Sunday Edition as a mixed trio.
We actually went back to the NQC the next year as a mixed trio, and we took 2nd place. Again, we got continued confirmation that we doing exactly what God had called us to do.
Has the group been singing continuously since then? If not, how did the current incarnation of the group evolve?
Deon: No, in 1976 the young ladies with me decided that of all things, they wanted to get married, so that pretty much put an end to the group for a while. In about 1979, I put the group back together with Susan on the piano and a couple of friends singing, but it just didn't work out. By 1980, The Sunday Edition was back on the shelf for a while; we had 2 babies under the age of 2, and 3 older children so we settled into church work. I did some solo work for a while and accepted a few Minister of Music positions, but just couldn't seem to find where I belonged.
Amy started to develop as a singer around the age of 16 and even recorded a solo project around that time, so we decided to try singing as a group with her, my oldest son, Aaron, and myself. Aaron was still in college and during that time he was offered a job with a group called Spirit Bound. He stayed with them until he got married and took a Minister of Music position. By this time Chris was beginning to develop vocally and he was somewhat drafted into the group. We went by the name of The Unthanks for a few years, but everybody made fun of the name (my Dad gave it to me), so we changed it a few years ago and thought that it would be great to revise The Sunday Edition. So, that's where we are today.
Chris: The group was kind of in an unknown state when I went off to college in 1999. They had some new guys come in, but nothing ever really stuck. I graduated college, started working in SG, and we decided to just start over in Nashville.
How would you describe your current sound? What is it that sets Sunday Edition apart from any other group out there?
Deon: Let me answer the last part of that question first. What sets Sunday Edition apart is our diversity. We sing many different styles ranging from Chris singing a nice Black sound, to Amy with an interesting Country, and back to me singing traditional Southern Gospel. I would say to make a general comment about our sound is that we are Progressive Southern Gospel, but we try reach any audience.
Chris: The best description is progressive Southern with a hint of Black Gospel and country. The new album will have DEFINITE Black Gospel songs like "I Know the Lord Will Make a Way" or "Call On Jesus".
"Naaman" has a very bluesy, R&B feel to it, while "Amazing" and "When You Walk Through the Water" are definite inspirational-pop flavored ballads. But we also remain quite traditional on "Absolutely Free", "He Keeps Lifting", and "Victory In Jesus." Amy gets her country groove on with songs like "Big God" and "There Is No Mountain".
"Lift Up Your Eyes" is very progressive, a la Karen Peck & New River. I think we have a little something for everyone.
Speaking of your new release, Absolutely Free is coming out soon. Give me all the other dirty details about the recording…who wrote what, who played, who produced, and any other special mentions, etc.
Deon: We are really excited about this new project. It's definitely going to be the best we have ever produced. Our current radio release is from this CD. Johnny Minick and Rick Goodman wrote, "He Keeps Lifting", and of course Johnny guests on the song with us. Amy has written a few, Amy and Rebecca Peck combined on one, and Amy, Chris and Rebecca combined on another. Daryl Williams gave us a great original song that we loved. We also did a couple of older song that I remember singing in Church when I was growing up.
Donna Beauvais is the vocal producer and she is fantastic. Zane King and Steve Allen have been tremendous as producers. It's going to be different from what we've done in the past, be we are really pleased with the way it's coming along.
Chris: Donna has taken our old arrangements and improved on them so much. I mean, we're recording a couple songs on this album that we've been singing for probably 3 or 4 years now, and she has totally dissected them and put them back together and made them sound so much better. The harmonies are tighter, the arrangements are more up to date, and we just sound better as a whole.
My favorite cuts are the one's that I'm featured on! (laughing) No seriously - we don't ever stick someone on a song that they don't LOVE - because we feel that it's important for us to really feel what we are singing. If more than one of us is in love with a song, we share - like Dad and I share the Carlton Pearson cut "I Know the Lord Will Make a Way". We both love the song, so we both have a part in it.
Amy, you are the primary songwriter for the group. Tell me how you came to write some of the songs on the new CD.
Amy: I wish I could sit and tell you some elaborate story as to how the songs came about. There really isn't one.
The song "Amazing" actually came from Chris. I like to joke with him about it because I think I only wrote one line in the entire song. The rest was Rebecca Peck and Chris.
