2006

Betty Tilley - A Life of Dreams

Mt. Pilot as Andy Griffith called it.  Otherwise known as Pilot Mountain is where I live with my loving husband Sweetpea.  My name is Betty Tilley. There have been a lot of twists, turns, disappointments and blessings in the last 5 years while serving the Lord.  But, God has been Faithful and always beside me through it all.

I grew up in a town in North Carolina called Ararat. I remember as a little girl I dreamed of becoming a singer, artist, nurse, police office and a firefighter, Wow, what a combination. Mainly I focused a lot on painting and drawing as a child. It was a passion to me. However, singing was also a passion to me. The only times I sang in front of an audience as a kid was maybe a few times in school. When I was not painting or singing pop and country  songs, or on the front porch making mud pies,  I was off in my room daydreaming about being a police officer and a nurse, and as I grew older, a firefighter. My father was strict so the only thing I could do with any of my dreams was just to dream about them. I was not allowed to have after school activities or friends over.  When I came home from school that is where I stayed. When I graduated from High School, I attended a local college to pursue a degree in art. My passion though was still to sing. The Lord had given me many talents, but at that time I did not know who He was, so I did not know what to do with any of them.

Well now here I am some 20 plus years later. I’m trying to pursue the dreams I had as a little girl. You see I did not know or accept the Lord as my Savior until I was about 35 years old. In the past, when I was 18 years old, at my brother’s tent revival, the Lord had dealt with my heart.  Oh he was tugging at my heart hard; sadly though, I did not accept the Lord as my Savior that night. The Lord came looking for me again some 17 years later.  He had not given up on me. I had run, but I couldn’t hide. Sometimes I think back to the Tent Revival and tell myself, my dreams could have been fulfilled back then when I was 18 if only I hadn’t run. Praise the Lord He did not forget me.

In late 2000, the Lord laid it on my heart to start a music ministry. As I stated before there has been a lot of blessings and disappointments. It is hard for anyone my age, just starting out, to pursue a solo ministry. The Lord has a way of always placing people in your path to help and encourage you. One person that was placed in my path was a gentleman by the name of Mr. Randy Renigar. I met Randy at WKTE in King, NC where he was a DJ.  I had been invited to sing on a “live” Radio program. Randy saw a lot of potential in me and invited me back to sing on a 3-hour program that showcased various “live” artists each week. Eventually he asked me to take over that program. Once a week I hosted talent to sing “live” on a program called the “Old Time Singing Convention.”   Randy also taught me to DJ. When he left WKTE and opened an Internet Station, he invited me to continue the program at his internet station. 

I have been blessed to sing at festivals, Churches, special events, revivals, homecomings and New Artist Show Cases.  In 2005, I sang on my First Good Life Gospel Cruise and this year was my 2nd.   I have recorded two projects.  My first CD was “Always Be a Child” recorded at Daywind. In 2004, I recorded a project with the Eddie Crook Company on their Cedar Hill Label. I have release 3 songs from that project.  Thank you Eddie and Dave!

My goal is to do the will of the Lord. I have a burning desire to share my testimony in song to as many people as I can.

By the way, the other dream I had as a kid?  You know the one about the Firefighter? I have been a volunteer firefighter for over 15 years.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving my unworthy soul and filling me with the Holy Ghost.

Love in Christ,
Betty Tilley
http://www.bettytilley.com

Clarke Beasley - The Wheel Behind the NQC

What is your official title and what do you do for the NQC?

Executive Vice President, and I manage all of the day to day operations of the NQC, execute all of the promotion strategies, manage the exhibit hall, coordinate the talent, and supervise the staff. Fortunately, I have a tremendous full time staff as well as several people I call upon for help for the event.

How long have you been doing this?

I started in April of 1993

When you were a kid, did you dream of running the NQC?

Looking back on it, I consider myself a kid when I started running the NQC. I was just 24 when the NQC board offered me this tremendous opportunity. All throughout my school days, however, I looked at the Convention with a tremendous amount of awe and admiration. I don’t know that running it ever crossed my mind as a kid. I was having too much fun just participating.

Who has been your major infuence in wanting to work in Southern Gospel Music as your career? How so?

First and foremost would be my father. It still amazes me at how much he has accomplished in his career, and it also amazes me that at 77, he is still very active and contributing a great deal. He is my primary role model—in every way. In the Florida Boys, you have three hall of famers (Dad, Glen Alred and Darrell Stewart) actively performing with each other in a major, first tier group. That may very well never happen again.

Somebody else I would have to mention is Don Butler, long time Executive Director of the GMA. When I decided to stop performing and enter the business side of Gospel Music, Don hired me as Membership Director of the GMA, and I later became the staff accountant as well. Hiring me was the last thing Don did as Executive Director of the GMA. I consider my two years at GMA, working with Don and Bruce Koblish, as a very important continuance of my education. Without the experience I acquired helping with the production and coordination of GMA Week, I would have not been equipped to handle the position I was offered with the NQC. Don also gave me the opportunity to serve on the Grammy Awards Screening Committee and serve on the Board of Directors of the GMA Hall of Fame. I will always be in his debt.

