A formatted version of this interview is here. A plain text version is below.

DJM: I know many people have heard the story of how you became involved in Southern Gospel music, but for those who haven’t, could you start by saying what got you interested in Southern Gospel, as briefly or in depth as want?

Mark: I’m the youngest of four Baptist preacher’s kids. When I was a little boy, my dad would have regional groups from around the Little Rock, Arkansas area come in and sing for us during homecoming and things like that. And I just fell in love with this music.

By the time I was eight years old, I guess, I was going to the Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock, Arkansas, about once every six months, to hear groups like the Happy Goodman Family, the Florida Boys, and the Dixie Echoes.

When I got a little older, the Inspirations came to town. Mike Holcomb and I were just talking this week about the fact that the first time I met him was in 1972. He had just gone to the Inspirations. My dad was sponsoring a thirty minute radio program on Saturday mornings for nothing but Inspirations music at that time. So I got to meet Mike, and that was 1972. So this many years later, here we are. I don’t think neither he nor I realized that it had been thirty-seven years, but it has.

So I grew up in and around this industry. I sang in regional groups for a couple of years.

DJM: Which groups were they?

Mark: The New Horizons, the Masters Quartet (out of Little Rock), and the Arkansas Boys. The Arkansas Boys was comprised of myself, my brother Jerry (who sang with the Florida Boys just after that), and Vaughn Thacker. That was the original bunch.

Then I went from that to the Senators, when I was 15.

DJM: Now were you singing with these groups, playing bass guitar, or both?

Mark: Singing. Actually, with New Horizons, I played the bass. I sang with the Masters Quartet. I played the bass and sang in the Arkansas Boys. Those were the groups I was affiliated with around home, before going on the road.

‘Course, I took a Continental Trailways bus back and forth from Memphis to Little Rock every weekend, when I joined the Senators. We would be out every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The short version of the long story is that I literally continued going to school every Monday through Thursday. Thursday night or Friday morning, I’d catch a bus to Memphis. I’d get on the Senators’ group bus, and we’d get out of town.

DJM: Now were you singing or playing bass for the Senators?

Mark: I sang for the Senators.

DJM: Baritone?

Mark: I sang lead, actually, with the Senators.

DJM: Did you sing baritone with the other local groups, or did you sing lead as well?

Mark: I sang baritone with the Masters and with the Arkansas Boys.

DJM: The Senators—was this the same group Coy Cook started?

Mark: Actually, this was just after Coy sold the group to Ray Shelton. And Ray is who I worked for. Ray kept it—in fact, he still owns that name, I’m sure.

Tim Shelby was the tenor singer; Ray sang baritone, I sang lead, and Rick Fair sang bass.

DJM: Really? The same who was with Palmetto State some years later.

Mark: Yes.

And Vaughn Thacker played the piano for them.

DJM: Did you do any recordings for them?

Mark: I did one called Stand By Me. And by that time, Big Jim Hamill had come into the picture, and I went to play guitar and singing, both.

Big Jim had left the Kingsmen. Foxy and Jim are in Heaven now, so we can tell the real story, because it’s actually funny. Big Jim had got mad because they weren’t taking vacation one summer. So Foxy said, “Go take one!”

And he said, “I think I will.”

And he just stayed gone for about a year before he went to the Kingsmen.

DJM: When Squire was with them?

Mark: Squire was still there. I think they did one or two albums without Big Jim.

DJM: Just in Time, I think?

Mark: Yes. That’s got Parrack, Parsons, Ray Dean, Foxy, and Nick Bruno.

Of course, I went from the Senators back to finish my senior year in high school. During my senior year, I would travel frequently with the Florida Boys. I wound up playing bass with the Florida Boys when I was on trips with them, when Les found out that I could, and it gave him a break. Many years later, I’m really grateful that he let me do that.

In fact, the first time I was on the Gospel Singing Jubilee, I was playing bass for the Florida Boys. During Thanksgiving break, I had a week off, and I went up there to be with my brother, who was still singing tenor for them at the time. I wound up having the opportunity to be on the Gospel Singing Jubilee. So that was a big thing for me, back in those days.

DJM: So did you just fill in here and there, or were you regularly with them for a while?

Mark: No, I just hung out with them, and I’d ride the bus periodically. But that was a lot of fun.

DJM: So you had already gotten to know Big Jim Hamill during your Senators days. Was that the connection that brought you on board the Kingsmen bus?

Mark: Oddly enough, no.

DJM: Really!

Mark: Jim McCauley left, just prior to my getting married in 1978. Someone had told Foxy that the year prior to that, I’d been playing bass for the Florida Boys when I had time to be off.

We saw the Kingsmen in Little Rock. I went up to Foxy, and I told him, “I understand Mac’s left.”

He said, “Yeah.”

And he said, “Are you Jerry’s little brother?”

I said, “Yes, sir.”

He said, “Hmm. Somebody told about you. Are you interested in the job.”

I said, “Well, yes, sir.”

So I went to work for the Kingsmen about a month later.

DJM: So were you hired on the spot, or did he try you out?

Mark: No, actually he hired me on the spot. Big Jim wondered why he did, because I didn’t know the keys to everything they did, and I guess Big Jim thought I needed to, two weeks later.

I went home and practiced with the albums, and I knew most of everything. But when you worked for Big Jim, you had to be ready to whatever he said on the spur of the moment. If it was a song that they had done twenty years ago, it didn’t matter that you were brand new, you should know it.

DJM: So how long were you with the Kingsmen?

Mark: I was there for two years before I went with the Cathedrals. It was ‘78 to July of ‘80.

DJM: Had you just sung enough on stage that the Cathedrals heard you and offered you a full-time singing position?

Mark: Yes, because when I went to the Kingsmen, Big Jim put me to work doing both. I went there to play, but he also had me singing his high notes on the end of songs. Gary Dillard was playing steel back then; once in a while, he’d bring us up and we’d sing a song with Ray and Ernie.

A lot of nights, if he was tired, he’d have me come up. We called Gary “Beaver”; I’d give Beaver my bass guitar and go up and sing Big Jim’s part.

So it literally was boot camp for me, to be involved in the Kingsmen, and to get me situated where I could do what I do now. And in 35 years of doing this, now, I look back and I see some of the elements of what Big Jim was trying to do—even in his crude way of doing it—were very beneficial, because it prepared me to be able to do what we’re doing now. So it’s kind of a funny circle that it has all made.

DJM: Right now, I’m forgetting the year Ernie Phillips joined the Kingsmen. Did you overlap with Johnny Parrack?

Mark: No, Ernie was there when I went there. He had been there for about a year. I think ‘77 is when Ernie went there.

DJM: So you just missed being able to say that you had performed with both the Parrack father and son, and the Phillips father and son. [Johnny and Jay Parrack, and Ernie and Eric Phillips.]

Mark: Just did miss it, yes.

DJM: That would have been something, though!

Mark: Oh yes, absolutely.

DJM: So you joined the Cathedrals in July of 1980, and you were with them for about eleven years?

Mark: Yes. Almost eleven years.

DJM: Now here is another part of your story that many have heard, but I’m sure some have not. It was about the middle of your time with the Cathedrals that you came to know the Lord, is that correct?

Mark: 1988, actually. July 13, 1988.

DJM: Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Mark: April of 1988, we were at a Starlight Crusade in Spartanburg, South Carolina. And I had really gotten interested in a lot of the taped messages from Dr. Bailey Smith, who was doing all of the Starlight Crusades at that point.

Jim Murray of the Imperials became a very good friend of mine. We played golf together, and things like that. Jim had been saved, I think, a year and a half or two years prior to that, after hearing a message called “Wheat or Tares?” that Dr. Smith preached.

The night that we did that Starlight Crusade in April of ‘88, Dr. Smith preached a message called “God Will Burn Your Barley Fields.” The next night, we were with them again, and that night, the message was entitled, “What happens when God says ‘Enough.’” That was pertaining to the sin unto death—entertaining the idea that even a child of God can do things that are so reprehensible to God and against His will that God will take us out before our time, to keep one of His children from bringing reproach upon him.

I could not imagine doing that. What could I do that would be so horrible that God would take me before my time? How could a merciful God do that? And it really provoked thought.

That night, after it was over, Jim Murray came to me, and he said, “Wow, what a powerful message!”

And I said, “Yes, very thought-provoking, and alarming, as a matter of fact.”

And when I said it was alarming, he just kind of smiled, and said, “Have you heard his ‘Wheat or Tares’ message?”

I said, “No, I haven’t.”

He said, “I’m gonna go and get a cassette, and I’ll meet you at your tape table.”

So I went on over to the table, where the rest of the Cathedrals were. Jim came by in a few minutes and brought me this cassette. That night, I drove from Spartanburg to Atlanta, because our driver had been up all night the nigh before, and I listened to that message.

I didn’t realize it, but I had fallen under the grips of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I understood, from that point forward until July 13, a level of misery that I had never understood before. I was with the #1 Quartet for America. I wanted for nothing. I had won awards, not only with the group, but baritone awards, producing awards, things like that. I literally had everything I wanted in life, but I was miserable.

The more I thought about it, the more I turned in to myself, and I didn’t talk to anybody for a while. I didn’t like anybody. I remember being at First Baptist Atlanta, Georgia, and hearing Dr. Stanley preach a wonderful message on the walk of faith. I didn’t like him after that day—I decided, “I don’t even like that guy!”

I didn’t understand what was going on until July the 13th, and then it hit me: I know what’s wrong with me.

So I just asked the Lord, plainly, that I’m gonna put this fleece out, just like Gideon. It’s a poor excuse for having faith in God, but I had to do it. And my fleece was: “Lord, if you’re telling me that I’m lost, please let me play golf with that preacher.”

The preacher was Tom Elliff. Dr. Elliff was, by that time, pastor at First Baptist Church in Dell City, Oklahoma, and that’s where the Cathedrals were singing, in the Starlight Crusade for that area. Dr. Smith was not there for that crusade; Paul Jackson from Little Rock preached on Sunday night. Then on Monday night, Dr. Elliff preached the message, “Build an Ark and Save Your Home.” The first point of that message was: Before you can do anything for the world, for your community, and even for your family, you had to settle one question, and that question is the question of your salvation. Are you truly saved? Do you know the difference between religion and relationship?

Man, it hit me like a ton of bricks: I’m list.

That was on Monday night. Monday night, I didn’t sleep till about 5:00 in the morning. After wrestling with myself, I said a very simple prayer: “Lord, if you’re telling me that I’m lost, let me play golf with that preacher tomorrow.”

Dr. Elliff was the last guy to the golf course out of sixteen people that were to play golf. And I’ll never forget it: When he drove up, it was just like God said, “Hey, you asked for this, and you got it. Now what are you going to do?”

So after the third tee off on the Willow Creek Golf Course, I got on my knees alongside Dr. Elliff, and prayed, and asked the Lord to save me, and He did. And it was the most revolutionary thing that has ever happened in my life—I’ve never been so free as I was that day.

DJM: What do you think now, looking back on your recordings prior to being saved? Do you view them differently, or do you think the message of the songs still rings true, even though you were just talking the talk at that point?

Mark: The big thing was, I had walked the aisle, I had filled out the card, and I had said a prayer with my lips that I really didn’t mean anything of with my heart. And that’s where the difference is made.

But I wrestled with that.

A few weeks later, we went on an Alaska cruise with Dr. Stanley. We were on the back of the ship, getting ready to leave port in Vancouver, B.C., and I found him back there, just resting. I said, “Dr. Stanley, please forgive me for bothering you. Can I ask you a quick question?”

He said: “Sure!”

I said: “I was just saved.”

He said, “I heard.” And he smiled.

I said, “I’ve been religious all of my life, and it puzzles me that God would use me in these areas, all this time in my life. I knew all about Him, but I didn’t really know Him. I didn’t know Jesus as Savior. I knew all about the experience, and I knew all about the process. I’ve led people in the sinner’s prayer! Does that mean they’re not saved?”

He looked at me and said, “No, no, no. Remember that God used a donkey one day to preach.”

It reminds all of us that if God will use a donkey, we’re not so much! He’ll use whatever He has to use to get His message and His point across to humanity.

He said, “So what you did, if you led people to Jesus, and in their heart they genuinely believed that the Lord saved them from their sin, just be reminded that we’re all just a vessel. Nothing more, nothing less.”

And that gave me the freedom that I needed to be able to understand where I had come from, and what God had done in my life.

But I will tell you this, Daniel: The night after I was saved, we went back to the Starlight Crusade that evening. When we walked in the doors, I heard the choir singing “So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross / And exchange it someday for a crown.” And there is a world of difference in hearing that with lost ears and hearing it with saved years. It touched my heart like it had never been touched before. The reason why is because the Holy Spirit of God, living inside of me, woke me up. It did something to me. Hey, I’m a Southern Baptist. I’d never felt that way in my life!

But literally, when I walked in there and heard it, I was overcome with emotion. I could not help but stand there and just weep for joy. I’d been singing that song all my life, but now I know what means for the first time!

That changed me.

DJM: So the next major change in your life, then, would be starting Greater Vision with Gerald Wolfe.

Mark: Yes. That was 1988, and then a year and a half later is when Gerald and I started Greater Vision.

In fact, I called him in September or October of that year, in 1990—after convention, I guess it was. God had been dealing with me about this. Gerald had left and gone into full-time solo work. The Daywind people—actually, it was Riversong, who Norman Holland was with at the time, and he’s involved in Daywind now, so I always get it mixed up—but the Riversong folks were talking to Gerald at the time about the possibility of forming a trio. Gerald had told me to help him pray about it, because he didn’t know what to do, or if he even wanted to something like that.

So I called him and told him, “You know, God’s been dealing with me about something.” And I said, “I’m tired of wrestling with it, and I’m gonna put it to rest.”

He said “What?”

I said, “You’ve been thinking about starting a trio.”

He said, “Yeah.”

I said, “You’ll never do it unless I move to Morristown. You’re too big of a chicken.”

And he just laughed—chuckled, you know. He said, “Ah, but first of all, you won’t do it, so I don’t have to worry about that.”

I said, “Don’t tempt me.”

He said, “Are you unhappy there?”

I said, “Oh, no, no. By no means! I live three doors up from George Younce. What more of a dream can you have?” I said, “But I am beginning to understand that my time here is about over.”

When I told George and Glen, we were all grieved, because they both told me, “We really want you to pray about this. We don’t want you to go. We really want you to stay right here, where you are.”

And I told them, “It’s not about what I want.”

And God began to put things in order. He sold my house in seven hours after it went on the market. He began to put things in order that made me understand, “This is what I want you to do.”

It was a very educational process for Gerald and I to start Greater Vision. I loved Gerald literally like a brother. I have three brothers, and I’m literally every bit as close to Gerald Wolfe in my heart. Another man that’s not my relative, but I’m every bit as close to him in my heart as my brothers. That’s how God linked us up.

Gerald was a wonderful, wonderful testimony, an example in my life, during those days of conviction. Because Gerald was with us when I was saved, on the golf course, and he literally wept when we got back from the golf course that day. He sat and just wept, hugged my neck, and … it was a bond that was formed there that’s still strong today.

December 17, 1990 is when I actually loaded up my truck and moved to Morristown, Tennessee. And by New Year’s Eve, we were singing!

DJM: After feeling the leading of God to start the group, what led you to join Gold City a couple of years later?

Mark: Three years later, Gerald and I were in the midst of a growth process. It was one of those things where you just knew, “Okay, I’m here for a season,” and again, God challenged me.

I argued with God the first time that I realized he was challenging me in two areas. The first area was the area of evangelism. I thought, “God, the last thing I want to do is preach.”

I told my dad when I was 16, after watching him go through a church split, that the last thing I ever wanted to do was be involved in that kind of life, and that kind of ministry. Because I saw what it did to my mom and dad. It aged them. It broke my mom and dad—it literally broke his heart to go through that process.

But God wouldn’t have it any other way. He wouldn’t leave me alone about it.

So in October of 1993, I surrendered to preach on the Isle of Patmos.

DJM: I’ve heard of that, but hadn’t know when it was. So were you on a cruise?

Mark: We were on a Journeys of Paul trip with Greater Vision, with Dr. Charles Stanley. We went to the Isle of Patmos, and I went to the cave where they say John wrote the book of Revelation.

I was standing in that cave, and it was as if the Holy Spirit of God said, “I had something special for you to do. You can do it and be at peace, or you can fight. What do you want to do?” And it was literally that clear to me!

On the way home, we got on the plane in Zurich, Switzerland. I went to the restroom, came back and sat with my wife on the plane before it took off. We were heading back into the states from Zurich.

I began to weep, and I told my wife, “Things are gonna be different when we get home!”

She said, “What are you talking about?”

I said, “They’re just gonna be different,” and I began to just cry.

And she said, “So, does this mean we get to move again?”

And that’s all she said. God had prepared her for it. I said, “But what if we do?”

She said, “If you know you’re following God, I’ll go.”

When we got home, I didn’t know what was going on. But I had a phone call from my old buddy Tim Riley. Of course, Tim and I had sung in the Southmen for a few months, after I got out of high school, right before I went with the Kingsmen.

DJM: Did you make any recordings with them?

Mark: We’re All Going Home in the Morning was the only one I was on. He was on that one as well.

Tim had called me and just asked me to keep my eyes open for a lead singer and a tenor, because Ivan and Brian were leaving. So I started thinking about it.

Well, I had sixteen messages on my answering machine, and before I got to the end of it, he had called back, and said, “Never mind, I’m looking for a baritone singer. I’ve found a tenor singer, and my baritone singer’s going to the lead part.”

I just looked at my wife. She said, “So you’ve surrendered to preach in the area of evangelism, not pastoring a church. Greater Vision sings every Sunday. What are you gonna do?”

I smiled and said, “Well, it looks like I’m gonna call Tim Riley!”

Because Gold City at that point didn’t sing very much on Sunday.

DJM: So singing on Sundays was a big part of the reason you moved to Gold City.

Mark: That evolved from me being able to begin preaching and continue to sing—that’s the talent that God has given me—into me being able to start this, eight and a half years later.

It was just a wonderful experience for me. And if you look back on it, I never talked on the platform until I went with Gold City. Ever. And I had nine years to warm up to being able to do that.

Of course, I was able to do more preaching through those years. But then we wound up getting busier and busier and busier, and I wound up the last two years, not doing much preaching at all. No revivals, just doing a Sunday night thing once in a while.

And then at the end of that process, it was like God reminded me what He had called me to. And I thought, “You know, I’m not going somewhere else to do this. If I’m gonna keep doing this, I need to be able to set my own schedule, my own pace. I need to be able to book meetings, because evidently that’s what God wants me to be involved with the most. And if I do that, then He’ll bless the other side of the ministry.”

