2005

SG History 101 - Mar 05

This month, I’d like to examine the contributions of African-Americans to the heritage of southern gospel music.

In the years following the Civil War, as the United States struggled to re-integrate its’ Southern states back into its’ cultural fabric, gospel singing in both black and white communities developed along similar paths. As shape-note singing spread among whites in the South, so it did with many blacks as well, though economic factors and literacy differences tended to impede the development of songbooks among blacks in a comparable manner to that of whites. Nevertheless, the development of the call-and-response singing tradition among blacks enabled the development of their gospel music to keep at a comparable pace with that of their white neighbors in the South. By the 1930s, both white and black gospel traditions developed along commercial channels, making them accessible to urban centers in all parts of the country. But instead of radio, where white gospel singing dominated, the black gospel artists became popular through recordings, since inexpensive phonographs enabled blacks to gain access to their favorite artists in a way radio could not, and radio catered more to the affluent white markets. Still, there was some intermingling, even then. In the decade before World War II, a black Baptist minister from Tennessee named Cleavant Derricks wrote songs for the Stamps-Baxter Music Company. His music showed a definite shape-note influence, and became popular in the convention songbooks of the period. Derricks wrote many songs that became gospel quartet standards, the best known of which were “Just A Little Talk With Jesus”, “We’ll Soon Be Done With Troubles and Trials”, and “When God Dips His Love In My Heart”. His songs were quite popular among white convention audiences, who most likely were unaware of the author’s racial origins.

As the relationship between white quartets and shape-note publishing companies weakened, ties between black and white gospel increased. White quartets who admired the vocal ability of their black counterparts and who were in need of new material, began to appropriate black songs and arrangements through records, radio programs, and concerts. And a lot of white singers were very familiar with the work of such black groups as the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Five Blind Boys, the Nightingales, the Fairfield Four, the Harmonizing Four, and the Golden Gate Quartet. And by 1953, the Blackwood Brothers had recorded spirituals such as “Rolling, Riding, Rocking”, “Swing Down Chariot”, and “Rock-A-My Soul”, and were performing them in their concerts. In fact, in the case of the Blackwoods’ use of the Golden Gate Quartet’s “Swing Down Chariot” and the Statesmen’s adaptation of the Gospel Harmonettes’ “Get Away Jordan”, there was actual cooperation between black and white groups. Both black and white groups were consciously borrowing songs and styles from each other.

The Golden Gate Quartet placed an indelible stamp on white gospel quartets and their fans. They were an extremely versatile group that could not only sing spirituals in a captivating style which included syncopated rhythms, but they were also adept at impersonating sound effects such as automobile engines, train whistles, and boat motors and incorporating them into their material. They sang in a smooth, a cappella style, often described as “jubilee” which appealed to white as well as black audiences, and became quite popular by the 1940s. They travelled extensively across the nation at that time, and were even paired with groups like the Blackwoods and Statesmen in concerts in the South. James Blackwood remembered those associations fondly, despite also having to endure awkward moments when stopping at roadside cafes in the South, and seeing the Gates refused service because of their skin color.

Despite the enforcement of the existing “Jim Crow” regulations, audiences were quite accepting of the Gates’ music, as they appeared often alongside white quartets throughout the early 1950s. Perhaps predictably, though, the southern furor over the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954 put an end to the Golden Gate Quartet’s appearances there with white quartets, and it would be almost two decades before another black gospel group would find that kind of appeal with white audiences.

That group was Teddy Huffam and the Gems, from Richmond, Virginia. Huffam was a talented stylist and pianist who surrounded himself with a group of young black singers in a unique mix that combined traditional black singing with white arrangements. The group’s recording of the Eldridge Fox song “Gone” hit the top of the Singing News Top Forty chart in 1979 and remained in the top twenty there for the next three years, making it one of the biggest southern gospel hits ever.

Huffam’s success paved the way for several other black artists in the southern gospel marketplace, such as Charles Johnson and the Revivers in the 1980s and 1990s, whose success inspired other artists such as Don DeGrate and Strong Tower from Charlotte, NC, the Gospel Enforcers from Morganton, NC, and the Reggie Saddler Family from Yale, NC. Such groups provide an important minority presence within the southerno gospel industry as the 21st century unfolds.

