October is the month for the National Gospel and Harvest Celebration at Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Quite a number of southern gospel artists make appearances during the event. There are a number of vendors of all kinds of craft and music items in addition to the permanent Dollywood shops. And all of the usual rides and shows are still open. I was able to make it up to Pigeon Forge for only one day of the festival this year, but it was worth the trip!
I enjoyed concerts from the Kingdom Heirs and Paid In Full at the Showstreet Palace. I have seen the Kingdom Heirs several times at their home at Dollywood but this show was different than the others. Steve French was sick so Andy Stringfield did double duty by singing the baritone part from the piano. Arthur Rice was great as emcee and the performance went without a noticeable hitch.
Here’s what they sang:
I was especially glad to get to see Paid In Full. They’re a trio from New Albany, Mississippi, and were the winners of the Horizon Award at NQC in 2007. Bradley Littlejohn (baritone) and Lance Moore (lead) have been singing together in this trio for over 17 years (they started in high school!) and about 18 months ago, Brock White joined the group as tenor. I really like their sound, style and song selection. Of course, in a 30-minute concert they couldn’t sing all of my favorites, but they did sing quite a few of them.
Here’s what they sang:
I also spoke to the group after one of the concerts and they are expecting to release a new album later this year. You can find out more about this group at their website.
Posted in Diana Brantley
The annual Southeastern Firefighters’ Burn Foundation benefit concert was held in Augusta, Georgia on September 27. The list of featured performers was impressive: Tim Lovelace, Garry Jones, Dove Brothers, and Triumphant Quartet.
Tim was up first and performed several of his crowd favorite songs and comedy routines and he was just delightful. He ended on a serious note with I’m A Child of the King and then emceed the rest of the program. Garry Jones was marvelous on the keyboard and played How Majestic Is Your Name, I’m Getting Ready to Leave This World, Blessed Assurance, and a wonderful patriotic medley. My friend that used to accompany me to Mercy’s Mark concerts and I always wanted Garry to play more, so it was great to be able to see him as a soloist!
The Dove Brothers performed several crowd favorite songs. Here’s what they sang:
- Have a Nice Day and You Don’t Know God’s Love
- You Can’t Fix It
- Taking It Back
- One More Miracle
- You Would Think He Would Learn
- I Can Pray
- Get Away Jordan - How much fun is this song?!? They’ve been doing this for a long time and it seems like the crowd always wants more!
Triumphant Quartet finished off the first half of the program by singing these songs:
- Don’t Let the Sandals Fool Ya
- For God So Loved
- The Cloud He’s Coming Back On
- Forgave Me, Saved Me, Raised Me
- Goodbye, World, Goodbye (piano and harmonica)
- The Old White Flag
- Hallelujah Chorus (solo by Jeff Stice)
- He Is
Then everyone got together for some songs directed by Garry Jones:
- Glory Road
- I’ll Fly Away (with McCray Dove and then Jerry Martin on the lead)
- Looking for a City — with Jerry Martin and David Sutton, you know it was fun – and very high!!!
- How Beautiful Heaven Must Be (with Eric Bennett on the lead)
- And the grand finale —- Midnight Cry (with Scotty and Clayton Inman sharing the lead)
The singing raised over $8,000 for the Foundation but is just one part of their fundraising effort. During the 15 or so years that the foundation has existed, I think they said they’ve raised over $300,000.00 for burn care for patients and supporting services for their families. The Dove Brothers have been a part of this benefit for several years and were even presented with a plaque establishing them as Ambassadors for the Foundation. David Hester told the crowd about his experience when he was badly burned as a young man, so helping out the foundation means a lot to him. If you want to know more about the Southeastern Firefighters’ Burn Foundation, go HERE
Posted in Diana Brantley
On Sept. 19, 2008, Brian Free, Garry Jones, and Ivan Parker got together in Bessemer, Alabama to sing and reminisce - and they let an auditorium full of people join them! This is the second time these gentlemen have reunited for a “Golden Moments” concert to recall their time spent together in the Gold City Quartet. Each man (or group, in the case of Brian Free and Assurance) performed a short set of songs in the first half of the program and the second half was devoted to some very golden moments.
Here’s the song list for the first part of the program:
Garry Jones played:
- I’m Getting Ready to Leave This World
- How Majestic Is Your Name
- Blessed Assurance (ala Andre Crouch)
- Patriotic Medley
Brian Free and Assurance sang:
- Keep Looking Up
- Deep, Deep Sea
- What a Beautiful Day (For the Lord to Come Again)
- Praying Man
Ivan sang:
Then came the really fun stuff! This year the guys organized their fun around the Pillars of Faith video that they were all a part of. The presentation started with a big screen opening shot of that video with Mike LeFevre introducing Gold City and their siging of an a capella version of ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus. Toward the end of the song, Ivan, Garry and Brian walked onto the stage and gathered around a single microphone and took over singing the rest of the song! WOW - what a way to start things off! They continued by singing and sharing funny stories about each other and just being themselves. I’ll just say that it was a joy to watch. Here’s what else they sang (or showed on video):
- Shouting Ground
- I Think I’ll Read It Again
- There Rose a Lamb
- I Want to Walk Every Day With My Lord (from their appearance on Hee Haw!)
- Moving Up To Glory Land
- The Lighthouse
- I Will Serve Him
- Beulah Land
- The Only Word for Grace is Amazing
- John Saw
- and the closing — of course it was Midnight Cry!
Here’s just a little taste of the Golden Moments.
According to promoter Norm Basden, we can look forward to another Golden Moments concert next year in the August/September time frame. And Norm is hoping to have a few more tricks up his sleeve for that concert that will make it even more special.
Posted in Diana Brantley
I enjoyed concerts from the Kingdom Heirs and Paid In Full at the Showstreet Palace. I have seen the Kingdom Heirs several times at their home at Dollywood but this show was different than the others. Steve French was sick so Andy Stringfield did double duty by singing the baritone part from the piano. Arthur Rice was great as emcee and the performance went without a noticeable hitch. 
I was especially glad to get to see Paid In Full. They’re a trio from New Albany, Mississippi, and were the winners of the Horizon Award at NQC in 2007. Bradley Littlejohn (baritone) and Lance Moore (lead) have been singing together in this trio for over 17 years (they started in high school!) and about 18 months ago, Brock White joined the group as tenor. I really like their sound, style and song selection. Of course, in a 30-minute concert they couldn’t sing all of my favorites, but they did sing quite a few of them. 