And that’s exactly what He’s done. I’m convinced in my heart that if I just quit preaching, then the singing side of our ministry would fly right into the side of a mountain and be over with.

But as God opens those doors, we continue to go through them. We’ve been privileged to see over 250 people say yes to the saving knowledge of Jesus since that time. And it’s invaluable to be able be able to continue to do that work.

In fact, at the end of this month, I’m going to go to Burlington, North Carolina for a four-day meeting. And of course, I spoke here at the National Quartet Convention. This is my second year to be involved here with the Bible Study and speaking in those arenas, and God just keeps opening the doors.

DJM: Anything you’d like to say about the current project?

Mark: Always Have a Song, or Vintage Gospel?

DJM: Well, maybe both, since Always Have a Song is your most recent project of new songs.

Mark: Always Have a Song is dear to my heart, if for no other reason than Loving the Lamb, which Kyla Rowland wrote. It’s the biggest song we’ve had to date. It went to #4 in the charts. It’s one of the top 10 songs for 2009. And I’m in shock, because it’s not one of those radio candy-type songs. It’s not upbeat—it’s not 2 ½ minutes long, it’s five minutes long, and it’s in your face with a powerful, positive message. And it just blows my mind how God’s working in that kind of thing. But that song, and that project, is dynamic.

Of course, the Vintage Gospel project—I love that project. I guess the big reason why is that there are parts of my life in the past which are involved in that project. “Standing on the Rock,” which my brother sang—recorded first with the Florida Boys. We sang it on there.

“Hold Me,” a song that George did in 1988, right after I was saved, the next recording that we did.

Things like that that are dear to me. “While All Ages Roll”—Mosie Lister’s one of my all-time favorite writers. And I got to hear the story of that song—the fact that Mosie has a speech problem. I didn’t know that he stuttered when he got nervous.

When he told me about the story, he told me that it was written about him. In the first verse is “Someday this stammering tongue will falter no more.” And—boom!—it hit me: He had been writing about him! But what he was going to about when he got out of this fleshly temple, and into a Heavenly body. And man, it hit home to me!

DJM: So did you arrange that as a bass solo?

Mark: No, all I did was invert the harmony, where I took the lead on the lower end, and built the harmony around that.

DJM: And people can get in touch with your ministry at…

Mark: www.marktrammellministries.com. Office number is 256-442-1621.

DJM: Thank you very much!

Mark: Thank you.

A formatted version is here.

DJM: Even though I know you tell your story in more detail on your Personal DVD, could you briefly tell us how you first became interested in playing the piano?

Kim: Actually, I didn’t start out with any ambitions to play the piano or take piano lessons. On a Sunday night, when I was three years old, I was in church, sitting in the front row, and my daddy preached a message on the gift of wisdom that God gave Solomon.

People say you can’t remember that far back, and I don’t remember a lot of the details—but I do remember what the message was about. He said that God gave Solomon a gift of wisdom because he asked for it.

Somehow, that made an impression on my little mind. I went home and put my PJ’s on—I can take you to the spot—in fact, we showed the spot on the DVD—where I got down and begged the Lord for a gift. The only thing I remember after that is getting in bed and thinking, “I can’t wait to see what I’m gonna be when I wake up in the morning!”

I never dreamed that it would be music. I didn’t have any interest in music that I remember, up to that point. (Of course, I was really too little to remember much of anything.) My mother can probably tell my story better, with the age and time of when I began to play, but it was very shortly after that that I began to play the piano. And that was apparently the gift that I was given!

DJM: And you started playing for church a couple of years after that?

Kim: Actually, I was about seven when I started playing for church. My mother was the pianist, and the church organist resigned his position, so my mother moved to the organ and put me on piano. And that was my beginning in church music!

DJM: Off the wall: Do you know how to play organ as well?

Kim: Yes—I love to play the organ! I play for a lot of weddings, and enjoy it!

DJM: Do you play pipe organ, with the pedals and all?

Kim: Yes! I don’t necessarily understand everything about the pipe organ and wouldn’t be considered a pro, but I certainly love to play it.

DJM: That’s neat! Now I noticed in the behind the scenes on another DVD that you made a couple of piano recordings?

Kim: I did.

DJM: How old were you when you did those, and what were the names of those recordings?

Kim: Ah, let’s see. I did three. I was thirteen for the first one, fourteen for the second one, and fifteen for the third one. They were called Kimberly Keaton at the Keyboard Number 1, Number 2, and Number 3. It was pretty simple!

DJM: Hymns?

Kim: A mixture.

DJM: Okay. What else did you include?

Kim: Oh, I loved Floyd Cramer’s style, and while I didn’t play his songs much, I would take “Farther Along,” “The Old Country Church” or some similar song, and kind of adapt it to his style. I always enjoyed doing that.

DJM: So you didn’t do any recordings after that for a number of years, till you were with Phil?

Kim: That is correct. Actually, I did play for a couple of college groups when I was in junior high and high school, and they made some recordings that I accompanied on.

DJM: On the recording, or just in the live concerts?

Kim: No, actually, on the recording.

DJM: If you remember, what college groups were you with?

Kim: It was a quartet and a mixed group from Union Bible College. This particular college also had an academy and a high school, and I was a student in their academy. I was in the seventh and eighth grades when I started playing for their groups.

DJM: So then, you met Phil in the mid-80s and got married in 1985?

Kim: Actually in 1986. When I met Phil, I was 14. I had just come out of the eighth grade, and he was going into his freshman year of college!

Phil attended a college in Cincinnati called God’s Bible School and College. His sister, Connie Hilligoss, was the high school choral conductor at the school I attended, and before Phil started college that fall, he came to visit her. She promptly said to him, “I have three girls I want you to meet.” I was the third one he met, and we just clicked.

DJM: So right before you got married in 1986, I understand you began performing together?

Kim: Yes. About six weeks before we got married, we sang for a camp meeting at Lower Lights Camp Meeting in Petersburg, Michigan. That was our first debut as a couple!

DJM: Then you did camp meetings together for the next ten or fifteen years?

Kim: For thirteen years. We did revivals during the spring and the fall, and we’d do anywhere from about eight to ten camp meetings in the summer.

DJM: So what led your family to decide to branch out into doing more concerts, other than just camp meetings?

Kim: Well, I’ll be perfectly honest, God led us in this journey, and I’m very serious about that.

The music that you do for camp meetings and revivals would be completely different from what we do for concerts. By that I mean that you would sing maybe two or three songs a night. You would sing one right after the congregational singing. Then they would have prayer and an offering, which we would play offertory for. Then we would always sing one right before the evangelist or pastor got up to preach.

We loved music deeply. And it was becoming less and less fulfilling to us to just fill that role every night, doing two songs. And the logistics of traveling with small children and staying in people’s homes…I mean, Tuesday through Sunday, we lived in someone else’s home. We’d have Monday night off and hit it again that following Tuesday.

DJM: One day off?

Kim: One day off. And then we’d do Tuesday through Sunday, Monday off, Tuesday through Sunday, Monday off.

I don’t know that we can really say that we just decided to change, but the Lord decided to change us and move us in another direction.

DJM: So was it gradual, or was it more of a sudden shift?

Kim: Here’s the deal. At Christmas time, they usually don’t have revivals or camp meetings, so we were basically without a job. Once our kids came along—Brooklyn, I believe, was four or five, and Courtney was about three—we put together a series of songs about Christmas, and fun songs about the holidays. If I remember correctly, we got about two invitations to come to two different churches and sing on a Sunday night. So we did a grand total of two Christmas concerts that year.

We enjoyed doing it very much, and the kids loved it. One thing led to another, and the next Christmas, we got more invitations. Well, we did that for three or four years, maybe. At the end of the third or fourth year, we had quite a little repertoire of Christmas concert music, mixed with instrumentals. The kids would recite Scripture and dress up in costumes—it was really something! It was sweet, more than anything!

DJM: Do any videotapes exist?

Kim: Yes! I have videotapes of this. They are priceless to me, because of the children.

But anyway, through that, by the end of the thirteenth year of doing singing revivals, we started getting calls with this question: “Do you ever do concerts other than at Christmas time?”

And the answer was, “Well, not really.”

That question led us from one thing, to the next, to the next. And the Lord began to close some doors, and open other doors for this concert ministry. Invitations started coming in, and it became very clear that God was leading us in another direction. And that’s how we got here!

DJM: So when you were doing those two or three songs, did those ever include piano solos, or did you really not do many piano solos during those years?

Kim: Never.

Let me take that back—almost never. And let me tell you why: For every offertory, Phil always played his trumpet. Phil has a degree in trumpet performance and it just seemed like the thing for him to do, and I always just accompanied him. I enjoyed that role.

DJM: Hmm!

Kim. Always—for every offertory. We had six or ten arrangements of trumpet music. We would sing the first song, he would play the offertory, and we would sing the last song before the evangelist got up.

I didn’t have a desire in the world to do solos!

DJM: So why did you start?

Kim: You can thank my husband for that. (laughs)

I had made those previous recordings, and always played when I was playing for the other groups. But I kind of like to take the back seat, and I enjoyed myself. I was raising my kids, and I didn’t have to worry about anything like that.

But when we started doing the concerts, Phil started saying, “Why don’t you play ‘O Holy Night’?” or “Why don’t you play this or that?”

And it just grew out of that. I don’t really know how to describe it. It just sort of happened. The people seemed to like it. The people seemed to receive it well and were very responsive and gracious.

DJM: So was “How Great Thou Art” a turning point for you, in getting full orchestration on a track?

Kim: Really, to be honest, there was another song before “How Great Thou Art.” It was “Amazing Grace.” I leased a track—or bought, I believe it was, a demo—this was way back before we were doing orchestrations.

Phil asked me to play that. I played it for a banquet, and I worked and worked around the orchestra, and created piano parts, and arranged it, and I made it the best I could.

That, probably, was the turning point, right there, now that I think about it. I guess we’ve never really just sat down and thought about this stuff. It just happened!

Phil is of the philosophy, in anything we do—if the children would sing, and it was received very well, well, then, that’s something that works. Let’s build on that. That’s kind of the way he has always operated.

But once we did “Amazing Grace,” and the response was positive, he kept asking me to play. Then “How Great Thou Art” was second.

DJM: Did you ever record that rendition of Amazing Grace?

Kim: I did. It’s on Silver and Ivory.

DJM: Then you did “How Great Thou Art,” then “It is Well”…

Kim: Before that, I did “Salute to the Troops.”

And, of course, we did stuff like “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.” And, to be perfectly honest, I really stressed over that. That was at the beginning of the ten years—you know, we’ve been doing this for ten years—and, when we were getting ready to arrange Silver and Ivory, Phil said, “I want you to arrange a piece of music for “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

I was like: “Oh, do I have to?”

He was like, “I really want you to do it. I think you’d come up with something really cool on a song like that.”

So we were at North Vernon Church of the Nazarene in Indiana. We sang there that morning, and were scheduled there that evening, also. In between concerts, I went into the church sanctuary, sat there, and arranged “Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho.”

Probably, of all the fast music I have ever played, that one is still the most requested. I don’t know why. This very weekend, it’s been requested both Friday and Saturday nights.

DJM: Do you play much classical music, or was the “Hallelujah Chorus” more of a departure for you?

Kim: No, I don’t play much classical music, but I have always, ever since I was a child, had a great appreciation for it. I was one of those kids that geekish—is that a word?

DJM: I’m not sure!

Kim: Well, let me put it this way: When you came over to our house, it was not uncommon to find me on the floor in a corner somewhere with a pair of headphones in my ears, and holding a little cassette player. I would have cassettes of choral groups and choral samples, and I would listen to choral arrangements or classical music, for long periods of time. I was a little bit geekish in that way! And I’ve always had an appreciation for classical music. Always.

DJM: Was “Hallelujah Chorus” the first classical piece you’ve recorded?

Kim: That I’ve recorded? Yes, probably so.

And the only reason for that is that the genre that we play in…they don’t do classical music. The reason I chose the “Hallelujah Chorus” is not because it’s classical in style, but because of the lyrics. The election was coming up last year, in ‘08, as you know.

DJM: You taped it in March?

Kim: The initial idea was March, and we did it in April. I chose that particular piece  because there was a lot of uncertainty last year, there still is. And that song just reminds me, over and over, that we’re not of the kingdoms of this world, but of another kingdom! God is going to reign, and have the final say regardless of what happens in our world. It just seemed appropriate for the economy, the time, the shape our world’s in.

DJM: Is it more difficult for you to play than the other songs you do, based on hymns?

Kim: No, not really. I enjoy playing it.

DJM: Do you play it frequently? Because I don’t think I’ve heard it live yet.

Kim: You’ve not heard “Hallelujah Chorus” live yet?

DJM: I don’t think so. [Whether intentional or not, they did conclude their program with that song that evening!]

Kim: I do play it frequently. A lot of people are still requesting “How Great Thou Art.” And to be honest, I don’t like to play “How Great Thou Art” every night.

Two reasons: I take the songs that I play dead serious. And I get tired of music quickly, because of it. I don’t want things to become commonplace, to where I can just spit it out, and go through motions that aren’t reality. I want the songs to be real and I want them to be fresh to me, so I set aside “How Great Thou Art” quite frequently—unless someone just emphatically requests it. Otherwise, I just give it a break.

DJM: So with getting tired of songs easily, is it a challenge for you to be in a cycle where you do a new recording every two years?

Kim: Yes, sometimes it is. But when you have recorded several CDs, you have a lot more songs to choose from. There’s more variety—more opener songs, more fast numbers, more to pick from.

I think it also helps that we have the four children, and we can shift back and forth from mixed trios to ladies trios to family ensembles, to violins, to piano, to trumpet, et cetera. That helps us a lot in not tiring so quickly of our music these days.

DJM: All right! Since this wasn’t out when I interviewed Phil earlier this year, could you tell us a bit about the new project?

Kim: Well, The Answer has been in the making since Janury. We started choosing the music around that time, and then Wayne Haun came to our home in March and spent a couple of days. We listened to what felt like hundreds of demos—I don’t think it was that many—but we began to more seriously confirm our choices of repertoire.

In every CD that we do, there are special moments where the Lord confirms to us, “I want you to do this song, or this song.” Such is the case with The Answer.

We were having a prayer meeting in our home one Tuesday night. Phil and I were discussing the fact that we felt like we were missing something on this new CD. I said to Phil, “We need something that is going to tell the people in the audience that don’t know anything about a relationship with Jesus, and that come to our table crying because their homes are broken, things are going bad, their finances are shot, and everything is just bad. We need a song that straight up tells them that Jesus is the answer to their problems.”

As we were sitting in that prayer meeting that night, the song “Jesus is Still the Answer” came to my mind. It’s an old Lanny Wolfe song; we’ve always loved Lanny Wolfe’s writing. I jumped up and said, “Oh, let’s go to the music room!”

It was about 11:30 at night. Courtney walks out of her room—she was the only one of our kids up at the time. I ran the song by her, and said, “What do you think?”

She said, “I don’t even know it.” (Of course, she’s 18.)

We went to the music room, and began to teach her “Jesus is Still the Answer.” While we were trying to sing it, we could hardly keep the tears from flowing. Courtney looked at me and said, “Mama, this is it!”

We have been singing that song for two weekends. And I’m telling you what. That song is old, but the message is timeless. And the crowds are absolutely responding in just a fantastic way. You can tell they’re relating to it. It’s ringing their bell. You can tell they agree—Jesus is still the answer.

DJM: You also included an old hymn, “I Want a Principle Within.”

Kim: Oh, my! A hymn that’s 260 years old, written by Charles Wesley.

The very reason we chose it was because of the lyrics. We have four teenagers…

DJM: Olivia’s a teenager? [shock!]

Kim: Oh, I’m sorry—I have three teenagers and one pre-teen! They’re going through times of decision making. A lot of pressure, and peer pressure. I think one of the things we  want our children to catch in this song is, “Listen to your God-given conscience. Right is right, and wrong is wrong.”

This song literally talks about having those principles in place. What a great song!

DJM: So why did you choose Great is Thy Faithfulness as your piano solo for this project?

Kim: You want to know why?

DJM: Yes.

Kim: My teenage son begged me to play that.

DJM: Really?

Kim: I don’t know why in the world a teenage boy would pick, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” but he has asked me for quite some time, for several, several months, “Mama, please, would you play a rendition of ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’?”

So I don’t know. I kinda toyed with it, but I thought, “Well, if my teenage boy wants to hear it, then I’m gonna record it!”

DJM: Since I have no anticipation of interviewing Olivia any time soon … I understand she has a new project coming out. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Kim: It came out last Friday—a week ago Friday. It’s called Then and Now. That name was chosen by Olivia. What we did was, we took every song she has done from every project. You see her at every age—there’s pictures inside of the booklet that show her at those ages. And then we added four brand new tunes, that kind of fit her in the age she’s in now.

It’s a very, very cute CD, if I have to say so myself!

I was like, “Should we bring these old ones out, and do this?” But when I got the finished copy, I put it in the CD player, and I sat there and grinned for a solid thirty minutes. Of course, part of that’s the momma coming out in me, and remembering … a little sentimental. But it’s just a really cute CD for kids.

My first idea that it was going to be a good project was when two little girls, who happen to be my nieces, were at my house when the CDs came. We popped the CD in. Those little girls are four and six. They came flying into the music room when they heard a little girl’s voice, and promptly sat down on the floor. They sat there mesmerized the entire time we played the CD.

So I thought, “Well, that’s a good sign if kids like it—that’s who we did it for.”

DJM: Now about Olivia’s solo on your new CD, “Oh the Thought that Jesus Loves Me”—her voice has matured!

Kim: Very much.

DJM: So was “My Favorite Things” probably the last cute solo, and we can look for more serious stuff from now on?

Kim: Well, on her new CD, Then and Now, she does have a new one called “God Makes a Lot of a Little.” It’s adorable, very kiddish. But, you know what…probably with “My Favorite Things,” we were coming in for a landing on the little girl stuff, I have to tell you. She’s growing up!

The last song on her new CD is called “Little by Little,” and it says, “Little by Little, I’m changing, I’m growing / Little by little, I hope that it’s showing / I’m not who I’ll be / I’m not who I was / I’m somewhere in the middle / But God is changing me / Little by little.” Well, that’s Olivia right there—it fits her very well!

DJM: So what do think it is about piano and Southern Gospel? Is it just that piano is what was available at the start of the genre of music, or do you think there is just something about the style of music that needs a piano?