I would conclude my list of influences with Maurice Templeton. Maurice was the driving force in me being offered this position and the driving force in moving the Convention from Nashville to Louisville. I will always love and respect Maurice for all he has done for this music and all he has done for me.

Have you ever had aspirations of perfoming in Southern Gospel Music?

I actually did perform for several years with the Florida Boys. From the time I was 15 until I graduated from college, I performed with them when I was not in school, and I performed full time for year after my graduation from college in 1990 until I accepted the position with GMA in 1991.

I was living in the St Louis, MO area when you were performing for the Florida Boys, so I never had a chance to see you with them. What did you do when performing with them? I think I saw the Florida Boys maybe twice in the whole 43 years I lived there.

I played bass and sang on a couple of songs.

I can't imagine the organizational tools that it takes to run a Convention that runs a whole week with concerts every day and night. What is the most challenging part of your job? What's the most fulfilling?

There are several balls to keep in the air simultaneously, and I guess the most challenging part of the job is that it seems that every year a ball gets thrown into the mix that I was not expecting. When something new gets thrown in, I normally figure out how to manage it to where it is not a problem the following year. However, the following year, it will be something else. That dynamic is also what keeps the job interesting and makes it fun. I love the adrenaline rush and the challenges of the show itself. I still look forward to the Convention with that same eagerness and anticipation that I did when I was responsible for nothing, because in spite of all the challenges, I still have a lot of fun during the event.

I don't know of any young, up and coming groups who do not dream of singing on the NQC stage. What is your advice to them?

Simply this, to bloom where you are planted. Be faithful to what has God has called you to do—where he has called you to do it. As He directs and expands your ministry, the doors and opportunities will present themselves.

In what other ways are you involved in the Gospel Music industry?

I am currently serving as President of the Southern Gospel Music Guild, which also gives me a seat on the GMA Board of Directors. I still serve on the GMA Hall of Fame Board of Directors and on the Advisory Board of the SGMA.

What do you do when your are not eating, drinking, and sleeping SGM. Tell us a little about you and your family.

My family and I are very involved in our church, Parkway Baptist in Bardstown, Kentucky, which is one of the fastest growing churches in the state. My wife serves as an AWANA leader, a Community Bible Study leader, and teaches the three year old class at the school. I serve as a deacon and also serve on the personnel committee. It is exciting to be part of a church that is experiencing such tremendous growth and doing such great things in the community.

In terms of hobbies, I live on a golf course, and I love to play golf. Many week days, when weather permits, my children and I will get in the golf cart and ride around the course and play a few holes. I love being able to do that.

If you could take any five artists to a concert any place in the world, who would you take, and where would you take them and why would you take them there? This is hypothetical, of course.

WOW—what a question. Diane Sawyer has nothing on you.

Actually, it is a very good question; however, one that is not easily answered. WHERE I take them would very much determine WHO I would want to take. In terms of the groups that have the broadest appeal nationwide, I would have to start with the Florida Boys, because of all those years on national television, their name is still extremely well known, especially to those not well versed in the current industry. I then would take Greater Vision, because of the tremendous success they have had in the church market and their unsurpassed repertoire of material. I would take Signature Sound because of their incredible showmanship and the demand they have created via the Gaither “machine” of promotion and exposure. I would take Legacy Five, because their Cathedral connection makes them so popular in circles where nobody else is popular. In thinking through this, I would have to insist on taking six artists and conclude the lineup with the Kingdom Heirs, because Dollywood gives them to opportunity to sing to more people in a given year than anybody else in our industry, and the Hoppers, because they still remain the premier family group in Gospel Music.

For what it is worth, that is the lineup I would choose most often, in most places.

In the past few years, we have lost many of our heroes in this great genre of music, and lately some very valuable young people. What do you see as the future of SGM?

I see a future where our music becomes a frequent, featured component of church music and Sunday morning worship. I believe very strongly that our future will be very much determined by our ability to accomplish this goal.

Is there anything that I haven't asked that you would like to address?

What makes our music special---I believe it is the combining of very captivating rhythms, melodies and harmonies, with the strongest, most clear and straight forward presentation of the Gospel among any genres in Christian Music. I don’t say that to diminish any other stylistic presentation. However, I will relate that I have been involved in very heated debates at the Grammy Awards Screening committees as to whether or not certain entries from mainstream Christian music actually contained enough theological content to qualify as “Christian” music. I am proud to report that no debates were ever had when discussing entries from our field. Every entry was filled with mentions of the cross, or calvary, or the blood, or the hope of heaven through the redemptive work of Christ. That is our most distinguishing characteristic, and I hope that never changes. Visit the National Quartet Convention online at http://www.natqc.com