Crossroads Music Co-Founder Mickey Gamble Passes

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Mickey Gamble

Crossroads Music Co-Founder and leader Mickey Gamble has passed away.

Under Gamble’s leadership, Crossroads and its associated labels, Horizon Records, Sonlite Records, Mountain Home Music Company and Organic Records, grew from beginnings as an acclaimed Asheville recording operation (Hear Here! Studios) and a Southern Gospel label (Horizon Music Group) to become one of bluegrass and Southern Gospel music’s preeminent issuers.

With a roster that has ranged from traditional Gospel quartets and bluegrass bands through contemporary masters and innovative new groups, Crossroads reflects Gamble’s vision of a larger musical family, rooted in his beloved western North Carolina home. His tireless advocacy for professionalism, his insistence on sound, honest business practices, relentless drive to be informed about, to understand and adapt to developments in the recording industry, and unbounded enthusiasm for the music being made by Crossroads artists earned him the respect, admiration and affection of those with whom he worked to a degree that is rare in any field.

Gamble was a recipient of the Southern Gospel Music Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Distinguished Achievement Award in 2019.

“My dad loved music – and its makers – more than anyone else I’ve ever encountered,” says Gamble’s daughter Francesca Dooris. “He was a champion of the arts, of many other forms in addition to music, because of each unique human being behind the creation of a piece. The ubiquitous theme from everyone I’ve spoken with during this time is that he saw the distinctive set of characteristics a person had to give to the world, and pushed him or her to trust that part of themselves relentlessly. He believed in the gift that was the essence of a person, even if they couldn’t see it or hadn’t developed it.

“The music community was truly family to my dad, and he loved each of you in a completely one-of-a-kind way,” she continues. “If he could say one thing to everyone now, it would be that the music must go on. Keep writing. Keep creating. Keep being you and making your art, whatever form it takes.”

No arrangements have been announced at this time.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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