Kim: Well, you know, I would probably not be the authority to answer that question. I’ve always loved Southern Gospel music—I grew up listening to the Cathedrals, and many other groups—but I never remember hearing it with anything but a piano and maybe a bass. I don’t go back before the days of that, so … I don’t know.

It’s a great instrument, of course, and I’m prejudiced, but I’m not sure how to answer that question.

I just think it fits.

DJM: I’ve just wondered if there was something you could do with eighty-eight keys that a guitar, with six strings, couldn’t quite match for keeping up with four male voices or family groups.

Kim: I don’t know about that. I think that the rhythm you can play with a piano—of course, you can play it on a guitar, too—but there’s something about the piano that identifies a quartet, when the pianist begins to play stuff that just bounces around while the quartet is doing their thing. I don’t know, it just fits!

DJM: Is there any question you’ve hoped someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody has ever asked you?

Kim: Oh my, let me think here. Good question!

I don’t know that I have ever wished anybody would ask me this question, but you may find this interesting. You know, I’ve played a lot of big ballads on the piano. It’s partly because my husband loves them, and he likes me to play them. My husband is a very bombastic person—he would laugh if I said that, but he knows it’s the truth! The bigger, the better. That’s just him.

To be honest, I am the exact opposite. And people don’t realize that. My choice of piano playing  would be easy listening or accompanying. It’s my favorite to play. Sometimes I’ll go into my piano room, and literally, it’ll be like a devotional time, and I’ll do nothing but sit there and play easy-listening church music, and become absolutely blessed beyond words because the lyrics just move me deeply.

I think people may find it interesting that my first choice of music is not big, bombastic piano playing. Although, I enjoy it—if a song calls for exuberance—it’s just not my first choice.

DJM: Certain songs do—

Kim: Yes, some just call for it. You can’t play everything easy listening, and I know that. If the song calls for big dynamics, I love to play it. The Bible does say to praise God with the cymbals, with the harps, and with the stringed instruments…so I guess it could fall in that category.

DJM: I count pianos among the stringed instruments!

Kim: Me, too.

There are many nights I’ll say, “Oh, just let me play something easy listening!”

DJM: Is there a connection between that and why you end “It is Well” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” on soft and gentle finishes instead of big endings?

Kim: Yes and no. The reason I ended some of those that way is to have variety. I don’t think everything needs to end with a crash.

The other thing was, take “It is Well With My Soul”: The essence of that song is about peace. So I like to end it peaceful. I didn’t want to end it by giving somebody indigestion.

And “Great is Thy Faithfulness”—I ponder that thought, and it moves me deeply. There are stories that each of us have about the faithfulness of God in our own lives. When I ponder those stories in my own personal life, I don’t feel like jumping up and down. I feel like bowing at His feet and thanking Him for His faithfulness. So that’s probably why I ended that one that way—with that gentle thought about the faithfulness of God.

DJM: To jump topics entirely: Did you homeschool your children from the start, or is that something that came up a little later?

Kim: Actually, I have homeschooled the children for twelve years, and started when each one was in kindergarten. With the exception of a two-year sabbatical which during part of that time I was pregnant with our youngest child, Olivia, I have always homeschooled them. The reason for this is, more than anything, is because of the logistics of road life.

DJM: I don’t really know how many of my readers are, but do you have any thoughts or advice you’d like to pass along to moms who are raising their children on the road?

Kim: Absolutely. I would say: Make your kids a priority, even above your job on the road.

Homeschooling has never been easy. There have been many days I wake up and wish the school bus had picked them up. And then there have been many days I thank the Lord that the school bus didn’t pick them up. I’m not a pro, and I’m certainly not seasoned by any means, just because I’ve homeschooled for twelve years.

But I will say one thing that has worked for us so far, is we have tried our best to let our kids know that their own personal interest mattered to us, over our traveling, over our singing, et cetera. Consequently, we’ve turned down a lot of dates because of this. I think it’s important that the kids have a life, and that they have activities other than just the road. I think it helps them to like and enjoy the traveling more, when they have the other opportunities, if that makes any sense.

When Brooklyn turned twelve, we sat down and chose several events that we determined to make an annual priority for her and the other children as they got old enough. Examples of that would be the annual youth camp for teens that takes in a lot of sports activities, a youth convention (with some great youth oriented speakers) that they look forward to every year, along with several other events. Our booking agent knows not to book those dates.

It has also helped our kids to feel somewhat normal when we take and register them for these events as just part of the youth group, and not someone who is coming in as a special guests to perform and to be put on a pedestal, as it were.

DJM: Do you have any other thoughts or comments, and could you end with how readers can get in touch with the group?

Kim: They can go to our website, www.thecollingsworthfamily.com. We’re on Facebook now—can you imagine?

DJM: Who does those updates?

Kim: It’s between Courtney, myself, or our our office manager, Dannette Lavy.

Our office phone number is 513-553-0658.

Let me just say one thing, in closing. It is such a privilege to do what we do. I don’t ever want to take it for granted. My biggest prayer is that we stay focused on reality—that really, what it’s about is uplifting and magnifying Jesus and pointing people to the Cross.

I think people in the seats are hungry for God, for something fresh. Sometimes that’s a tough job for us, to always be fresh. I think our fellow travelers on the road all understand and would agree with me on that. It just makes me realize how frail we are as humans and how much we need God’s help to make a difference in people’s lives.

What a privilege to serve in this way.

DJM: Could you start with explaining a little bit about your background—both your upbringing and how you became exposed to Southern Gospel music?
David: I was exposed to southern gospel in Michigan. There’s not a lot of  southern gospel up there! But in northern Michigan—Roscommon, Michigan, is my home town—the style of music that was preached, that was more acceptable in our circles, was more of a sacred music type style. It was really rooted in three different colleges that a lot of the people in our churches were from: Bob Jones University, Maranatha (up in Wisconsin), and Northland Baptist College (up in Wisconsin).

I was raised Independent Fundamental Baptist, very conservative. Southern Gospel, even conservative Inspirations-style, was not really accepted. Entertainment and ministry were not thought to be able to coexist.

I was exposed to it with my best friend’s cassette tape of the Inspirations, a 1993 recording Cry for The Children. The fifth song—the last song on the first side—was “Hide Me Rock of Ages.” I’d never heard bass singing like that in my life. To hear Mike Holcomb was just unbelievable.

I didn’t even care so much for the twang. It was like Christian country to me. I heard the steel guitars, I heard Archie—the high tenor—and said, “I don’t know if I’ll like that, but boy, that bass singer…he can do it!” So I made a copy. (I know that’s terrible!)

To that point I had heard quartets but not Southern Gospel and I loved the harmony, and so I began to learn the baritone part. My brothers and I started listening to that and we began imitating it. My youngest brother was nine at the time and he started hearing the tenor. So we were kind of the hit in our church. We did it a capella; we didn’t have all the instruments and stuff, and we didn’t twang as much. And it kind of rolled from there.

DJM: Did I read something at one point that you did some touring in your area? Did you do full concerts or just like a special music here and there in different churches.
David: It was a little of both, actually. Our first concert had about a hundred people. My best friend’s dad was involved in politics, and he was running for state senate.     This would have been in 2002.

We called ourselves the Messengers. Actually we took that name because on the 2000 Inspirations video Matt Dibler says something right before he does another verse of “Resurrection Ground.” He says, “I love singing with the Inspirations because we have a message and not just music.”

Well that stuck with me, and I said, “Well, that’s a good philosophy to have.” So who carries the message? A messenger does, so we just called ourselves that.

We never gave any thought of touring, and we didn’t really tour.

DJM: Did you do any recordings?
David: We did three on our church’s sound system. It was terrible, but enough just to kinda preserve it enough. We gave them to people. We never sold anything—we really couldn’t, technically, because we didn’t pay the royalties on all that. So that might even be illegal, I don’t know!

But we went as far south as Detroit, and as far north as just south of the Mackinaw bridge. We went on the west side of the state and not so much the east side, but we got calls from lots of different pastors. Mom and Dad were sort-of…they were always involved. I was 15, 16, and 17 during the years we did that. They didn’t “promote” us—they said, “Well, we’re glad our kids are able to do this, but we don’t want them to turn into Christian celebrities. It was still kind of a touchy thing, you know. But I was the spark plug. I was the one that really kept us interested in it. The other guys would follow me—they were like, “Yeah, we’ll do this.” And I really began to fall in love with it.  And I said “Man, I could do this all the time!” I just love making harmony. I love being a blessing to people, and to be a good example to people is a unique opportunity, I guess.

DJM: So was singing with your brothers the only touring/singing experience you had before singing with the Inspirations?
David: That’s 100% accurate. I went to college after I graduated high school. I went down to Pensacola.

DJM: Did you do a four years degree?
David: I did. I was there for four years—I was a Bible major. I studied general Bible. I would have studied music, but at the time when I went to school, I still had given no thought whatsoever to making music my career. Never had I thought of that. And so I couldn’t think of anything that I was really, really interested in except the Bible – I’ve always been a student of the Bible, I love to study it, and so I did. I never felt called to be a pastor or a preacher—I can preach and I have—but never really felt that call, so I just gave it a general degree. Still, it’s a liberal arts college, it was a good price for the degree and everything, so I did that.

I got approached many times to travel for the school. They send out quartets and stuff, but it wasn’t exactly what I was really interested in. They did some Southern Gospel songs, but it was more or less, you’re promoting the college. And I didn’t want to necessarily do that. It wasn’t really my cup of tea, so I said, “Nah…” And there was some politics involved with that too, and I just didn’t want to get involved in that.

But during school I did sing just for fun with other guys, but that was about it.

DJM: So when did you graduate?
David: I graduated in May of 2008—that would have been last May.
DJM: A year and a couple months ago…
David: After I graduated, I went home, having no idea what to do, I went back home to Michigan. I worked for the state of Michigan in a state park for a summer, just as a summer job. And McDonalds. I did both of those. I learned that I’m never gonna complain again when my food is late, because it’s a hard job!

But still I had no idea what to do with my life until Martin called in September.

DJM: So did he call you out of the blue, or had you already known that Matt was leaving?
David: I had no idea that Matt was leaving.

DJM: He knew you were into singing, then?
David: Oh, yeah, let me kinda back up. When my brothers and I were singing, in 2002, we had just started to sing. Mr. Lowe, my best friend Nathan’s dad, was really the one who really pushed us. He was like, “Come on, guys, you need to keep singing. Sing over here, sing over there…” And we never would’ve sung for the Inspirations if not for him.

We went to hear them down in Romeo, Michigan. First Baptist Church of Romeo. It’s north of Detroit, on the way to Port Huron. Actually, it’s really close to where Matt Dibler grew up. It was about a 4-hour drive for us to go down there, but we would’ve gone anywhere to see the Inspirations. This would’ve been the second time we saw them. They were all there that night except Mike. Mike was at his son’s wedding, I believe. So Marlin Schubert was filling in. So that was really neat to get to meet him. I missed Mike, though—I really wanted to hear him.

But before that concert started, Mr. Lowe had told the guys, “Hey, these kids sing your songs!” We were like, “Ssh, don’t tell him!”

“Oh really”

He was like, “Can they sing one for you right here?” He just volunteered us! So we sang “The Great I Am,” which was the first song we ever sung together. It’s off of Pure Vintage. And we did it all together. Right in the lobby, people started gathering around. He caught it on film and everything. And they just fell in love with us—“Wow, that’s really neat that young kids like that…” I mean, it was mostly older folks at the concert. We we were just so excited to be there…teenagers.

That was what introduced them to us. We just kept up with them. Anytime they were in Michigan, we’d be there, and just stayed friends with them.

When I went down to college, I was just a big fan, never gave any thought. I knew all the songs and stuff.

They came to Pensacola in January of 2005. I went and saw them, just a couple of miles away from the campus. Martin called me aside, and he said, “Hey, I remember you from up in Michigan.”

I said, “Yeah, yeah.”

He said, “I want you to give me your number, and I want you to take my number down. Call me about once a month. Just let me know where you’re at. I’m always looking for someone who’s able to fill in if we need him.”

I thought, “Oh, that’s cool!”

He said, “What can you sing?”

I said, “I can sing lead or baritone.”

He said, “Okay, well if anybody is ever out for any reason, we’ll give you a call—you’ll be the first person I call.”

I thought, “Oh, great!”

He asked me some other questions about my beliefs and things, just wanting to make sure I was about what they represented. So everything was okay there. And it was about a year and a half after that when I was able to fill in for the first time.

Matt and I knew each other from Michigan as well.

DJM: So this would be mid-2005?
David: It was early 2005 when he gave me his number. It was in May of 2006 that I filled in for the first time. Matt was out.

I still wasn’t sure I could do lead—I’d never done lead before. I knew I could sing high enough, but I’d never done it. So I started working on it, thinking, “I’d better learn that!” I’d just sung baritone with my brothers. I liked it.

So Matt called me in April, in my dorm room—blew me out of the water!

I picked up my phone in my room—I wasn’t even thinking about nothing—and he said, “Hey, this is Matt Dibler.”

I said, “Oh my goodness! Really?”

He said, “How would you like to sing with the Inspirations?”

I thought he was joking. I said, “Ah, that’s funny!”

He said, “No, I’m serious. I’ve got to be out. My daughter’s graduating from high school” – Sabrina was graduating on Memorial Day weekend, in 2006, and he said, “I need you to fill in for me.” He said, “We’ll fly you down, pick you up, and we’ll sing in Southern Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee.”

Of course, I said yes, and it was then that I fell in love with what they did. And I saw really behind the scenes—what’s behind these men, who are these people? They’re more than just singers. And I began to see that these guys really live what they sing. That was the important thing.

That struck home with me. ‘Cause I’m not about the show—well, to a certain degree, you do put on a show, so to speak. You have to be careful with that, though. And I began to see the heart behind these men. I said, “I want to be a part of something that’s real, something that’s not too out there, something that I can identify with, and that I can be an influence in.”

And that’s really what drew me to it.

DJM: So did you fill in at all between that and when you got the job?
David: Kind of, that would have been, I did three days in ‘06. The only time I saw after that would have been when they came back to Pensacola once a year. So I saw them two more times before I graduated.

Well, when they came back in ‘07, after I had filled in, they pulled me up on stage. They knew that I was gonna be there and I knew that I would get to sing a couple of songs, so I wore a suit, and everything. They pulled me up, and I sang a couple of songs. That was neat—all my friends were there, and everything, and they were like, “Wow, you really did sing with the Inspirations!”

And then the next year, Matt didn’t even come. He had something else going on. But Matt was definitely not coming, and he called me. This was ‘08, right before I graduated. He said, “I can’t be there,” for some reason—I don’t remember what it was—and said, “So you’ll have to do the whole night.”

I said, “Okay, that’s great!” So I did—I did the whole thing. Boy, I wasn’t ready for it. I hadn’t been singing regularly at school, so they wore me out. They did everything high, and…boy, that’s one thing, the Inspirations sing more songs in a set than anybody does.

DJM: Because you don’t have the soundtracks, and the long intros and endings…
David: …that is a lot of it…
DJM: And because you’ll do a couple of songs in a row without Martin saying anything.
David: Well, sometimes even more than that. We were in Louisiana one night, and we did thirty-two in the first set. (Somebody counted.) Well, that wears you out!

If somebody says, “There’s no set program,” Martin’s gonna take it and run with it. Sometimes that’s OK, sometimes you just look over there and say, “My word!” It’ll wear you out.

DJM: So how many songs might he call on a given night?
David: Hmm. I would say there’s a possibility of about 60-70 songs, reasonably possible.

DJM: So has he caught you off guard with a song you haven’t practiced?
David: Not yet. Not one we haven’t practiced.

That isn’t a huge deal for me, because I was such a nerd, if I can use that word, such an Inspirations nerd that I knew them all, just like that. In the car, at home…they were my hobby! I didn’t have Michael Jordan on my wall—though I love basketball—I didn’t even have the Michigan State team on my wall. I had the Inspirations. They were my heroes. I looked up to them because of the lives they lived behind what they did as a profession. I knew everything about them. But I tried not to get too geeky, so they wouldn’t get annoyed at me, or whatever!

DJM: Speaking of your inspirations, who else do you look at as heroes of the faith, perhaps non-musical? Anywhere from the time of Christ through now.
David: I love the apostle Paul. As you read through the Bible … He’s written so much of the New Testament. I love him because of the practical things he brings out. And you can see a lot of his personality through his writings.

I think the world of my dad. My dad has taught me a lot.

DJM: What’s his name?
David: His name is Dave Ragan, Sr. My dad had been a military man, off and on through his life. He’s always been one of those blue-collar guys. He’s completely faithful to his family. I look up to my mom and dad equally—they have the best marriage I’ve ever seen. There is nothing more secure for young people growing up than to see that. It’s been a great blessing, because I didn’t choose for them to have that marriage, but they decided to put the Lord first. Their kids turned out well because of it, and I give them a ton of credit for that.

DJM: Speaking of your family, aren’t you part Filipino?
David: Yes. I’m actually half.

I’ll just briefly tell you that story. My dad was in the Marine Corps, and was stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, and met my mom. My mom was born over there; she is native Filipino. They were married over there—had a Filipino wedding—and I was born over there. I was there for about nine months, I believe—I don’t remember that, but I’m taking their word for it!—I was there for about nine months, and then my mom and I were shipped over here, if you will.

I don’t have any recollection of it, and I don’t really have a lot of attachment to that culture, but that is my heritage. I’ve never been back since. My mom has been back once. I was born in Olongopo City in the Philippines. And then when my Dad finished his third year in the Marine Corps, he stopped, didn’t renew his contract, and came back. And that was where I was born. But I was raised here my whole life.

I don’t know if I’m the first Filipino to be in Southern Gospel.

DJM: I remember some discussion over that. Was Armond Morales, of the Weatherfords and Imperials—was he Filipino?
David: I thought he was Hawaiian or something else. I asked somebody. But I think he would be the only other one, if that.

I guess that may make me unique, I don’t know!

DJM: In your opinion, what makes Southern Gospel Southern Gospel, and not some other genre?
David: That is a great question.
DJM: And one I’ve wanted to ask an Inspiration forever!
David: That is a great question, and I’m so glad to be able to answer that. Because I’m one of those people who, if I cannot tell you why I believe something, I won’t believe it. I have to know why. That’s just something about me. If you could sum up my entire personality, it’s “Why?”–“Why this, why that?” It makes you more solid of a person, if you can say, “Right or wrong, this is why I am who I am.” This is why. You’re more sure of yourself, you’re a more confident person.