On "Lift Up Your Eyes," I got the idea from the scripture in Luke where Jesus is telling of all the signs of Christ's return. There are about 12 versus of destruction and earthquakes and wars but towards the end, he points out "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." I just couldn't get that out of my head. I took it to Rebecca Peck and she helped me put in the song what I felt in my spirit.
The others that I wrote on my own, "Big God" and "Ain't No Mountain" are story songs. I love story songs, which is probably evident in my songwriting. But I believe people relate to story songs.
There is no elaborate story as I stated before. Just a word or a phrase that I've read or heard a preacher or a teacher say triggers the thought. I can only pray for the rest. The only time I write is when God gives it to me. That may sound corny, but I can't do it on my own for sure. I still have a hard time considering myself a songwriter. Although I've been writing for a few years now, I still feel that songwriting is quite new to me and I'm still learning so much about the craft.
What are your goals as a group…what do you hope to accomplish through your music?
Deon: It's really pretty simple…we just want to sing. Our goals are to reach as many people and sing in as many places as we possibly can before the Lord comes back.
Chris: You know, we as Sunday Edition have never really considered ourselves an evangelistic outfit. We love groups that have that focus and believe in them and support them so much. I think for years that our ministry was toward edifying the believers, but we've never failed to offer the chance for a salvation experience when the venue calls for it. We will always be about that as well. But as God positions us he also is planting the seed in our hearts to be more evangelistic in nature. That's not to say that we are going to be the next Billy Graham, but that God's call on our group shifts all the time. Who knows what He'll be having us do 10 years down the road?
How are you going about achieving those goals?
Deon: We are plugging in to everything that we can and singing everywhere that we can. Southern Spin Entertainment has been a huge asset getting our name out to the public and the church world. No one is ever an overnight success. It's always years of grinding out those connections and networking.
Chris: People always ask us why we (Southern Spin) don't do for Sunday Edition what we do for our other artists. The answer is simple: the timing just wasn't right, but that's not to say we haven't had a plan.
I really believe that God wanted us to establish ourselves as leaders in the industry through our respective businesses (Dad through SGN, and us through SSE). Now that we have established ourselves and gained good reputations, he's ready for us to go down another path while still being faithful to what he placed in our laps several years ago. Sunday Edition is on a strict promotional path right now. We're tackling radio right now, and then we'll hit some other things later.
What do you see up the road for the group?
Deon: Gaither videos, singing at the White House, singing on the Opry and anything else we can dream of. (laughing) We serve a great big God that is capable of taking us places that we can't even imagine, so I'm not going to limit Him. The Sunday Edition is on a constant pace of moving up, and we are planning to be around for a long time. We have even officially become The Sunday Edition, Inc, so we can expand into several different areas to help the ministry.
Chris: Sunday Edition will keep singing and recording for years to come whether or not we ever go full time or have a #1 hit or are on the cover of Singing News Magazine or sing on a Gaither Homecoming. Would those things be nice? You bet! But we just love to sing, and we're gonna do that whether or not God makes us a household name or not. Sunday Edition has big and lofty dreams just like every other group. We're going to stay faithful regardless of whether or not those actual dreams come to pass. As for the immediate future, we're talking about possibly going in right after Absolutely Free is finished and recording a six song Christmas project - but that is still very much up in the air right now.
So Deon, ending on a light note, what's it like being the old man in the group traveling with 2 young'uns?
Deon: OLD? What do you mean old? I'm only 29. (laughing) It's always special to travel and sing with your kids. It's special times when we are on stage, it's special times when we are arguing at practice and it's special times when the kids are in the back of the van complaining about my driving. They are trying to keep me young, and so far, everyone says that I still look young, so they must be doing something right. It's kind of nice, because I'm the boss by sheer seniority, so they can't fire me. Besides I own the transportation, the sound system and all the food we eat on the road. They need me and it's nice to be needed.
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Find out more about The Sunday Edition and their new recording Absolutely Free on their website, http://www.sundayedition.net
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[17] Comments
Thanks for all your kind comments everyone! We are so stinkin' excited about this new album. Our new single, "Call On Jesus" - written by Rebecca J. Peck - is being shipped to radio the first of July with Rhonda Thompson Promotions. We can't wait for everyone to hear it!
Chris said: Plus, I'm excited about it because it's the first single that we have released that features me. 
GREAT new picture as well! May God continue to bless Sunday Edition! We look forward to hearing this new project! I am sure it will be WORTH THE WAIT! 
Written: 06/01/2006 
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