Despite their audiences remaining predominantly white, the very acceptance of them on stage stands as not only a hopeful sign of southern gospel’s reaching out to a broader evangelical coalition, but as recognition of the fact that good music knows no color distinctions, and that black and white alike are a part of the rich musical mosaic that is gospel music.

SG History 101

This month, I’d like to salute one of the truly great sounding quartets of all time, and whose lineage in southern gospel continues to this very day…the Weatherford Quartet!

This famous and influential group had its’ beginnings toward the end of World War II…when Earl Weatherford, a native of Paoli, Oklahoma, was living in California and working in the shipyards near Long Beach. Young Earl was a true devotee of the male gospel quartet and the singing convention, having attended many such events in the Southwest. Since Earl loved quartet singing so much, and since so many new residents of California like himself were emigrants from other parts of the US because of the war effort, it followed that he would try to organize his own quartet.

So in 1944 he organized a group to audition for a radio show on KFOX in Long Beach…consisting of Earl on tenor, Harold Turman as lead, Grady Weston as baritone, and Bob Gillis as bass. The brand-new Weatherford Quartet not only passed the audition, but became popular quickly around Southern California.

Not only was the quartet gaining ground quickly, Earl himself was blessed in a wonderful way at one of the many afternoon singings that the quartet participated in. He met a beautiful 16-year old woman named Lily Fern Goble, the daughter of a Nazarene minister from Oklahoma who also had relocated to California. She had some training in singing schools, but this was her introduction to quartet style gospel music.

The young couple hit it off and within a year were married. Ever the teacher of proper singing, Earl taught his new wife to sing with “heavier tones” so that she could blend with men…perhaps not realizing at the time that he was preparing her for her eventual singing career. At this point, the Weatherford Quartet was still a part-time group…singing on weekends, and working regular jobs during the week.

That was to change in just a few years…in 1949, Earl opted to make his quartet a full-time group. This caused a bit of upheaval in the group, most of the members choosing to cling to the security of their “day jobs”, which forced Earl to search for quick replacements. By this time, Lily had learned how to “blend with the men” and joined the group regularly after persuading Earl (ever the male quartet kind of guy) to stop getting replacements at tenor, which Lily had been filling in on since Turman left the group in 1945. Lily learned very well…to the point where she could sing the first tenor part quite comfortably. Audiences could scarcely discern the difference musically, and this characteristic gave the Weatherford Quartet its’ distinctive sound that it maintained through the years.

The quartet filled its’ other positions with another husband and wife couple, Les and Raye Roberson, who joined as lead and pianist respectively, and at bass they hired a 16-year old youngster from nearby South Gate, Armond Morales, who would spend the first 14 years of an illustrious career as the velvet-smooth bass singer for the Weatherford Quartet. The group was now ready to hit the road, touring the country in their 1948 Buick which pulled a one-wheel trailer!

The group opted for a new home base, to be closer to the center of the gospel music and at the same time, fulfill a new radio contract. They were blessed with a position on 50,000 watt AM powerhouse WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana. On good nights, the station could reach from coast-to-coast, making the Weatherford Quartet nationally popular and in demand for appearances far and wide.

But another war was on, this time in Korea, and during their stint in Fort Wayne, Armond Morales was drafted into the military. At around the same time, Raye Roberson became pregnant and decided to retire from traveling. Morales was replaced for the time being by George Younce, and Danny Koker replaced Raye.

Shortly afterward, the group was offered a position with a church in Akron, Ohio. Rex Humbard was preaching at an old, refurbished theater there, but had a desire to start a weekly TV program, and wanted a group to lead his music ministry. By 1953, WOWO decided to play records, and this left the Weatherford Quartet without a radio contract. So at that time, Earl accepted Humbard’s offer, and since he felt his music was primarily a ministry more so than mere entertainment, it seemed to fit the calling that Earl had in mind for the group.