I’ve looked at this. I don’t believe that Southern Gospel is a style of music. It is a genre of music. It is a classification, but it does not necessarily refer to the style. And I say that simply because there is such a broad range of style. How do you put a cap on it? You have the Crabb Family (or what used to be the Crabb Family), you have Gold City, which has varied in its almost thirty years of being around. The Inspirations have been one of the few groups who have stayed the same, which has been a recipe of success for them, but I don’t think you can point to one group and say, “That’s what Southern Gospel should sound like.”

There are preferences of styles. It’s hard to say, “This one’s wrong.” Now I don’t think rap’s gonna find its way into Southern Gospel, I just don’t think that’s gonna fly…

DJM: If rap is music at all!
David: I don’t look at it as that, at all.
I only listen to Southern Gospel. Well, some country—a little bit of country, just because I like the sound. I love the country feel.

I love Gold City. I love the Kingdom Heirs. I love the Kingsmen. I like Legacy Five—all of those groups. I think the world of those people. And not all of the Inspirations would feel this way, but this is personally, I believe that all that works together to promote what is really Southern Gospel music—which is the Gospel itself. I believe Southern Gospel is its own entity because it has stayed true to the roots of what the Gospel really is.

I believe there’s a lot of “gospel” and “Christian” music out there that’s nothing more than fluff. There’s no doctrine. That’s a word a lot of people don’t like to use, but all it means is “teaching.” There’s no teaching in it. There’s nothing about the blood, there’s nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, there’s nothing about Hell. Those are not positive topics all the time, but they have to be there for the Gospel to be there. What the Gospel actually is has to be promoted for it to be true Gospel music, in my opinion. And a group that will faithfully do that regardless of style, regardless perhaps even of how they dress—though that can be important, I’m not diminishing that, and I respect the Inspirations for being conservative in those areas all those years, and I think that’s good—but Gold City’s changed a little bit in that. The Crabb Family would be considered Southern Gospel; you can look at their songs and see good Christian doctrine.

I’m not gonna divide. I’m not gonna divide with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. I don’t prefer to dance [laughs], that’s not my thing. But I know Ernie’s a good guy. I’ve read so many things he’s written on blogs, and on his own website, and I say, “You know, that’s not coming from a  guy who’s just out to make money.” And so I support that. Would I prefer it? Well, I wouldn’t necessarily want to watch him, but I’ve got all his music! It’s all solid. I mean, there’s a couple goofy songs here and there.

DJM: Happy Birthday Anniversary Too. [both laugh]
David: Yeah. That’s probably not gonna drive somebody to the altar, you know!

But that’s what I believe it is. And that’s my goal, to promote it. You cannot change your message.

Styles will change. You can look at rock and roll music from the 50s and 60s and compare it to the Gospel music of today. Some of Gold City’s stuff would be considered with a more driving beat or rhythm than the Beatles would have when they started.

All of those things will change. Culture will change—it’s designed to. Language changes. Personalities will change. People change. But the message of the Gospel is timeless. But as long as Southern Gospel music, and those who claim to represent it, remains true to that message, and says, “We’re gonna stand on the Word of God, no matter how unpopular,” it will always be Southern Gospel music, and God will always bless that. He always promises to bless His Word, because His Word will not come back void. And if we lift up His Word and promote it, we cannot go wrong.

And that’s what I believe Southern Gospel is.

DJM: Suppose the year is 1983, and you have the choice of singing for any Gospel group besides the Inspirations. Who would you sing with in that era?
David: Gold City. I love Gold City.

I consider Ivan Parker to be the best lead singer ever. You cannot top Ivan’s rendition of “The Midnight Cry,” in my opinion. Other people have tried, but I love Ivan’s rendition.

And I love Gold City when they changed, with Jonathan Wilburn and Jay Parrack. Jay Parrack’s my all-time favorite tenor singer. Mark Trammell, Jonathan Wilburn, Jay Parrack, and Tim Riley—to me, that was the Gold City. I would’ve sung baritone with them in a heartbeat. I love Gold City. And I loved the live band.

DJM: Would you like to say something about the new CD?
David: That was my first experience in the studio, ever.

I was a little nervous about it. I was put in the spotlight—they take your voice and they analyze it, “Could this be done better?” It’s very humbling. But I was ready for it, and they helped out.

I just gotta say—I have to give Melton and Mike a ton of credit. They’ve helped me, vocally and otherwise. They’re patient with me. I’d never sung in a group before. Melton’s the least mature Inspiration, if you will, besides Dallas and myself, and he’s been there ten years! That’s a long time, to be the guy that’s been with the group the shortest!

So they were used to certain things, and when we went into the studio, I was super happy with how it turned out.

Now I’m very critical of my own voice, and I’ve got a lot of work to do. And I’ve got a long ways to go. But when I heard the finished product, I thought, “I really like that.”

We put a higher top to the Inspirations’ sound than has ever been put.

DJM: A higher top?
David: It’s a higher sound.
DJM: Harmonies?
David: Yes.
DJM: With Dallas having a young voice…
David: Yes. With Archie’s voice, we did the harmonies a little lower. Don’t get me wrong; Archie’s the man—I love Archie! But with Dallas there, we’re able to expand the harmony higher.

DJM: Didn’t you sing with the Inspirations for a couple of months before Archie came off the road?
David: My first date would’ve been in September. It was the last couple weeks of September.
DJM: ‘Cause you weren’t at NQC.
David: No, I wasn’t at NQC. It was right after that. I got called right before NQC, and he told me to prepare to come at the end of September. I was not actually completely hired on until the end of December, right after Christmas.
DJM: I remember hearing about a trial period.
David: Yeah, it was like three months long! All of October, all of November, and all of December. He just took that long to make up his mind, or whatever.  But I never missed a date. So I sang about five months with Archie, full-time.

I told him when he left, “It’s been an honor singing with someone like you.” I don’t believe his tenure will ever be matched. Forty-five years to sing the high tenor part…no, there’s no way. The only guy that’s even close is Brian Free…

DJM: And that’s with two different groups.
David: Yeah. And he sings a ton higher, too. He’s one of those “freak people,” kind of like Jay.
DJM: Gold City tends to attract freaks, at least to the tenor part!
David: Yeah—all their tenor singers have been like that.
DJM: And their lead singers could have sung tenor for other groups.
David: That’s true.

DJM: Any other thoughts or comments you wanted to make?
David: Well, I appreciate your blog. I go on there quite a bit, just to see what’s going on. I appreciate the positive comments. I know others are out there, and they have the freedom to do what they do, but I appreciate your positive input. People like you and Aaron Swain are trying to help promote it,. You’re doing something that we can’t do. And we’re thankful to you for that.

We just ask everybody to keep us in their prayers. We need the prayers. We really do—we need to be prayed for.

We need to work together—all the groups, and everyone in each group—to stay as strong as we can, to stay close to the Lord.

DJM: How can people get in contact with the Inspirations, and with you?
David: Anybody can email me at any time. I’ll give my personal email address, that’s no problem. It’s daveragan21@yahoo.com. (21 was my basketball number in high school). And then the Inspirations’ website is www.theinspirations.com. You can call the office at 828-497-2060, and you can talk to Ronnie Hutchins, the Inspirations’ original lead singer. You can order our CDs and DVDs from him.

Write or call anytime.

DJM: Thank you very much!
David: Thank you.
DJM: I appreciate it.

A formatted version of the story is here.

DJM: I understand you were raised as a preacher’s kid in Oklahoma. Could you tell me a little bit about your upbringing?
Randy: Sure, I’d be happy to, Daniel. I appreciate the opportunity to talk to you!

My dad was a truck driver and a union worker, and when I was about three years old, he became a Christian. About a year after that, he surrendered to preach. We actually moved from Oklahoma to Louisiana so he could go to Bible College full-time. He attended Baptist Christian College, which is now Louisiana Baptist University, in Shreveport, for about three years.

DJM: How old were you when he was going to college?
Randy: I actually moved the summer of ‘69, so it was in between kindergarten and first grade. So I would’ve been approximately 6 years old.

Then he took his first church in Oklahoma while he was a senior in college. He commuted back and forth—he just had a class or two left—he commuted back and forth during the week. He finished up, and then we were in Oklahoma for ten months.

Then in the middle of my fourth-grade year, we moved to Arkansas. He took a church there and was there for fourteen years.

DJM: What was the name of the church, and where was it?
Randy: The name of the church was originally “West Side Baptist Church” (obviously, it was on the west side of town). Later, they bought five acres of land on the outskirts of town, and changed the name to Victory Baptist, which is what it still is today.

The city was Benton, Arkansas, about fifteen miles southwest of Little Rock.

DJM: So was that basically for the rest of the years you were still at home?
Randy: That is correct. He was actually there after I was grown. I finished there—we started a Christian school in my eighth grade year. I graduated from the high school, and met my wife, Lisa, a little while later. We married and moved to Missouri.

You’d asked me the other day a little bit about my testimony, and I don’t know if you want to go into that now.

DJM: Yeah. I can just make up a question to lead into it if I need to.
Randy: Actually, when I was about fourteen or fifteen years old, as a lot of boys do, I started testing the waters a little bit, becoming rebellious. By the time I was sixteen, I figured out that I knew a lot more than my dad, because every sixteen-year-old boy does, you know!

So rather than run away from home and go that route, I figured I would just outsmart him. I went to the local authorities and had them place me in a foster home. I moved into a foster home for about a year.

All I really wanted—I didn’t rebel against my dad because I thought he didn’t love me, and I didn’t rebel against him because I felt I was abused or mistreated—I just wanted a “normal” family life, what I considered normal. I wanted Dad to come home and play sports with me, and go camping and fishing. I got sick of being the preacher’s kid. And that’s what I rebelled against.

But it’s amazing how God works through all of that, though. When they placed me in custody of the state of Arkansas, and took me to my foster parents, my foster mother met me at the door and said, “Son, you can live here as long as you want. There’s just two rules you have to live by. The first rule is that I make all the rules, and I can make new ones any time I want. The second is that every time I go to church, you’ll go with me. And just for the record, I’m the Sunday School superintendent, the church secretary, and I sing in the choir, so I’m there a lot.”

I literally stood on the porch and dropped my head. I’d just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. But God really used that family to mend the relationship between me and my parents.

One of the things I’m really thankful for is that my parents did not compromise their beliefs during that. When they sent my belongings, when I opened the suitcase, my Bible was on top of it. My mother had written a note in there: “Son, we love you very much. But as long as you live in our house, you have to live by our rules. And until you’re willing to do that, we’ll just pray for you and love you.”

So when it would have been easy for them to cave in and give me whatever I wanted, they stood strong on Biblical principles, and I’m very thankful for that.

DJM: So about a year after that, you decided to come home?
Randy: I did, actually. Through court meetings and through my foster parents’ guide, I had started rekindling the relationship with my parents, and had become on pretty good terms with them. The timing just worked out right, so I moved home, and was there for a few months. By then I had become independent enough that I moved out on my own, and was on my own for another year. Then I met my wife, and a few months after that, we got married, and moved to Missouri.

DJM: So at what point in all that process did you first discover Southern Gospel music?
Randy: Well, actually I had discovered Southern Gospel around age 12. My mother says that I had memories of it, but I just didn’t know what it was. When my dad was in Bible College, the college had a quartet that traveled called the Crusaders Quartet. We had a couple of their albums. As a matter of fact, I made contact with the bass singer from the group a couple of years ago, and he mailed me the two albums that we had when I was a kid. So I have those in my collection.

So I listened to that quite a bit as a child, but my true love for quartets started around age 12. My Sunday School teacher took me to a Gospel concert in Little Rock, Arkansas. There were several groups on the lineup that day. I remember the Kingsmen Quartet came out and just tore the place down with what we call “three chords and a cloud of dust.” I looked at my buddy and said, “This is awesome!” This is in the mid-70s.

Then after the Kingsmen were done, there were two old guys and three young men in plaid suits walked on the stage. I looked at my friend and said, “This is gonna be awful.” And the piano singer sat down and ran an arpeggio, and the bass singer sang, “There is a fountain filled with blood…”

And it was George Younce and the Cathedrals. I went home that night and told my mom that that’s what I wanted to do. The problem was that at that time, I sang high tenor.

DJM:  Not unlike George himself at that age.
Randy:  That’s true. George started out with a high voice, and then became a lead singer for many years. In my opinion, George is the greatest bass singer ever, and one of the greatest singers ever.

That’s when I developed my love for it. My Sunday School teacher played a huge part in that, letting me borrow his albums and his 8-tracks. I would just wear them out.

DJM:  I’m just curious. Did you stay in touch with Southern Gospel during your years of going the other direction, or did you come back to that later, then?
Randy:  You know, that’s a good question, Daniel. I’ve always loved music from the time I was little bitty. I’ve always had some sort of stereo system in my vehicle.

Yes, I stayed in touch with Southern Gospel, because I still had some 8-tracks and cassettes that I still enjoyed. Like I said, I wasn’t necessarily running from God as I was looking for more of a family relationship. That’s more of what I rebelled against. But my love of the music was always there. Matter of fact, I introduced my foster parents to Southern Gospel. They were not familiar with it. They used to just sit and grin at me because I would play those albums and sing along. Especially in the shower—that was my favorite time to do it.

DJM:  What line of work did you go into before you started singing? Then, when did you start singing regionally, and who did you sing with?
Randy:  Sure. Well, my earliest memories of singing in church were when I was in kindergarten. The family that babysat me had a son that was a year older than me, and he and I sang a duet, which was 2-part unison. That’s my earliest memories of singing.

Being in church, I’ve always been involved in some kind of music program. Then when I got married, though, and moved out on my own, like any young couple, you just take whatever job you can find. Probably my most stable job was when I worked in a factory in Missouri—we made aerial device trucks, which are the big trucks you see the linemen go up in to work on lines. I built those machines for almost 15 years in Saint Joe, Missouri.

During that time, my wife and I started a regional mixed quartet in Missouri called Eastern Sky Quartet. We traveled for four and a half years. As far as regional groups go, we were quite busy. The last couple of years, we were working over 40 weekends a year.

And it was going really good, but my desire had always been to sing in a male quartet. It’s funny how God works: Eastern Sky had worked in a revival, and one night the evangelist preached on finding the will of God and getting in it. I prayed that night that God would give me the desire of my heart. My desire was to sing in a male quartet, as long as that was His will.

What I didn’t know is that that same night, my wife had prayed, asking God to allow her to stay home. She was tired of traveling and wanted to be at home more. She even wrote it in the cover of her Bible—the date and wrote the prayer. I’m paraphrasing, but this is basically what she said: “Dear God, I would like to stay home more, but I know Randy loves to travel and sing. I’m not sure how You’ll work this out, but I’m trusting that You will.”

So later that summer, we worked at an outdoor event in Iowa. We sang with a group from Des Moines called Majesty. And just in conversation with them one day, I was joking with the owner and said, “Hey, if you ever need a bass singer, keep me in mind.”

DJM:  They were a male quartet, then?
Randy:  Yes, they were a male quartet. Anyhow, two weeks later, he called me, and asked me if I was serious about that, and offered me the position. I said, “Well, let me pray about it.”

I’m a lot like Gideon when I pray for things—I want to make sure God’s in it. So I fleeced Him this way—I said, “God, my wife’s reaction will be a good indicator of whether or not you’re in this.”

So when I presented it to her, I said, “Well, what do you think about me singing with Majesty?”

She started smiling from ear to ear, with tears rolling down her face. I said, “What in the world does that mean?” And she showed me her Bible, and showed how God had answered her prayer, and would allow her to stay home and me to travel.

DJM:  And did you realize that night it was the same night you’d prayed, or did you realize that later?
Randy:  She had written in the sermon notes in her Bible, so when we got to looking at it, we realized at that time that it was the same night. And so we just knew that God was in it.

That was in August of ‘97, and we commuted back and forth every weekend from then until January of ‘98, when we moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and joined Majesty. And for the next two and a half years, Majesty worked forty-eight-plus weekends a year, in about a seven state area. Then we had some personnel changes, and we continued on for a couple of years after that, even though we did slow down some.

And the group had kind of disbanded, but through that, I had developed relationships with local pastors. I emceed for Majesty, and through that, pastors would ask me to come in to fill in at their pulpit, or preach, or whatever. So for a brief time, I had a ministry called “New Direction Ministry,” for about a year and a half, and stayed quite busy doing that. But my love for singing in a quartet was still my focus and my desire. So I reconnected with the owner of Majesty, and we re-formed that in late 2003. We had actually just been back on the road for about six months when the opportunity to join the Blackwood family came along.

DJM:  Okay. Now with Eastern Sky and then with Majesty, what were the names of the recordings you made, just so I can keep my eyes out for them?
Randy:  Well, Eastern Sky made two recordings. We did it all ourselves. We hired a little studio in Kansas City, in a guy’s house, and we produced it and everything. To my knowledge there’s none in existence, but there may be. One was entitled, His Blood Still Sets Men Free, and the other one … I have no idea! I don’t know that we ever titled it, to be honest with you. They were just two cassette recordings—we never even put them on CD.

I was on two recordings with Majesty as well. The first was titled Back by Popular Demand, and then the second one was the 25th Anniversary of the group. I was proud of it—I helped produce that album and design the liner notes for it. It was entitled Then and Still, with the thought being that Woody had developed his love for quartets at an early age. He pushed very hard for Majesty to do the things like they used to back then.

DJM:  Woody?
Randy:  James Woodyard—everybody called him “Woody.” He was the tenor and the owner of the group. He insisted that we do things the way they used to do back then, and still today. And we just did a play on words, and called it Then and Still.

Also on that recording was Milo Herrick. Milo was the staff vocalist for Jimmy Swaggart before John Starnes. He still sings—lives in Atoma, Iowa, and just a great guy.

DJM:  So how did the opportunity arise to sing with the Blackwood Brothers?
Randy:  Well actually, as I mentioned, we had just re-formed Majesty. The Blackwood Gospel Quartet was in concert in the Des Moines area. They announced that Ken Turner was retiring and that they were looking for a bass singer. Somebody at that concert that knew me from Majesty—to this day, I don’t know who it was—but somebody gave them my information.

That next week I got an email from Marc Blackwood, asking me to come audition. And I thought it was a joke. His email address was just initials, and I didn’t know who it was from at first, till I read the email. Like I said, I thought it was a joke. I didn’t answer at first. I got another one the next day, so I responded to it. Long story short, they wanted me to audition that Saturday night.

Majesty was scheduled to be in Illinois that Saturday. So my wife and I drove to where they were on Friday night, which was about a 5-hour drive, and I emailed him, told him I was coming just to hear them. In the middle of that, they started taking requests. Marc came down, handed the mike to me, and said, “Sing some songs with us,” right there on the spot. He offered me the job that night. I couldn’t take it that night. I told him I wanted to pray about it.

