I watched this yesterday -- it was broadcast Sunday morning at 11:00am PST, so I DVR'd it.  This was the 2008 competition, and they featured 5 of the 8 finalist choirs, showing some behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsals, and a little of the performances of each.  You can watch videos of the complete performances on the website:  http://www.howsweetthesound.com/

 

The deadline for entries for the 2009 contest is June 15.

 

It really should be renamed "Best Gospel Choir in America" -- only one of the finalists (I believe it was the choir from Mt. Vernon, NY) even mentioned singing other styles, but THIS competition was all about Gospel, and contemporary Gospel at that (accompanied, rock and roll, piano, guitars, bass, drums, etc.).  The judges were both song writers and performers who made their careers on that style.  

 

And it's "The Best Church Choir in America" within some fairly restrictive parameters:

 

Contestant churches must perform a song from the approved song list:  http://www.howsweetthesound.com/contest/songlist  for their audition video.  At each round of the competition, choirs are limited to singing songs from this list ONLY.

 

The contest is open ONLY to churches that have a mailing address with a zip code from list of allowable zip codes: "The Choir’s Religious Organization must have a mailing address with a zip code that is within a Region (as set forth in Appendix 1) or that is in a geographic area in close proximity to a Region, as determined by Verizon Wireless in its sole discretion;" -- and the list includes ONLY the following cities/metro areas:  New York metro area, Philadelphia, Washington DC metro area, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Oakland (CA), St. Louis, and Memphis.  I suppose one could quibble about "close proximity," but I'll bet that Boise, ID would not be considered close enough to Oakland, CA to qualify.

 

In other words, even if Seattle had a first-rate full-out Gospel choir (and I'm not saying they don't, but I don't know of one), they could not compete because the zip code isn't in the qualifying list and they're not close enough to a regional site.

 

It's sponsored by Verizon, so I guess they can define it any way they want.  But there's no way a traditional church choir, no matter how good they are, could ever compete.  That just isn't what this show is about.

 

That said, I enjoyed the music for the most part.  The group that won (Acme Missionary Baptist from Chicago) was very good -- excellent clean diction, precise rhythm, etc.  A little over the top w/r/t/ histrionics, but then that IS, or seems to be, part of the style, and they did it very well in an "over the top" sort of way.
 

Lana Mountford

Bellingham, WA