The move turned out to be fortuitous for both Humbard and the Weatherfords. The group was now singing from the stage of the beaufiful new Cathedral of Tomorrow…and was still going through the occasional personnel change. At that time, Jim Hamill joined for a while. And when Morales returned from the military, he resumed his duties as bass singer as Younce left. Les Roberson accepted an offer with the Oak Ridge Quartet, and his place was taken by a Texan who came over from the Stamps-Ozark Quartet, Glen Payne. Coker also departed during this period, and was replaced by Henry Slaughter.

The lineup now consisted of Earl, Lily, Glen Payne, Armond Morales, and Henry Slaughter. This lineup would remain intact for nearly eight years. They sang at Humbard’s church on Sunday, filmed TV on Mondays, and were left with the rest of the week to tend to their own business. As Humbard’s ministry grew, though, more demands were being placed upon the Weatherfords, who felt increasingly led to return to traveling the country.

Also during this time, the Weatherford Quartet recorded an album for RCA which is considered one of the great gospel albums of all time…”In The Garden”, which spotlighted the trademark smooth, close harmony of the group. Today, that 1958 album is still widely sought after by collectors.

Lily had taken time away from the group in the early 60s to spend time with a new son. Earl hired Bobby Clark to take her place while she was away, making the quartet the all-male group that Earl loved. But he and the fans loved Lily’s voice, too…and were quite happy when she returned by 1963.

Coker returned to the group as pianist after Slaughter resigned to lead the choir at the Cathedral of Tomorrow in early 1963…and as the year went on, the situation finally came to a head between Humbard’s increasing pressure on the Weatherfords to be on staff, and the group’s desire to travel and sing. Finally, Humbard called the group’s members into his office, and told them of his plans to have a full-time group at the church, and asked them who wanted to stay, and who wanted to go.

Glen Payne, Danny Coker, and Bobby Clark opted to stay with Humbard, and formed the Cathedral Trio…George Younce joined them shortly afterward from the Blue Ridge Quartet, and they stayed with Humbard until 1969….even keeping their name when they became a full-time traveling group. This was the now-famous Cathedral Quartet, and their subesquent sound was derived in many ways from the Weatherford Quartet.

As for Earl and Lily, they returned to the road with new lead singer Mack Evans, who had been with the Rangers Trio, and Jerry Evans, who joined on piano from the Couriers Quartet. But soon, Mack Evans would leave for the military, and Morales would accept an offer from Jake Hess to form the new Imperials Quartet. So by 1964, the Weatherford Quartet would have to retool.

More singers would come and go as the years went on, people like Ralph Drake, Bob Thacker, Fulton Nash, Roy Tremble, and many, many more. Despite all the changes, the one constant that always remained was the smooth harmony that Earl was ever the stickler for, and the marvelous alto of Lily Fern, who remains a great singer and trouper today, after all the years.

The group continues today through Lily and her son, Steve, who joined in the 1980s in the same way his Mother did in the 1940s…by constantly haranguing Earl for the chance to sing in the family group. One day, in exasperation, Earl told Steve, “All right! Show us what you can do!” Steve did, and is keeping the Family heritage alive to this day.

Earl finally came full circle. And in the place where it all began…Long Beach, CA…Earl Weatherford answered the Lord’s final call and died on June 17. 1992. He and Lily Fern have both been enshrined in the SGMA Hall of Fame…Lily Fern in 1999, and Earl in 2000.

And just as the Cathedral Quartet was “birthed” from the “womb” of the Weatherfords in 1963, so Legacy Five was born from the Cathedrals when that illustrious group retired in 2000. So in that sense, The Weatherfords’ musical “grandchildren” are today major forces in today’s southern gospel music, in the same manner as their “grandparents” were in the 1950s and 1960s.

Considering what Earl learned from those singing conventions of yore where he formed his own rather definite philosophies about what constituted proper quartet singing, it might be interesting if Earl could hear the southern gospel of today, and evaluate it. Regardless of what anyone feels about the state of southern gospel today, fans of the genre are pretty much in agreement that the Weatherford Quartet was among the most accomplished and influential groups in its’ history.