The next weekend he flew me to New Jersey. I did a New England tour with them, got the job, and two weeks later, I moved to Tennessee. That was in April of 2004.

DJM:  In April of 2004. Now was Jimmy already with the group at that point, or how much after that did he join?
Randy:  I don’t remember the exact timing. It was later that summer. I could probably find out if I did some research.

Actually, Wayne Little was already singing with Marc when I joined. We were scheduled to sing with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound in Greeneville, Texas, at a Harold Marshall event. We had just lost our piano player and our baritone. Our piano player had broken his leg. And so Marc, unbeknownst to us, had called Brad White and Jimmy to come down and fill in. I didn’t know they were coming till they walked on stage for sound check.

I was very nervous, because I’d grown up listening to Jimmy, and had seen him on TV, and I was just very nervous for him to be there. But he walked in that night, and just made me feel totally at ease, like I was part of them, and anyway, long story short, they were just filling in. Then a few months later, Marc asked them to join the group, which they did. Then a few months after they joined, Marc said he was going to start Blackwood Gospel Quartet back up.

DJM:  At that point, Jimmy decided to bring back the Blackwood Brothers name?
Randy:  Well actually, Marc was traveling as the Blackwood Gospel Quartet. Due to some legal proceedings over the trademark of the name, and lawyers’ advice, we had changed the name back to the Blackwood Brothers, and were traveling as the Blackwood Brothers, as Marc being with us.

Shortly after that, he decided to go back and start up the Blackwood Gospel Quartet. So we just continued, the four of us, on as the Blackwood Brothers. That’s been four and a half years ago.

DJM:  So was it late ‘04 that the Blackwood Brothers name came back?
Randy:  Somewhere in that time frame, late ‘04, early 2005, somewhere in that time frame, I don’t remember exactly.

DJM:  What have some of the highlights been of the four and a half years you’ve spent with the Blackwood Brothers?
Randy:  Well, it’s everything that I dreamed it would be and more. To think of just a highlight would be impossible. There are just so many.

Getting to sing with the people I’ve long admired, and getting to know them on a personal basis, is no doubt a highlight.

This year we’ll be singing on the main stage at the Quartet Convention, which has been a dream since I was a kid.

DJM:  In fact, it’s a month and a day away. (At the time of the interview!)
Randy:  I’m counting the days. (Laughs.)

DJM:  You’re not the only one!
Randy:  A funny story: One of the highlights that turned out not to be a highlight was that ever since I was young, I wanted to sing in Merrimac Caverns. We got invited to sing there last year with Ed O’Neal and the Dixie Melody Boys. The day that we were to sing, I developed laryngitis. I could not make a sound. My chance to sing bass in that big cave was there, and I couldn’t utter a sound. But they did re-book us this year, and we’re back on the main stage at Merrimac, so I’m looking forward to that.

Probably the single biggest highlight, though, is that this is the Blackwood Brothers’ 75th Anniversary year. And a couple of weeks ago, we were in Tennessee with the Inmans—Clayton Inman’s family—hosted a sing for us there. Dr. Buck Morton was the emcee for the evening.

Halfway through it, they had us sit down on some stools on stage, and they presented a video presentation paying tribute to the family. It was such an honor for me to sit back and watch them paying tribute to Jimmy and the family. His mother, who is 88 years old, was there, and his wife, and grandkids. That was a highlight, because it was just special to really get a grasp on what you’re able to be a part of. So I would say that ranks way up there on the highlight list.

DJM:  You also had the opportunity to have a solo on a song the group did on a Gaither Homecoming video.
Randy:  That is true …

DJM:  And what was that like?
Randy:  That was a highlight. It almost turned out to be a nightmare for me. We did not know until the day before the taping what song we were going to sing. Bill Gaither picked the song off of our hymns album. And as luck would have it, he picked the song “More About Jesus,” which featured me on a verse. The problem was, I had laryngitis the day before the taping. I know it seems like a pattern here—I don’t get laryngitis that often—but I could not make a sound the day before! But to walk in that day and get to what goes on behind the scenes for a Gaither taping is just very mind-boggling. But when it came time for sing, God blessed, and we had a good stand there, and people were very receptive, and made us feel at home. It was just a very special day, without a doubt.

DJM:  The Blackwood Brothers recently signed with Daywind. Could you talk a little bit about that, and a certain special project in the works?
Randy:  Sure, there’s actually very exciting news. We did sign with Daywind. The first thing on the plate for us is that they’re wanting to put out a 75th Anniversary album. They’re hoping to have it out around November or before. We’ll do at least ten songs, Blackwood classics that we will sing. They’re also hoping to release some old RCA recordings or some vintage recordings. We’re not sure yet—they’re still discussing that.

And at the same time, they’re pitching us all new songs that we’re in the process of selecting for an all original album. So it’ll be the first original Blackwood Brothers release in many, many years. I’m not sure the last time a recording of all original songs was released.

DJM:  ‘84 or ‘85, I’d say, probably—over twenty years?
Randy:  Over twenty years, and I don’t know if that one in ‘84 or ‘85 was ten brand new songs. It was probably some re-cuts. So this will be the first all original recording done by the Blackwood Brothers in many years. We’re very excited about that.

DJM:  Any other thoughts or comments? And could you close that with how people can get in touch with the Blackwood Brothers, and you personally?
Randy:  I just want to say that I appreciate the opportunity to visit with you today…

DJM:  Thank you!
Randy:  …and without a doubt, a highlight for me has been to get to meet you and your family. Not just for you personally, but for what you do for Gospel music. Who would think that a young kid with a computer from Ohio could make such an impact in such a short period of time, but you have, and I want to congratulate you on that, and encourage you to keep on keepin’ on.

You can reach us by visiting our website, www.blackwoodbrothers.com. We also have a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Blackwood-Brothers-Quartet/102626178884).

You can contact me personally by email—randy@blackwoodbrothers.com—or my cell phone, 595-991-2510.

DJM:  You’re actually going to let me put that in the interview?
Randy:  I’m happy to put that out there.

DJM:  Wow!
Randy:  Not so much that I enjoy talking on the phone, but I would rather talk than type. I talk better than I type!
DJM:  Thank you very much!

Note: For all of you who actually read this all the way through, I tried something new today—making the whole post viewable on the main page, instead of hiding some of it under a “more” on its own page. Do you like this or prefer the old way?

Since I try hard to come up with insightful questions that I haven’t seen asked elsewhere, I typically prepare questions in advance, print them out, and bring them to the interview. For the first time, I completely forgot. So I had to wing it, making up questions as I went. And I think the interview might have been better for it. Perhaps I should make a point of forgetting more often.

You can read the formatted interview (with pictures) here; for a plain text version, click “Continue Reading.”

DJM: The Perrys first sang together on December 25, 1970. Did you sing occasionally at first, and if so, how long was it before you began singing together regularly?
Libbi: It was probably within 2 or 3 weeks that word started getting around. The church where I was raised was close-knit with other local churches, and so word just kinda spread. Probably within a couple of weeks, things just started happening. Before we knew it, we were going within 100 miles of home, and then it just kept getting further and further.

DJM: But you didn’t record until 1973, I think?
Libbi: Yes.

DJM. OK. So were you just recording classic songs at first, or did you record new songs from the start?
Libbi: We did some original stuff. But we were big original Hinsons fans, and Goodmans, and Rambos, so a couple of songs on there were from those artists. It’s funny because several years down the road, Kenny Hinson produced a couple of our albums. The first one he produced, he called us over to the side during a break and he said, “Listen, y’all have great potential, but let me give you a word of advice. Get your own songs.”

He didn’t mean that in a mean way or anything like that, but he was like, “A group that can get their own songs from writers or can write their own songs, it will just take off.” And that’s the best advice that anyone has ever given us. We did just exactly what he said, and doors just started opening.

DJM: So how long had you been on the road when you signed with Eddie Crook?
Libbi: The first project that we did with Eddie was called Looking Back, and that was 1984, the year before Tracy came with us.

DJM: Before or after the Kenny Hinson projects?
Libbi: That was after. Kenny Hinson did produce two albums before that. Then we had done our very first album. So before we recorded with Eddie, we had already recorded three albums.

Back then, we recorded about every two years, ’cause it’d take us that long to save up enough money to do an album. Back then, the first album we did, we did all the tracks and singing in one day. And then with Kenny, we went in and did tracks one day and vocals the next. They were fun days, but they were hard.

DJM: So you were then with Eddie Crook until you signed with Daywind?
Libbi: Yes. We signed with them until 1997, and then we signed with Daywind in February of ‘97.

DJM: So whose idea was it to start singing?
Libbi: The Christmas Day after my older brother passed away—July 30, 1970—that Christmas Day, my uncle came by to check on us, see how we were doing. We weren’t doing good at all. So he got on the phone, called the people from our church, from our community. Less than an hour later, our house was filled with people.

My mom had bought an old antique piano for my older brother and sister to learn to play on. And everybody just kinda gathered around the piano. The kids were running through, playing and stuff.  They stopped us kids and said, “Hey, come on up here—let’s see if y’all can sing.” And so they got me and my older sister Debra and my older brother Randy together, and we sang our very first song, “Jesus is Coming Soon.” So that’s just kinda how it started.

DJM: I assume that on that first day, you didn’t know this was something you’d still be doing 35 or 40 years later. When did you hit that point? Was there a certain event that prompted you to know this was a life calling?
Libbi: That was in 1982, when my younger brother passed away. It was like God really showed us that we had a story to tell, and that we needed to share it in a broader channel. So we just started praying about it, and we were like, “Okay, God, if this is what You want us to do, then You open the doors. We’re not gonna try to open them ourselves. If You open them, we’ll walk through them.”

And from that point, things just started happening. When you let God open the doors, you know beyond the shadow of the doubt that that’s what He wants you to do.

DJM: This is an off-the-wall question. I’ve heard the original manager of Gold City came up with an unusual nickname for you. What’s the story behind that?
Libbi: Came up with a nickname for me! (pauses)

Well, when I was in high school, in my senior year, for Christmas my dad and mom helped me get a car. A bunch of us kids at school were into the Dukes of Hazard—crazy, but true—so we all named our cars after somebody on the TV show. My car was named Flash, which is the beagle dog that’s on there.

So Floyd Beck, who owned Gold City when they started the group, he would call us to come up there and listen. He was like, “Now I want y’all kids to sit and take notes, and pay attention, because if singing’s what you’re gonna do, you need to learn from the best.” Gold City was just starting.

So I would hang out with his daughter. We were walking through the house one day, and I said, “Well, I’d better go get Flash fired up.”

And he’s like “Flash?”

And I was like, “Yeah, that’s the name of my car.”

And so he said, “Well, that’s what I’m gonna start calling you.”

He had gold satin jackets made for the group members, that had Gold City in big letters on the back, and their names on the front. So he called me one day, and said, “Hey, I want you to come to the house—I’ve got something for you.”

So when I got there, he handed me a Gold City jacket. On the left lapel, he had Flash embroidered on it. I was like, “Oh my gosh!” And I still have the jacket to this day.

He started that and it just went like wildfire. After Gold City got bigger, with group changes, it kinda died out a little bit.

I don’t know where you heard about it… (laughs)

DJM: [keeps straight face]
Libbi: …but yeah, that’s where it came from.

DJM: Something I’ve been curious about: I’m not too familiar with the history of Daywind. I believe Dottie Leonard Miller started it, but how many years had it been going when you joined? And who was with Daywind at that point?
Libbi: I’m not sure what exactly the year was that they started. But Dottie worked for Calvary Records before she started what was New Day then.

Calvary was the Hinson’s label. I guess she got in the know of how things run, how things work and everything. But she started New Day for just soundtracks. She just advanced and advanced and ended up with the record company.

The groups that were there when we signed were Brian Free and Assurance, Bo Hinson and the New Hinsons, Jeff Steele and the Steeles, and I’m wanting to say the Cumberland Boys. They had some other groups, but they were on the smaller labels.

I’m not sure what exactly the year was, but that’s how it got started.

DJM: What are some highlights from the current project, Almost Morning? What are some special songs to you, or anything along those lines.
Libbi: Almost Morning has really caught us by surprise. We’d gone two years on Look No Further, so we were overdue for a new project.

When you release a project, you’ll get some good talk about it and everything. But the talk on this one really started in advance, because we got the songs out at a couple of camp meetings, and a couple of those were webcast. The songs were posted on the Internet, on YouTube and different places, and people were just responding to two of the main songs, “Did I Mention” and “If You Knew Him.”

“Did I Mention,” which Kyla Rowland wrote, is just a simple song that says, “You know what, I just love Him! He’s brought me so far, He’s been faithful to every promise He ever made, did I mention that I love him!”

It’s just so simple, and in this society, I think we go through our days and we forget to tell Him. But this song is a reminder that no matter what we’re going through, He’s faithful. He’s never forsaken us. And I just want to tell Him that I love Him!

Joseph [Habedank] wrote “If You Knew Him,” our new single. It’s an incredible song.

DJM: I was going to ask about that song in particular. How long ago did he write it, and when did he pitch it to you?
Libbi: Tracy asked him back in October or November, he said, “Joseph, I really want for our new album a really good resurrection song. I really feel that, in the day and age we live in, we need to let the people know where we stand as Christians, what we believe in.”

So Joseph went over to Morristown, Tennessee, over to Rodney Griffin’s house. He stayed a couple of days, and Rodney kinda took Joseph under his wings, showing him the art of the trade and stuff.

Now Joseph never says anything about his songs. He’ll just give us a CD, and he’s like, “Here’s some songs. Y’all can just listen to them, and if you like them, fine, and if you don’t no big deal.”

So we were headed to Florida and Tracy put the CD in. When that song came on, he immediately started weeping. He said, “Guys, I just want y’all to come up here.”

He said, “If I could have written a song from my heart, this would’ve been it. Joseph, you wrote exactly what I wanted to say.”

For probably 30 minutes, we listened to that song over and over, and every one of us was just in tears.

You never know how a song’s gonna turn out until you get it recorded. When we finished recording it, and Wayne Haun sent us the finished product, we were like, “Wow…” I mean, I sit back sometimes, and I say, “That’s not us. That’s just beyond our capability.” And it just has the touch of God on it.

DJM: I just love the title track “Almost Morning,” the lyrics and the tune. I saw a post online that there’s a neat story behind that song, too, and how the song impacted your family.
Libbi: Joseph wrote the song and wanted me to sing it. When he played it for me, I looked at him and said, “Joseph, there’s no way that I can convey this message like what you can.” You’d have to know the background of the way Joseph was raised, by a single mom with three kids, and a lot of stuff that they went through.

I have a niece, my next-to-the-oldest niece. She had gotten out on drugs and alcohol, and just was really in bad shape. She come to see us sing one night, and she said to me, “Mimi, I’ve gotta have some help. If I don’t something bad’s gonna happen.”

We said, “Well, go home, get enough clothes to stay a month, and we’ll help you every way we can. But you’ve gotta live by our rules, what we say.”

So she came and we would take her with us on the road and everything. The first three weeks were so hard. I said, “There’s just no way. If God changes her, it’s gonna be a miracle.” I knew deep down inside that she has a love for God, but the devil had just overtaken her.

So Joseph sang this song one night on the bus. He was playing it for us; they had just written it that week. The next night, we were in Calhoun, Georgia. Now I have a history of doing things that you just ordinarily wouldn’t do. Tracy just stays on pins and needles, because he never knows what’s next!

The service was going great, but God kept bringing this song to mind. So I just stopped everything and said, “Tracy, I know you’re probably gonna kill me, but God is just wantin’ this song sung.” I said, “It’s a brand new song—the guys just wrote it this week.”

Matthew (Holt) was with us then—he helped co-write the song, and I said, “They just sang it for us last night on the bus. But God wants it sung tonight for a reason, though I don’t know what it is.”

Well, my niece was sitting on the second row. He sang the first verse and got down to about the first line in the chorus, and she ran to the altar.

I was just like, “Oh, my gosh!” She stayed there for ten or fifteen minutes. When she came up, she totally surrendered her life back to Christ. It’s because of that song. She said, “That song made me realize that, yeah, I’ve strayed, and I’ve been in the dark places, but God loves me, and He’s gonna take care of me.”

So that song has had a special meaning for our family and for her. We actually dedicated that song and the album to her. We gave her the first CD, and when she read it, she started crying. She said, “I can’t believe y’all would do this for me—y’all have already helped me so much.”

I was like, “This is just a confirmation—we want to let you know that we’re so proud and thankful that you allowed God to do a work in your life.”

DJM: To wrap up, any other thoughts or comments, and how can people get in touch with you?
Libbi: This album, Almost Morning, has a variety of different songs. It’s still Perrys style, but we kind of stepped outside the box a little bit. Every song has a message. We don’t want just filler songs.

It’s kind of funny, but this is the first album that we’ve sung every song just about every night.

DJM: So there were songs from Look No Further that you didn’t regularly stage?
Libbi: Yeah, there were several, probably three or four that we sang maybe once or twice and that was it. But this album, just about every night, we’ll sing every song, with maybe an exception or two. But every weekend, we wind up getting those songs in.

So to me, it’s our favorite album. I can sit and listen to it. Now I never sit and listen to our stuff at all, I just don’t do that. But this album I listen to more than anything. It’s just an incredible album, full of the message of the Word. So we’re hoping that it’s going to change lives, all through God. If people will just listen to the words, there’s something for everybody. That’s what we’re hoping for the album,

People can get in touch with us through www.perrysministries.com. We’re on Facebook with the “Perrys Friends Club,” on twitter at www.twitter.com/theperrys70, and we have our individual ones, which you can find through the group accounts. So we’re just trying to stay in touch with our friends and our fans, just trying to let them know that if they need us, we’re here.

DJM: All right, and thank you very much!

A formatted version of the interview is here; a plain text version is below.

DJM: You grew up in Southern Gospel, as the son of a professional singer, Clayton Inman (and see, Mr. Inman, I kept my word and put your name in the interview, and I did spell it correctly, too). Did you know from childhood that you wanted to do this, or was that a later development?

Scotty: Absolutely not. I was an athlete; my goal in life was to be a major league baseball player. And actually, up until my senior year of high school, I actually had colleges—junior colleges, more so—that were offering me baseball scholarships to come play.

But at a youth camp in my senior year, I got my call to ministry. And honestly, my passion for wanting to do sports completely left. My parents were like, “Are you sure? This isn’t just a passing fad?” They were trying to make sure, since it was all I did for seventeen years. Then I decided I wanted to sing for a living, so I left it all to come sing.

DJM: So you joined Poet Voices in 2001. Was that your first quartet experience, or were you in local groups before that?
Scotty: I was very lucky—that was my first one. The only two groups I’ve ever sung on stage with in my life are Poet Voices and Triumphant.

I’d never sung in my youth. My first audience I sung in front of, I was seventeen years old. That’s the first time, and I’m 27 now. So I’ve been singing in front of people for 10 years. It’s been a fast journey.

I will say that my dad being involved in music did help get me that first position. And I’m not naïve to that. But I think that when I got there I was able to learn a lot.

DJM: Was Turn To the One the only Poet Voices recording you were on?
Scotty: We actually did a CD called Timeless, a table project, that a lot of people loved. We did a lot of old Suwanee River Boys songs, a couple of old hymns… To this day, a number of singers I know tell me they love it. It was just a great CD.

DJM: Did you join Triumphant Quartet before Poet Voices came off the road, or did Poet Voices retire and then you joined Triumphant?
Scotty: Poet Voices announced their retirement. My father and I were going to start our own trio. Right about that time, three guys in our hometown were going to start their own group, and they needed a baritone and a lead. The rest is history.

During the last three months of Poet Voices, when I was home I was beginning this group, and here we are.

Phil Cross, Dale Brock, and I did the last concert together. Josh Simpson and Tim Duncan had to go ahead and move on, since the groups they were going with needed them. But I was lucky enough that our group did not start until after the final concert. So it was very special to be there.

DJM: Was singing with your father something that you had in mind that you wanted to do, or was it something that just worked out when Triumphant started coming together?
Scotty: It was definitely I immediately thought would be neat. He’s traveled my whole life, so to get to travel with him…I kind of get those years back, in a roundabout way. Now we spend a lot of time together.

So it was something that I always thought would happen, but I never thought it would be at this magnitude. But it’s been a lot of fun.

DJM: So do you sing baritone because both groups you’ve been with have had long-time, established lead singers, or is there something about singing baritone that you specifically wanted to do?
Scotty: Great question. And me being a student of great singers, I believe, there’s no doubt in my mind that my ultimate goal is to one day be able to carry the lead position.

I’m taking vocal lessons until the present day. Just because I have a full-time job in music doesn’t mean that I’ve arrived, cause I haven’t. I took a lesson last week. When my final note is sung, I want to still be the best I possibly could be.

A lot of people say, “Just go up there and sing.” And there’s a lot of truth to that, but there’s also a technique, something that’s more pleasing to people’s ears, if they hear a tone in your voice that makes them say, “I like that.”

You know, Glen Payne up until his dying day took vocal lessons. I mean, if Glen Payne took vocal lessons until his dying day, then I need to take about three a week!

DJM: Of the songs Triumphant has recorded over the years you’ve been on the road, which one would you point to as most likely to be an enduring classic—the sort of song other groups will sing after you’ve retired?
Scotty: Now as far as ones other groups will sing after we’re gone, I’m not sure if this fits that mold or not, but “He Is” and “The Old White Flag” are songs we can’t not do.

“Don’t Let the Sandals Fool Ya” is the one I think is more likely to get sung by other groups down the line, but as far as our group’s classic songs, I think at this point, “He Is,” “The Old White Flag,” and maybe “The Great I Am Still Is.”

DJM: What are some highlights from Triumphant’s new CD, Everyday?
Scotty: My favorite song is “Somebody Died For Me.” I tend to be a sucker for story-songs. I enjoy songs that take you from point A to point B, like that. I think it’s the most powerful song on the CD, hands-down, and not because I’m singing it! The words alone—it’s one of those songs you don’t want to mess up with your voice!

As far as what I think is the hit from that CD, it would be “When the Trumpet Sounds.” Live, for lack of a better word, it smokes. I knew when the track was cut, even before our voices were on it, “Wow, that thing has got a groove to it!” And it just does. I think it’s going to be our live / radio connection, hopefully—something we haven’t had to this point.

DJM: Is songwriting a long-term interest for you, or a fairly recent development?
Scotty: Yes, it’s definitely a long term interest, something that I want to expand greatly in the next three or four years.

The Kingsmen are cutting a song of mine right now, “When It’s All Said and Done.”

DJM: Is that the first cut you’ve had by a group besides Triumphant?
Scotty: Oh, no—Legacy Five did “Know So Salvation,” and the Kingdom Heirs just cut a co-write with Dianne Wilkinson, “When the Story of My Life is Told.”

I tend to lean more toward traditional Gospel quartet music, mainly because it’s kind of a lost art. At this point, a lot of songs being written are more progressive, which I love, but there’s a need for that traditional style, and that’s where I’m getting a lot of my cuts at this point.

I’m excited about the future, and yes, I’ve got a lot of songs in the works!

DJM: Neat! In your opinion, what makes Southern Gospel music Southern Gospel, as opposed to some other genre?
Scotty: Honestly, it’s the message in the songs and the hope it brings to people.

Also, I think it’s power harmonies. That’s something other genres don’t have.

You know, I love all genres of music, but I truly think some of the best singers in the nation are in this industry. Lack of publicity is a reason why people don’t know it.

Put these singers against anybody in secular music. Make them stand on stage with just a floor monitor, no special effects, no pyro and smoke and mirrors—closed-eye blind test—and I think people would pick the Southern Gospel singer a lot of the time.

DJM: If you were to assemble a dream quartet, with or without yourself singing lead or baritone, who would you pick to sing with you?
Scotty: I love this question!

I’m not going to put myself in it, because I’m not in my dream team quartet.

DJM: You could be the emcee.
Scotty: I’m going to be the manager!

This is not typical, but I enjoy all their voices.

My tenor will be Pat Hoffmaster, from the Blackwoods in the 70s. He passed on, but he would still be a legend today if he was still singing.

My lead and baritone may be switching off on each other, because they’re both baritone/leads. Duane Allen and Jack Toney.

On bass, Tim Riley.

I think that would be different than anyone else’s quartet you’d ever hear, but it’s my dream team!

DJM: And since most of those singers are passed away or off the road, who would you name from current Southern Gospel singers, other than members of your current group? You can put yourself in this one if you want.
Scotty: No, I’m still going to keep myself out of it.

Mark Trammell is the ultimate baritone.

Aaron McCune on bass.

I’ll put Terry Franklin on tenor and Bill Shivers on lead.

DJM: Bill Shivers is a singer’s singer—I’m amazed at how many other singers name him. Mark Trammell, too. Jumping topics, where do you see Southern Gospel going in the future? What do you think an NQC 25 years down the road might look like?
Scotty: My concern is that you hear a lot about needing to go after the young people—and I agree with that—but I think there’s something that makes Southern Gospel Southern Gospel. There’s a classiness that’s involved, there’s a polish that’s involved. I think if you become something you’re not—if Southern Gospel doesn’t stay true to its roots—we’ll lose our genre.

I think people enjoy artists that stay true to what they are. Young people are not going to go hear someone who is trying to sound like one of their favorite artists in another genre when they can just go hear that artist. That’s my opinion. As a young person, if I’ve got a Southern Gospel group who’s trying to be NewSong or Point of Grace, I’m like, “I’ll just go hear Point of Grace or NewSong.”

Will there always be Southern Gospel fans? Yes. That was the debate 20 years ago, and we’re still here, and in some ways flourishing even more than we were then. I think 20 years from now—when you reach a certain age you need a certain music to listen to, and I think the contemporary volume alone will bring people to another genre.

DJM: Any other thoughts or comments?
Scotty: We’re just now a year and a half into being on the road full time, and it’s been an overwhelming response from people. We’re excited about the future, and hope that the same guys you see on stage that started the group seven years ago will be the same guys you see on stage seven years from now. I think that’s the key to our success. All five of us know that there’s strength in numbers, and you’re only as good as who you’re with. The key to our success is keeping God first and sticking together as a group.

Our website is www.triumphantquartet.com. You can find anything you want to find on there, dates and all.

For a formatted version of the interview, click here. A text version is below.

DJM: I’ll just start off with a general question. How did you become interested in Southern Gospel?
Phil: Well, I had never been to any concert in my life until I was a freshman in college. I was a student at God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. Our public relations director used to be involved in professional Southern Gospel music and knew a lot of the performers.

He called me one day and said, “Hey, do you want to go to a concert tonight?”

I said, “Sure, I’ve never been to one—let’s go!”

It happened to be the Singing Americans and the Cathedrals at the Landmark Baptist Temple in Cincinnati. Michael English was singing “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy,” and George Younce and his crowd were singing “Somebody Touched Me,” with Danny Funderburk.

DJM: So that would’ve been ‘84 or 85, then?
Phil: It would’ve been about ‘83 or ‘84, somewhere in that time frame.

DJM: I think they released “Somebody Touched Me” in ‘84.
Phil: It was just released, it was brand new—it would’ve been ‘84. What a phenomenal thing!

The very first night that the new Gaither Vocal Band were all together, in Orlando a few weeks ago, we were on the program with Gaither that weekend. We did all the Florida concerts. And I had not heard Michael English sing “I Bowed on My Knees and Cried Holy” in person since ‘84, when he did it with the Singing Americans. So in ‘09, twenty-five years later, I’m hearing him sing it again, and it was like deja vu. My very first concert to have ever been to, he sang that, and twenty-five years later…it was very interesting!

That was what piqued my interest.

DJM: Were you a vocalist who picked up trumpet, or a trumpeter who started singing?
Phil: I was a singer who picked up trumpet. But I picked up trumpet as soon as you could—the first year you can actually play trumpet is about the fifth grade, because that is when your teeth are set enough to be able to have a embouchure. So I started playing the trumpet in fifth grade.

But I was already singing by then. I wasn’t too accomplished of a vocalist, but I did sing first, and then play trumpet.

DJM: Who would you point to as your greatest musical influences, and why?
Phil: First of all, probably a guy by the name of Jerry Hayden, who was the song leader at our church when I was a boy. He was my first trumpet teacher, and a tremendous song leader. He used to make the crowd of about 200 people—not a huge church—sing like the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. He would get medleys going, because the pianist and organist were very fluent at improvisation. And so he would just sing and sing the hymn or Gospel song, and then as it felt right, he’d go right into another chorus, and another. And it just would go from there! We’d sing for 20 or 25 minutes, never stopping, just going chorus to chorus to chorus. To me, that was just fluent music. So that was my first, biggest influence.

Also, all the records my mom played as a child had a huge influence. Mom loved Gospel music, but it always had to have a woman singing in it. So we had the Bill Gaither Trio, the Speer Family, the Rambos, the Downings, Henry and Hazel Slaughter, the Happy Goodman Family—as you see, there were no male quartets in any of that! I don’t remember Mom even buying a quartet record if there was not a woman singing in it. The Gethsemane Quartet was a big one she loved, but it had women in it.

Probably the Bill Gaither Trio was my earliest influence because they had kids’ records. I would listen to all those kids’ records, and knew all the songs by the time I was eight or nine years old. So in the professional realm, it would be Bill and Gloria, and in the personal realm, it would be Jerry Hayden.

DJM: Okay, now this is off the wall. Speaking of male quartets, if you were going to put together a dream team male quartet, with yourself singing lead or baritone, who would you pick?
Phil: Well, first thing I would do is put Jim Brady at the baritone and extract myself! Because it would not be a dream team if I was singing.

I would definitely put David Phelps on the tenor, and I would put Wes Hampton on the lead. I would put Jim Brady at the baritone, having bowed out of that position, and I would most likely put Tim Duncan as the bass. Those are probably my four favorite male vocalists.

Now, I don’t know, Doug Anderson’s pretty close in there, too. Jim Brady and Doug Anderson would have to be alternates, because those are both strong favorites of mine. Or if either one of them had to have the night off, I would toodle along at the baritone.

DJM: When did you start touring with Kim?
Phil: Well, in a church setting where we did extended-length revival meetings and church conventions and camp-meetings, we started six weeks before we were married, in August of 1986. We did a fill-in at a camp-meeting in Petersburg, Michinan, when the song evangelist’s nephew died unexpectedly. They had to leave, and that left the last weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) without any special singers. It was a decent size gathering of maybe 400 people, and they had no special musicians all of a sudden.

Kim’s dad was the evangelist, so the president of the church camp came up to him and said, “Do you think your daughter and her fiancée would finish the camp-meeting for us?”

So we threw our stuff in the car, grabbed her brother to go with us as our chaperone (since we weren’t married yet), and headed up to Michigan. We put repertoire together and every day we would just rehearse more and more repertoire, and we sang out the rest of the camp meeting. That was our first engagement.

That’s where it started, and we did that for almost fourteen years.

DJM: Was it just occasionally on the weekends, or was it pretty regularly?
Phil: It was pretty regularly. We made a good majority—probably 70%—of  our income from that.

At one point, it wasn’t that much of an income, because I was working as a regional claims manager for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. During that time, we sang every weekend, but we would do it within driving distance of Indianapolis, where my job was. We did that fourteen years.

DJM: When did you start bringing the family on stage to sing with you?
Phil: As soon as they were about two years old, we’d put the children up on stage to sing one song with us in the meeting. Say we had six nights that we were singing, and three special songs a night. Then sometimes, maybe on Friday night, we’d put one of the children up to sing with us.

As they got older and began to sing harmonies, we just used them more and more. And I’m for “If it’s working, you work it!” That’s my philosophy. Putting them up early on helped to circumvent stage fright…

DJM: For a while, I think you were known as “Phil and Kim,” or “Phil and Kim Collingsworth.” At what point did you make the decision to change your name to “The Collingsworth Family”?
Phil: We actually changed that with our project in 2003. Strength for the Journey was the first one that was noted as “The Collingsworth Family.” Prior to that, the two national releases we’d had  said “Phil and Kim Collingsworth.”

In those days, Roger Talley was our producer. When we were producing Strength for the Journey, he came to me and said, “You’re very early in your career. This would be a good time for you to make a name change.”

He said, “Of course, you have Jeff and Sheri Easter,” and it’s Mike and Kelly Bowling now. He said, “That’s the direction you can go, and be known as a duo with a person singing along with you. If you really want to purvey what you’re really doing, I would suggest you change it to ‘The Collingsworth Family.’”

Roger’s been around, and I took his advice. So officially we changed it in 2003.

DJM: So did you make any recordings before you signed with Crossroads, and are they available anywhere?
Phil: We did make two recordings before we signed with Crossroads. The first one was called Lifting Our Voices, and the second one was called I’m Too Far. They’re all out of print, because they’re more than five years old, and I put them out of print after five years. If they’re available anywhere, they’re used copies off of eBay. People have them—we sold maybe 15 or 20,000 of them so they’re laying around on people’s shelves somewhere.

Silver & Ivory, the instrumental one, was before Crossroads, and also Kim’s first Sunday Morning Ivories.

DJM: But Crossroads picked up at Sunday Morning Ivories.
Phil: Yes, they did—they have picked it up on distribution.

DJM: Let’s jump topics. One of the first concert reviews I read of your family described it as a “variety show.” You rarely have more than two songs in a row with the same configuration, unlike most groups, who will have the same personnel on stage all night. Is that intentional, and why do you do it like that?
Phil: We do it like that because it flat-out works for us.

It works because in this media age, people’s attention span is so short. So moving around the configurations on stage does two things. It helps us to be able to re-voice the sound, and it also make an an interesting change, rather than four or five people standing there the whole night.

Also, we intermix instrumental numbers throughout, and we’re not all playing on the instrumental numbers. Some of them are Kim, some of them are me, some are the girls on violin, and we’re starting to get Philip on guitar. So that is all happening throughout the concert, and we have to have changes for that to happen.

We build a concert based on the atmosphere the song creates, and the atmosphere in the auditorium. So it’s a switch on and off as to what song should come next, what would work, and most of the time it’s not the same as the one before.

DJM: So you change the configuration on the spot—you don’t work with a fixed set list?
Phil: Oh, yes! We typically know where we’re starting and where we’re ending, but what happens in between is up to the Lord.

DJM: I saw on the website that you were working on a new project. Can you tell us anything about it, and when will it be coming out?
Phil: Oh, sure! Man, it is going to be exciting!

Wayne Haun is going to be producing this one exclusively. We’re doing it all in Nashville.

DJM: Will you be using the Prague Symphony?
Phil: If he has enough other ones to do at the same time, he will take it to Prague. I’m thinking it will probably end up being the Nashville String Machine, just because he is so busy with playing the keyboards for Signature Sound that he’s not doing nearly the number of productions he’s done in the past. I believe this year he said he’s only doing four or five vocal projects, plus a full-scale Lillenas fall choral collection. We’re excited, because Kim’s song “The Blood of Jesus” will be in that choral collection.

We start tracks on Monday [April 13], and we have some tremendous material. We’re excited!

This particular one will be all vocals—we’re not putting any instrumentals on it.

DJM: I was just about to ask that!
Phil: That’s because we plan to do an all-instrumental album either later this year or the first part of next year, and we wanted to save all the instrumentals for that album.

DJM: And that ties into another question I had. You’ve done your mainline releases once every two years, pretty predictably since you started—2003, 2005, 2007, and now 2009. Is that intentional, and why? I mean, most groups do projects a year apart, or a maximum of a year and a half. Why do you do two years?
Phil: Here’s the reason why: It works for us!

We get a maximum number of sales on the current project. We put a lot into the recording process. It might be interesting for you to know that our cost of recording an album is almost triple what some of the other ones are. That’s what we put into it, because we put time into it, and time is money when you’re in the recording studio. We put a great deal of time into it because we want it to be a lasting product—something you listen to years down the road and say, “That’s still good quality.” We feel quality rather than quantity is the key issue here.

In the off year, we do videos, books, and other off products. Then we go back to finding a whole new repertoire for another album.

Once you come out with the new one, the old one begins to slide in sales. The people who have been very successful in sales typically do one every two years. Look at the main Gaither Vocal Band projects, the Martins (every two or sometimes three years)… We’re better off to do a lesser amount of projects and shoot for higher quality. We prefer to take the money we would spend on that middle year project  that’s not nearly as good, and lump it all into the big one. That’s our philosophy.

DJM: When We Still Believe came out, I heard “Blessed Be the Lamb,” and thought, “That song needs to go to radio.” When I saw that it was going to be your new single, my reaction was, “What took so long?” So I’m curious—how do you pick radio singles?
Phil: Here’s how we pick. Specifically, we pick based on what’s out there at the current moment. You look at everyone else who is currently making radio releases, and the types of songs they’re releasing. Just because of my type of personality, the thing I’m not gonna do is get in there and grovel or push when you have another set of artists who are releasing similar type songs. So I’m gonna try to release a different type song at that given point.

I also like my final release to radio from an album to be my strongest.

DJM: Really? Most groups do the opposite. So why do you do it that way?
Phil: I do it that way because I like keeping the album’s sales at their maximum until the new one hits. On this particular project [We Still Believe, released in 2007], sales are still on an upward curve. That makes good financial sense.

It makes good sense in marketing, because you don’t get everyone like, “We’re tired of that thing—we’ve heard it for two years.” If you save your best for last, it kind of continues an uphill climb to the very end, then plateaus off and falls off the radar.

It doesn’t really work as well if it starts on the plateau and slides all the way. If you start with the strongest one, and then maybe the next one’s not quite so strong, and the next one’s not quite so strong, and so on.

It has worked well on this one, because our very first single was “We Still Believe.” It didn’t even make the top 40—I think it made 41. Then we did “He Already Sees,” and that went to 36. “I Can Trust Jesus” went to 26 or 24, somewhere in there. “The Blood of Jesus” went to 21. So, who knows what “Blessed Be the Lamb” will do?

DJM: What is your long-term vision for the Collingsworth Family? Where do you see the group ten or twenty years down the road?
Phil: In-laws and grandkids! (Laughs)

I definitely plan to do this the rest of my life should God allow me to! I love it—I love it in the same ilk that Bill Gaither loves it. He doesn’t need to do it one more time. He could probably stay home in his easy chair for the rest of his life and have a great time. But this is what he enjoys doing and thrives on, and this is what I love!

I don’t consider this hard work. This has never been work. I’ve always heard, “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” That’s how I view this.

Kim’s brother, who pastors a church, went with us one weekend. We did three concerts that weekend, and got done on Sunday night. He helped load in and load out, ran the table, and everything. He said, “Dear Lord in Heaven, how do you do this every weekend? This is the hardest work I’ve ever seen in my life!”

We just fell on the floor laughing at him! He said, “I never dreamed it was this kind of work.” But it’s not work to us, because we love it, we love it, we love it!

I hope to do this the rest of my life with Kim right along beside me. We’ll just see what configuration of the children will be with us. The older girls are very adamant about staying on board, but as a family, we’re praying for God’s will to be done in their lives.

Both of the girls have serious boyfriends. Courtney is dating a fellow who’s going to be a medical doctor, and Brooklyn’s dating a guy who’s going to be a mechanical engineer. Both are great guys, and both have a strong interest in our family’s ministry.

DJM: Are either of them musically inclined?
Phil: They’re not. Neither one of them sing! (Laughs).

DJM: So I guess you’ll just have to wait for the grandkids then!
Phil: I shouldn’t say they are not musically inclined. Brooklyn’s boyfriend is a good guitarist and sings some. Courtney’s boyfriend doesn’t sing much, but he does enjoy music.

So we don’t know how it will pan out, but we do plan to keep a configuration of the Collingsworth Family—us and the children, and maybe some in-laws—and just keep it right on rolling down the road! We plan to add a second bus, so that the married kids can have their own bus, and Kim and I have ours. We’ll just see how it all works out. Only God knows.

DJM: Any other thoughts or comments?
Phil: Well, 2010 is showing a transition for us. We, first of all, just this week, purchased Ernie Haase’s trailer—Ernie’s buying a bigger one—and we bought a roadcase for a grand piano from Bill Gaither. We’re buying a Yamaha C7 Grand Piano and putting it on the road with us, along with a Roscoe lift to put it in and out of churches and theater halls.

Starting in November, we’re starting a series called “Special Evenings.” Our first one will kick off in Cincinnati, November 13, at the Taft Theater in downtown Cincinnati. It will be called “A Hometown Special Evening,” and it will feature the Collingsworth Family and Larnelle Harris together.

We’re going to take this across the country to theaters. These will be events our own office sets up, and we ticket and we promote ourselves.

We’re going that direction, first of all on some very sound advice from Bill Gaither. It’s outside of the box for the Southern Gospel realm, but Bill’s never been an inside-the-box guy.

DJM: Will Larnelle be with you on every date?
Phil: Not on every date. It will be a different artist every date. Not all of them will be musicians—we may do comedians, motivational speakers, different sorts of things.

For this “Special Evening” series, we already have dates booked in Roanoke, Virginia at the Jefferson Center—these are all downtown theater type situations—and we’re negotiating with another theater in Indianapolis right now.

My goal is to do fifteen of those in 2010. If it goes well, we’ll expand it, and if it doesn’t, we’ll shrink it! I’m not a smoke-and-mirrors guy—I’m absolutely a bottom-line guy. If it works, you work it, and if it doesn’t, you try something else. Kim and I are simply seeking God’s direction and going from there. If this works, great, and if it doesn’t, I’m not embarrassed to say, “Okay, guys, we failed on that one. Let’s turn around and try something else.” I’ve seen the smart guys do that.

So that’s the direction we’re going. If these Special Evening events work out, we’ll expand it to even more in 2011.

DJM: So would it be fair to call these Homecoming-type events?
Phil: They’ll be similar. Basically, it will be a great venue for the Collingsworth Family to premiere our repertoire from our albums, and we’ll usually have at least one guest with us, and sometimes more.

DJM: And how can people get in touch?
Phil: Our office’s contact information is online at www.thecollingsworthfamily.com. For bookings, contact the Dominion Agency, www.thedominionagency.com.

DJM: Thank you very much!
Phil: You’re welcome!

For a formatted version (including photos, courtesy of Hannah Lefchik), click here: southerngospelblog.com/features/200901.pdf. A plain text version is below.

I’d like to offer a special word of thanks to fellow blogger Wes Burke. When he posted a brief interview with Wes Hampton a couple months back, it planted a seed in my mind—”Hey, it just might be possible to interview a member of the Gaither Vocal Band!” So thanks to both Wes’s, here you go…

DJM: How did you get interested in Christian music, and what led to a desire to perform it?
Wes: When I grew up, my parents always had it in our car, and at home—the 8-tracks with the Imperials and Steve Green. Those two were the main ones that really influenced me from an early age. I also heard secular singers like Billy Joel, Ronnie Milsap, and Whitney Houston. They were amazing vocalists, but I always gravitated more toward the Gospel stuff. I really loved The Best of the Imperials—I fell in love with their music.

I was still pretty shy as far as singing. Other than children’s choir, I didn’t sing in front of people. I didn’t get courage to sing till I was in eighth grade, middle school, getting a little more courage to start singing in public.

Singing has been a part of my life from a really early age, but it’s just gotten more intense. I’d like to think that my voice has grown the longer I’ve done it.

DJM: What did you do musically before joining the Gaither Vocal Band?
Wes: I did do some stuff in college at Trevecca Nazarene—I traveled with the Trevedores for a couple of years. We did PR for the school; we would travel weekends, singing at churches, and in the summer we would do music for student youth camps. I really, really enjoyed that. My wife brought me down to Birmingham, where we still are. I got involved interning with the worship staff at our church down here. I started working with the praise team. I was eventually hired part time, then full time once I graduated in 2000. My primary job there was to lead praise band and vocal team. I would pick out some of the music, and lead worship when worship pastor wanted me to or was out. It was kind of like an associate worship minister there. I really loved it. I loved working with soloists as well, and some choir. It wasn’t a traditional choir, but all the praise teams come together, and an open choir, whoever wanted to be be a part of that. I really enjoyed that, they gave me a lot of hands on experience as far as working in the church setting, leading worship, being in front of congregation. I also worked part time in retail when I was working part time at church and trying to finish school. I learned a whole lot in those few years, like how to live on a budget!

I also sang in high school in a quartet and trio. Churches had us come and sing, and they took up a love offering. It was the coolest thing to do what we really enjoyed doing—to get paid for it was just a bonus! So music is something that has just grown and got more intense.

DJM: So did you do any recordings in high school or college?
Wes: Yes, but I don’t talk about them!

DJM: Oh, sorry, I can skip that question!
Wes: No, that’s okay, I can answer. Actually, we did record stuff at Trevecca. My wife was in a mixed ensemble with seven or eight people and I was with the Trevedores. We did a CD together—half a CD with her group, half with my group. It was really rough, but it’s still fun to go back and listen every now and then, to how bad I was!

But there’s some really good stuff in there too. We learned how to become better singers. We heard vocal inflections and placement that did not work, and that made us better singers as well.

Then I also did a couple CDs with Brook Hill. The church I was involved with in Birmingham did one in 98/99 called Whosoever, and then another one a couple of years later, called Rain Down. Rain Down was a lot of fun for me; I produced the solos. It was a big learning experience for me. Those were all that I know of besides the Vocal Band titles.

Oh, and my wife and I did a lot of studio singing, background vocals for local artists.

DJM: For the first few years, it seemed like a lot of people were discussing how your voice and range compared to David Phelps. Now that you’ve been there somewhere towards four years, are you seeing less of that?
Wes: Yeah, I am!

I remember I talked to David when I first got in the group. He said, “It took a couple years for people to start to accept me. That’s just part of it.”

It was true. I’ve been with the group three and a half years now, and it really took about two years to get established, where people were accepting me and starting to like me, and like the new sound.

It came to a point, too, where God really spoke to me and I realized He told me to be me and to not try to be or do what someone else does. I’m no David Phelps. I cannot hold on to those C-sharps like he can—he’s the only one I’ve heard who can do that!

I highly respect that, his talent, and what he brought to the vocal band in those years.

What he told me stuck with me. And I really feel like people now are giving me respect, if you want to call it that, accepting the fact that I am in this role and that I’m not geared to take David’s place. I cannot be that—I’m hear to bring what I can bring to the party, and hope people enjoy that, and what this Vocal Band brings.

Each Vocal Band brings something different—each is unique, not that one is better than the group before that, it’s always different and always interesting. But it’s hopefully always at a certain standard, and hopefully that bar is never lowered.

I think most important thing for me is to know that this is where God has placed me. I have peace and confidence in that, and I don’t try to be someone God has not called me to be.

DJM: So what has it been like to sing with David these past three months?
Wes: It’s been a lot of fun singing with David filling in. The blend was so nice—he and I would switch tenor depending on what song it was. If it was one of his big staple songs, he’d sing it, and it would give me a vocal break and sing a little lower. He and I would each do some baritone, also, with Marsh singing lead. So we were singing any of three different parts. It was nice to have some rest there, with usually singing the tenor all night.

DJM: Speaking of David Phelps and his big songs, are there any Vocal Band songs from that era that the group doesn’t stage since they don’t fit your voice?
Wes: Yeah, one of the big ones that we haven’t done is “Let Freedom Ring.” That is really his song. And, Bill being fair to me and wanting me to blend, didn’t want to put me in a position that was difficult for me to succeed at. He knows what I can do vocally, and what I can’t, and what Guy, David, and Marsh can and can’t do vocally, and he works with that.

Actually, I think “Let Freedom Ring” is the only song we haven’t done that was a big one when he was in the group. I think that’s it; we’ve done about everything else—“Hide Thou Me,” “Love of God,” “O Love that Will Not Let Me Go,” “I Pledge My Allegiance.”

DJM: Are there any vocal exercises you’ve done to work on your voice and perhaps expand your range, both before and after joining the GVB?
Wes: Not necessarily. I don’t do a lot of vocal stuff on a concert date because my voice warms up naturally. There are some nice low notes when I wake up, and as the day goes on I start warming up and it gets higher. I do lip rolls, humming, and head voice to loosen up my voice.

Probably the biggest change since joining the Vocal Band is more stamina. When I was leading worship, it was in a lower register (range), and that register was a lot stronger with my upper range not as strong. I’ve had to build that back up since joining the Vocal Band. It was a struggle for the first year, but I’d like to think I’ve got more stamina, like to think that the sound has improved.

DJM: If you could pick one earlier GVB member to do a concert with, who—and why?
Wes: Steve Green!
DJM: I thought maybe!
Wes: He is just a big musical influence in my life. I listened to him at such an early age and his  music has such a tremendous impact on my life. I got to sing with him this past year—it was a huge highlight of my life. He was so gracious, so kind. I loved his spirit, his story, how open is in his concerts—how he used to perform for the wrong reasons and how God used people in his life to point that out to him and change his direction. I love his music, his heart, and I’d love to do a concert with him one day.

DJM: I still watch that video of It is Well with My Soul you two did together every now and then—great video! (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8Qub3wklEM)
Wes: In fact, I’ve gone back and watched it four or five times myself—I remind myself that it really happened!

DJM: There’s one point—I think it’s the second to last verse—where I can’t tell who’s singing the harmony. Is that you or him?
Wes: I basically did the higher harmony stuff, except where I have the lead. When we rehearsed it that afternoon, we were thinking I could take the high part to be a little break for him vocally. I actually messed up several things in that recording because my brain was so fried!

DJM: I think the Vocal Band reunion video is coming out later this month?
Wes: Yeah, it is.
DJM: Have you heard anything about whether there might be any reunion live concerts?
Wes: Wonderful question! I have heard mention of that [possibility], but I don’t know what the probability of that is. I would be the happiest boy on the planet if that happened! To get together with those guys in a Vocal Band reunion tour would really rock! But I’m not sure if it’s gonna happen.

DJM: At the 2007 Homecoming taping where there was a day of hymns and a day of new songs, there have been three videos released with footage from the hymns taping day. Do you have any idea if the videos from the day of new songs will be coming out this year?
Wes: Yeah, they’ve finished another couple of videos, and they’re waiting for the right time to release those. I think they might release a couple more hymns videos yet. The day before the hymns taping, we did a taping on the Opry stage with the number of singers and all that, but a different setting and a different set. A couple of videos from that day have not been released yet. I would say at least three more videos from those dates will be coming out this year.

They have so much video footage at the Gaither Studios—they have a lot of video footage and old videos that have never been released, and I don’t know if they ever will be. Who knows if they’ll ever make videos out of those. They even have a couple of finished videos that have never been released.

DJM: Speaking of unreleased footage, I think I read in the liner notes to Lovin’ God, Lovin’ Each Other that the Vocal Band recorded twenty-four songs, and released thirteen in the end. I imagine Gaither does this kind of thing with the other Vocal Band projects, too—do you know if there are any plans to release any of this?
Wes: Yes, for that one, I think they did 25 songs. I think some of those will never be released—they just did what they thought was best.

There are at least two songs that haven’t been released from Lovin’ Life—we have nineteen finished songs we recorded. We redid “These are They.” “Let the Celebration Begin” was a great one that Gerald Crabb wrote. “Fear Not” was offered as a bonus track with the Vocal Band Christmas pre-release, and then we did another one called “Praise You” that hasn’t been released.

DJM: Do you know if the Vocal Band will be releasing any CDs this year?
Wes: Yes, there are plans to release at least one CD this year, and maybe more.

DJM: I’ve seen on some of the more recent Vocal Band projects that each group member is listed as a co-producer. What did that look like? Did you all do everything, or did different ones handle different roles?
Wes: Well, Bill primarily decides which songs are gonna be on the CDs, but he’s very diplomatic. He’ll take good suggestions, he’ll take a good song no matter where it comes from.

On Lovin’ Life, we didn’t have another producer, just us. We were all there for everything, and we all kind of gave our input—like when it came to mixing it down, more kick right here or more whatever. We were all tweaking and listening all the time, when recording and mixing down. Bill just loves that, and that way everyone feels like we all have a vital part in that. He graciously listed us all in the album credits.

DJM: What about tracking? Who would write the tracks for the musicians in the studio?
Wes: It was interesting when we did that. Gordon Mote was kind of the session leader. He’ll just kind of play the song, and all the musicians find their parts as he plays the song, it just happens. Someone makes charts, and they’ll kind of just go from there.

DJM: But I would assume that before that point, you’ve already decided keys, what key works for what voice, and all that sort of thing?
Wes: Yes—say for “I Will Go On,” we all sat down with each other, to see what was good for each voice, and that was on the date that we tracked that song.

DJM: There have been a couple of times in the past where the Vocal Band members have collaborated together to co-write a song. Do you do any songwriting?
Wes: We have not done anything yet with the current group. The last collaborative effort by the group was “Picture of Grace,” at least as far as the whole group being involved. That’s something I’d love to do in the new year.

DJM: What do you think Southern Gospel will look like in the future, say 25 years down the road?
Wes: Oh, yeah, I think it has such a loyal following and has for years, and it’ll still be strong. It goes from the Vocal Band all the way to the other end of the spectrum. To me, the Vocal Band is not Southern Gospel, but it is Southern Gospel, if you know what I mean. It’s just different sounding from anything else. I think Southern Gospel will continue to grow, from the more traditional sounding groups to the Vocal Band. That’s what makes it so great!

DJM: Some groups have a fixed set list every night, but I think you indicated earlier that Bill Gaither can call any number of songs. Between Vocal Band songs and Homecoming choir songs, how many songs do you have to be able to sing on the spur of the moment?
Wes: Wow, that’s a good question! Basically if it’s recorded, it’s fair game for for the Vocal Band. On the video we taped in Canada, we did “I Bowed On My Knees” with Michael English. Bill had never once asked me if I knew it, and we’d never rehearsed it. Sometimes it flies, and sometimes it falls, but especially if we rehearsed it in the last year or two it’s fair game.

We usually have a general idea of what the set’s going to be, but sometimes he’ll have something we had no idea was coming!

DJM: So would he even call stuff from the ’80s? What’s the oldest song he might call?
Wes: I think the earliest stuff he has called would be from the Vocal Band Homecoming project, “Temporary Home.” I think anywhere from that group forward is fair game, but he’s not usually going to call a song that we haven’t rehearsed at some point.

DJM: Random question: The year is 1975, and you have your pick of singing tenor for any Southern Gospel group. Which group do you choose, and why?
Wes: I would say maybe the Cathedrals, but I guess my first choice would be the Imperials, because that music was so instrumental when I was so young. That was when I first started hearing and singing harmony, when I was 4 or 5 years old with Russ Taff on “Trumpet of Jesus,” “Eagle Song,” “Oh, Buddha.” I still love that music!

DJM: Are there any questions you wish an interviewer would ask you, but nobody has to date?
Wes: Honestly you’ve asked some great questions. I’m not sure I can think of any. I often get more run of the mill questions like, “What’s it like to sing with Bill Gaither, to be in the group?” But there were some great questions. Daniel Britt also asked some great questions when he interviewed me.

Questions I love answering are what’s life like at home, what’s your day like.

DJM: I just didn’t want to duplicate what you’ve already done fairly extensively in the FAQ page of your site!
Wes: Oh, that’s very out of date! I’ve been home for a few weeks. There are so many emails in my inbox that it’s been unbelievable. I haven’t checked it recently because I’ve enjoyed being home so much, enjoyed being with my kids. I’m kinda selfish with my time, and want to spend every moment with my family! But I’ll hopefully get some more FAQs on there. I’ve got a lot waiting!

DJM: Any other thoughts or comments?
Wes: No, but I appreciate you taking the time to do this!
DJM: I really appreciate you taking the time, too! Thank you!

DJM: How did you get interested in Southern Gospel, and what sparked a desire to sing it yourself?
Pat: My dad was the one who got me interested. He loves Southern Gospel, he loves quartet music. So I was raised on it as well.

DJM: Was he a bass singer, too?
Pat: Yes, he was.

DJM: Did his voice sound anything like yours?
Pat: You know what’s funny—for a Father’s day gift, I took every recording he’d made, some he didn’t even known about, and put them on CD. When I was listing to them, I thought, “Wow, that sounds just like me!”

Without knowing it, I just got his voice. He can sing the solos, and he got quite an incredible range. I wish I had a voice half as good as his.

DJM: What sparked a desire to sing it yourself?
Pat: Going to see the quartets—going to see Masters V, and later Stamps and Cathedrals, seeing those guys, I thought, “It doesn’t get any better than this!” That’s what got me going.

DJM: Was the Diplomats the first group you sang with?
Pat: I sang with a group called Crystal River Boys. It wasn’t any of the Crystal Rivers you’ve heard of—it was just out of my church, traveled every other weekend, and sang within a 50-60 mile radius of the church. But as far as full time, yeah, the Diplomats were the first.

DJM: What years were you with them?
Pat: It would be 2000 to 2002, somewhere around that.

DJM: Did you record any CDs with them?
Pat: I did three. The first one was called The Promise, the second one was Georgia Live, and the third was Hymns Vol. I.

DJM: What did you do after leaving the Diplomats?
Pat: I was a music minister before the Diplomats. Then when I left the Diplomats, I went back to being a choir director. I did that till I joined the Dixie Echoes.

DJM: And you joined the Dixie Echoes last year?
Pat: I joined them in August of last year, about 2 weeks before quartet convention.

DJM: Had your comfortable range shifted? Did you have to do anything to get back in vocal shape?
Pat: Yeah, it did . I’d never been that low a bass singer—that’s no secret to anybody. I was really having to sing through the rafters—teaching sopranos, teaching altos, all the parts, so what few low notes I had were gone. When I joined the Dixie Echoes, it was really 5 or 6 months before I was doing some of the stuff Tracy was doing. It took a while—Tracy’s such an awesome bass singer.

I’ve gotten more comfortable with it, but still it’s a struggle. He did a low solo line on “Roll Way Troubled River,” low like George Younce, but I’ve been doing it high. I do the low note at the end with the group, but I’m not comfortable doing that note as a solo. I can do it some nights, but I can’t do it every night, so I don’t do it.

DJM: What is your comfortable low note?
Pat: As a solo, I really don’t like to go lower than a C. I just don’t think it’s real pretty below a C. Now if I’m just taking a note down with the guys at the end, on “How Big is God,” I think that’s an A-flat, and there’s another A-flat at the end of one of those songs. G is about it if I’m going with the guys at the end of a song.

I don’t have a bass microphone I can work, since I share a microphone with Scoot [Shelnut], so I have to be comfortable with the notes.

DJM: Your rendition of “How Big is God” got quite a bit of positive comments at NQC, even from people who prefer less traditional artists. Has that been something of a signature song for you, or did you just start doing it since joining the Dixie Echoes?
Pat: You know, that was something we started with the Dixie Echoes. We were in Branson, trying to come up with songs for a new CD, when Dallas [Rogers] was still with us last year. Randy metioned “How Big is God.” I’d heard the song—Gene McDonald, John Hall, George Beverly Shea, Andy Griffith, and Tennessee Ford have recorded it, there’s lots of versions—but I didn’t really know it that well. I didn’t know the verses at all.

We practiced it at Branson, then I listened to Gene’s version. That’s really where I got the feel of it was from his version. About two weeks later we did it on stage, and people really seemed to enjoy it. People were reminded of what a great song it is. There have been nights I’ve sung it, and it hasn’t been all that great, but they still love it. It’s just such a good song, you can’t mess it up. Over the last few months, I suppose it has become a signature song. It’s just a good song.

DJM: As most of the readers know, the Dixie Echoes’ concerts are all-live, with just a piano, bass guitar, two microphones, and four voices. Compared to the typical Southern Gospel setup, what is the greatest benefit from doing it this way? And on the other hand, what’s the greatest challenge?
Pat: There are two equal benefits. Setup is very quick. It takes us about fifteen minutes from taking equipment off the bus to finishing sound check. The most it’s taken is twenty to twenty-five minutes if we have a glitch in the sound.

And, we’re not stuck to the tracks and the stacks. If you have stacks, you have to stick with them.

The biggest hassle is when someone’s sick. Last weekend, everyone of us was was sick sick. When it’s live like that, you cannot cover up how sick you are. With the two mikes, that’s it—you just hope that the sound is sweetened from our lips to their ears because we know how bad it sounds!

DJM: Of all the songs the Dixie Echoes sing regularly, which do you find to be the most challenging?
Pat: Oddly enough, probably Brother Noah. Those words, I got so mixed up. The first three nights we sang that song, I totally blew it, forgot the words. Every night we sing it, I’m trying to concentrate, trying not to mess up. The second time I sang it, the guys said, “The people screamed, ‘Help us Noah,’” and instead of saying “God has shut the door,” I sang, “Help us shut the door,” having the people outside shutting the door instead of God!

That song has really gotten me in trouble. That’s probably the most difficult.

DJM: Who are your greatest influences a bass singer?
Pat: The top one is George Younce, bottom line, he was the best, to me. And then Rusty Goodman. And I would have to say probably J.D. After that. Those three were the ones I listened to the most and saw in concert the most. Well, I didn’t ever get to see Rusty, but I have a ton of his recordings.

DJM: Did you see the Happy Goodmans video New Haven reissued on DVD a couple years back?
Pat: Yes. Actually, the night I was watching that the first time was the night Scoot [Shelnut] called me with an invitation to join the Dixie Echoes!

DJM: Have you been singing any of his songs with the Dixie Echoes?
Pat: Yes, for the first five or six months we sang “Who am I”—that I’ve sung for years. Lately, we recorded “Not in a Million Years,” so we’ll sing that pretty much every night.

DJM: What are your favorite Southern Gospel songs?
Pat: We Shall See Jesus.

The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference. I like the Trio rendition, but Guy did that on the England video when Rex had passed away, and I think that’s the best rendition I’ve heard. That night, that setting, he nailed it. Also, Mylon LeFevre sang that and did a great job on the Alleluia recording that the Gaithers did.

Then probably Who am I.

We do “Little is Much when God is in It.” I’ve always loved that song, the message in that is really good—those would probably be my tops.

DJM: If you weren’t a bass singer, what part would you want to sing, and who would you want to sing it like?
Pat: Baritone, and I’d want to sing like Mark Trammell.

DJM: Really? I typically basses saying tenor.
Pat: I know, but tenors are ugly. Just look at Wesley!

But seriously, baritone is the part that really holds the whole thing together—the meat of the blend, and the most challenging part. Any time I get a chance to sing some baritone, I take it.

DJM: When you’re singing that, how high are you comfortable singing?
Pat: If I’m singing a part, I can feel pretty comfortable with the F above middle C. If I’m on a solo part, about a D or E-flat on a solo. There’s one point in the concert where we do “Just a Little Talk with Jesus.” I’ll hit Wes’s note, and the crowd gets a kick out of it.

DJM: If you could change one thing to improve Southern Gospel, what would it be?
Pat: Don’t get me started!

I don’t understand why we are moving into this the louder the better, the more flashy, the bigger the endings, the more we can change keys, it’s just too much of what could be a good thing. Just keep it simple, the crowd likes it simple. The crowd wants something they can keep the words, they want to be moved. I just think we’re trying to be too commercial.

DJM: I hope this isn’t too tough a question, but it just occurred to me. You know, take the Civil War as an example. People get together and re-enact old battles, to show people what it was like years ago. The Dixie Echoes sing a style quite similar to what groups did years back, and probably every sing you’re singing each night was written before you and I were born! Anyhow, what keeps the Dixie Echoes from being a reenactment group?
Pat: That’s a great question:

First off, though we use two microphones, our program is much different than the Blackwoods or the Stamps. James and Hovie would just introduce songs, but Randy’s emcee work is different. When you come see us, you’re going to get Stewart being very funny, and Randy is gonna talk to a crowd like you’re in the living room. He can talk to a crowd like nobody I’ve ever seen, reminds me of how George would handle a crowd.

When you went a Blackwoods concert, you would hear Blackwood songs. When you went to a Statesmen concert, you’d hear Statesmen songs. But at our concert, you’ll hear all different types—classics, hymns, black Gospel spirituals. Any song we do, we could put it in that quartet style. We could take a contemporary song and do it quartet style if we wanted to!

I think the mix and the humor keeps it fresh.

Randy will change the set almost every night—we never have a program. He calls the songs as he sees fit and then he takes requests from the audience. He keeps it new and fresh. Randy does incredible job of keeping it interesting to the crowd and not looking like a reenactment.

DJM: So do the Dixie Echoes take requests often?
Pat: We take requests almost every night. It depends on how much time promoter gives us. We’ll typically do it in church settings, but rarely in concert venues. Sometimes we’ll get a song we don’t really know, do it on the spot, and hope for the best.

And when you’ve got Stewart…he’s just one of the best, period. I didn’t know how good he really was till I started with the Dixie Echoes! He’s able to play pretty much anything he hears. It’s kinda fun when people do requests and we can just make it up as we go.

DJM: Could you tell us a bit about your family?
Pat: My wife’s name is Kesha, and we’ve been married for 6 years. We’ve got a little 3-year-old named Andy (named after Andy Griffith!), and we have a little girl on the way. Her name is Breelyn, and her middle name is Taylor—that way I could have Andy Taylor! She’s due on December 17th.

DJM: If you could put together a dream-team quartet, with or without yourself singing bass, who would you pick?
Pat: I would put George Younce on bass.

I would put David Phelps on tenor.

I would put Glenn Allred on the baritone.

For lead, Dale Shelnut. Of all the lead singers I have heard, Dale wins hands down.

If you don’t mind, on piano, probably Gordon Mote. Me and him were raised about 20 miles apart.

DJM: Did you know him then?
Pat: Through his brother, who is blind as well. We would be in vocal competitions together. Gordon would be at the same competition competing in his age group. I got to meet him and talk to him a little bit. Me and his brother got a long pretty well. But now, Gordon might not know me from Adam.

DJM: Any other thoughts or comments?
Pat: Let me say something about Billy Todd. He was the kindest gentleman I’d ever met.

When I first met the Dixie Echoes, he was going into the hospital. I believe he was having a stent put in. They were on two week trip, and he wasn’t going to be able to.

I’d never met Randy or Randy me, but a friend suggested me. Randy called me, and I went with them for two weeks. It was back in ‘97. Kevin Ivey was with them. “Suddenly a Rainbow” had just come out, form the Reunion album, and I filled in those two weeks.

Later on, I joined the Diplomats. My second concert with the Diplomats was at the Billy Todd Day in his hometown. Even though I had filled in for him, that was the first time I actually got to meet him. He pulled me up there to sing with them. He encouraged me, nothing but kind words. There was not a jealous bone in his body—not that there should have been. He was one of the best ever! I have the greatest respect ever for him and his family. He was just the greatest guy.

Several current and past members of the Dixie Echoes had the honor and privilege of singing at his memorial service a few days ago. We sang “Family Bible” and “Little is Much.” Then Les Beasley, Glenn Allred, Darrel Stewart, Tommy Atwood, and Buddy Lyles got together and sang “Too Much to Gain to Lose.” We all got together at the end and sang “Precious Memories.” It was a fitting tribute to one of the all-time greats.

I was saved when I was 25. That was ten years ago. I had been a choir/youth director and had even made a solo album before my salvation experience. There is no greater decision I have ever made than that one.

I just love what I’m doin’! I could not imagine doing anything else with any other group. It really has been fun, and I hope it will last a long time.

For a formatted version of the interview, click here: http://www.southerngospelblog.com/features/20081201.pdf. A text version is below.

DJM: How did you get interested in Southern Gospel?
Christian: I started at an early age, growing up around it. My family were big Southern Gospel fans. Being involved in church, and listening to tapes and records, it just kinda sunk into my system and my blood.
My dad had a Sunday morning radio program and I always loved to pick out songs for him to play. One of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning was go to the radio station with my Dad.
As I got older, that’s when I really developed more of a love for it, because I understood it better. Not that I didn’t love it at an early age, but I was able to comprehend it a little more.

DJM: So your first experience traveling professionally was with the Sounds of Liberty?
Christian: Yeah, my first professional musical experience was with Sounds of Liberty, a recruiting group for Liberty University. That was only for the year of 1999.
At the time, the Sounds of Liberty weren’t singing Southern Gospel. One Sunday morning, I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Jerry Falwell in his office and talked to him about starting a quartet. When I said that, it was like magic words to him. He had always wanted his own quartet, for his church, ministry and TV program (The Old Time Gospel Hour), as well as traveling with him when he goes around and speaks. He told me, “Christian, I want you to be the bass singer. Robbie Hiner doesn’t know it yet, but he’s gonna be my tenor singer!”
You can read a little about that on my website.

DJM: You were with them from ‘99 through ‘03?
Christian: Yeah, I was with them for four years.

DJM: And then you started your own group…
Christian: Yes, the Christian Brothers. I was still part of the Old Time Gospel Hour Quartet. We were doing a pastors conference at the Prays Mill Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia. During that conference, God really spoke to me—I would say slayed me—and started me on a different direction in my life. That’s when I made the decision to start Chrisitan Brothers
We recorded three CDs. We were together from ‘03 through about ‘06, about 3 years.
After Christian Brothers ended, that’s when I got the call to be the new Associate Director of Recruiting for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft Worth, Texas. I was there in 2006.

DJM: Then you got the call to join Mercy’s Mark?
Christian: Yes, I was with them for almost 2 years, until the group came off the road.

DJM: I hear you’re bringing Christian Brothers back for select dates?
Christian: Yes, we’re limited to what we can do, extremely part time. We’ll be doing a least one weekend a month, so 2-3 dates a month. All the people in the group are soloists, one of the guys is pastor of a church.
The members are Jamie Caldwell at baritone, formerly of the Dixie Melody Boys, the one that took McCray Dove’s place when McCray left. Lead will be Rod Propes. Tenor is Dave McVay, formerly of Three Bridges. Then me, singing bass.

DJM: Has the group done its first concert yet?
Christian: No, but we’re booking dates for ‘09. Our first dates will be in March ‘09.

DJM: I notice you recently launched a website for your solo ministry.
Christian: We are starting this new venture. I really felt like God was dealing with me there to go out and try this thing on my own and see what God can do through this ministry. We are planning on this being full-time for me (that and working here at Dominion Agency as a booking agent). We are planning on some pretty big things for this ministry, as far as booking dates. We’ve already got some overseas trips planned – a trip to Norway is scheduled for next year. We are taking Christian Brothers to Norway.
My heart is in the local church, being available to do pastors’ conferences, senior adult conferences, (I have a passion for senior adults), as well as doing concerts in church.

DJM: How did you select songs for your solo CD, Make it Real? Did you select the top ten all-time songs that you wanted to record, or did you put some of your favorites on this project and set aside other favorites for future recordings?
Christian: I recorded the CD when I was with Mercy’s Mark, and I had no intention of going out solo. This was strictly for purposes of having a solo CD, something for the people who wanted to just hear the bass singer or just hear my voice.
I had no intention of going out and doing solo concerts. I just recorded the songs that I thought the senior adult crowd would like, songs that people would know. Stuff like He Touched Me, Beulah Land, Love of God, and the old church hymn “My Savior First of All” – your favorite song. You didn’t realize I remembered that, did you?

DJM: No, I hadn’t known you remembered that. It is my favorite Fanny Crosby hymn. Is there a story behind selecting this particular song for your recording?
Christian: I’d heard that song growing up in church. It was in our Baptist Hymnal and it became one of my favorite songs.
I sang it when my grandmother passed away—my dad’s mom. That was the very first time I ever sang the song. I sang Beulah Land there as well. That really played a special part of me recording the song.

DJM: On your CD, you sing all four parts on “The Lord’s Prayer.” It’s an ongoing joke in Southern Gospel that tenors wish they could sing bass and basses wish they could sing tenor. Do you ever sing tenor just for fun?
Christian: Sometimes I do. At one particular point, with Christian Brothers, I actually tried to outdo one of my tenors in “Looking for a City.”
I actually won, and I paid for it too. I couldn’t talk for three or four weeks. But it was fun knowing I could do it!

DJM: Do you have a “signature song,” that you sing at every concert you perform?
Christian: I will probably always do “Thanks to Calvary.” It’s an old standard, people recognize the song and can relate to it, and it was written for a bass/baritone range like George Younce’s.

DJM: There are many different ways that Southern Gospel songs and albums can be produced: Orchestral arrangements, progressive arrangements, or traditional four-voices-and-a-piano arrangements. Is there any particular sort that you most enjoy singing in a live concert setting?
Christian: I like the more orchestrated stuff as opposed to basic drums/bass/guitar. They are OK, but I like the more heavily orchestrated slow songs, ballads, as well as fast songs, simply because I’m an orchestra fanatic.

One thing a lot of people don’t know about me is that I am a trumpet player as well, so I appreciate classical music, orchestra music, symphonies and so forth. I have a great respect for that and appreciate that.

DJM: Any chance you’ll pull out the trumpet for your solo concerts?
Christian: Maybe at some point I might break it out, but not as of right now. If Sophia [Christian's wife] had her way, I’d do it at every concert!

DJM: Do you perform any big ballads in your concerts?
Christian: As far as big ballads, I do not sing any at this time, but I do plan on recording a few on my new project that will be coming out in a few months.

DJM: As far as the industry is concerned, most quartet members go solo and were never heard from again. Are you planning to maintain a presence in the industry, sending out radio singles or in other ways?
Christian: I am planning on staying within the Southern Gospel industry and church ministry. Singing solo and in a part time quartet will be the focus of my ministry. I will probably be be sending songs to radio in the near future. I might wait until I record the new project. Now, with that being said, there is another venture I am working on. Look for a press release soon with all of the details.

DJM: How can someone get in touch with you to book you for a concert?
Christian: I am available immediately for ‘09, and for worship service appearances, concerts, seniors’ events, and pastors’ conferences. You can either go to the website, www.dominionagency.com, or call 910.484.6996.