Feature Articles
06 Jan 2010
Klaudt Indian Family
Melvin Klaudt has agreed to answer some questions about The Klaudt Indian Family. Melvin, give us a little history of where, when, and how the singing group was formed.
All of the Klaudts were born in Mercer County, North Dakota, Dad Klaudt in Beulah, North Dakota and the rest of the family in or near Elbowoods, North Dakota on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Dad started his personal ministry in the mid 1920’s while in his mid to late teens, Mom Klaudt, (Lillian Little Soldier) during this same time was ministering on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation while in her teens. During this time Mom and Dad would occasionally run into each other at revival services in and around the Indian reservation.
On Friday September 13, 1929 Mom and Dad Klaudt were married in a simple ceremony, got on their horses and started their first revival service several miles from where they were married the same day they were married. Mom Klaudt played the accordion and Dad Klaudt preached and played the banjo. In 1930, with their first child Vernon, the young couple headed to Sevierville, Tennessee to attend BTS the Church of God’s school where all young Church of God ministers attended.
The following year they headed back to the Dakotas to plant churches for the Church of God. During the late 1930’s, Mom and Dad Klaudt had one of the top radio programs in the Dakotas called, “Turn Your Radio On”. Their theme song, sung by the then trio of Vernon, Mom and Dad Klaudt, was the song Turn Your Radio On.
As the children of the family got old enough, they were added into the family group, Vernon first, then Ramona, Melvin, Raymond and Kenneth. Their services were a mixture of solos, duets and trios and quartets. Their early years were spent in ministry and revivals in the Midwest and Northwest. In 1945 they began their trek to Cleveland Tennessee from the State of Washington to enroll the whole family in Lee College, where they finally arrived in 1949 after stops in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
The family started their concert appearances in 1951. While conducting a revival in Atlanta at the Hemphill Church of God, and after their revival service on a Saturday night, they appeared at the Wally Fowler All Night Singing in the Atlanta City Auditorium at the invitation of Eva Mae LeFevre. There was such a positive response that Mr. Fowler insisted on the family becoming a part of his Wally Fowler All Night Singings.
I had the privilege of seeing the Klaudts sing in St. Louis a few times in my younger days. It was always an exciting program. Describe to us what the fans saw when the Klaudts performed.
The family always appeared in matching suits and ties until Wally Fowler found out they were Indians. Mr. Fowler was the one that suggested the family wear Indian Costumes. I think it would be good at this point to explain what an American Indian is. An Indian is the only race of people in the world who have to prove who they are. To be an Indian, you have to be a registered member of a Federally Recognized Band, Group or Tribe of peoples recognized through the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the Department of Interior in Washington DC. The key words are “Federally Recognized”. The members of the family are all numbered and registered members of the Federally Recognized Arikara Tribe located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
I am not sure what the fans saw when we hit the stage. I assume it was 7 members of one family, wearing Indian Costumes playing an organ, trombone, trumpet, alto and baritone sax and an upright bass. The vocals were a combination of quartet, trios, duets and solos with instrumental backup. They were probably shocked and amused. Keil Auditorium in St. Louis was always an interesting stop. Sometimes there was a basketball game going on while the singing was going on in the same building with just a large curtain separating the two venues.
It seemed from the audience side of the stage that Momma Klaudt had a big influence of what happened with the Klaudt Indian Family. What was the hierarchy of the family?
The Native Indian Society is very maternal in structure. Mom was always in control and until us kids got in our twenties and married she remained in control. It was during this time that Mom’s influence begin to wane that we gradually digressed from a ministry aspect to entertainment. As you know Deon, this is a dangerous area to get into when Gospel Singing becomes more entertainment oriented than ministry. This is when the family began to develop problems that eventually put a stop to our family as a singing entity. Dad was the business manager and Vernon did most of the booking and of course did the emcee work.
How would you describe the musical style of the Klaudts? I remember seeing one of you play the Trombone. Since I was learning to play the Trombone in school at the time, I was fascinated that you guys had incorporated it into your program. Who played it, and how well was it accepted? Were any other instruments integrated into your programs?
The style of the family in the beginning leaned more to a pop and jazz sound. We were the first group that I am aware of that inserted an acappella song or two into our program. As we began to compete on the SGM stage, we tried to become more Southern in our style. I don’t believe we ever achieved this to satisfy the public to any long lasting extent. There was a certain percentage of the fans that always accepted us, as many of the southern fan had American Indian heritage in their bloodline.
I played the trombone, Ramona played the trumpet, Raymond played the Alto Sax, Kenneth played the baritone sax, Vernon played the upright bass and mom played the organ and accordion. The Southern Gospel Groups used to refer to us as the Southern Gospel Salvation Army Band.
Sadly, at the time the Klaudts performed, there were inequities in our great Country. Being an Indian family, were you guys treated with any prejudice? If so, how did you cope with it?
Deon, if there were prejudices, we never felt them and we were always treated with what I believe to be a deep respect. However, during the fifties, sixties and seventies when we were doing the concert circuit, we received an enormous amount of animosity from the SGM Industry as a whole. Number one, we did not have a strong SGM sound, we introduced instruments into the Industry and we tried to keep a strong spiritual message and were criticized for preaching during our stand. To deal with this, I believe we sacrificed a message of Christ and watered down our testimony. Other than Mom Klaudt, she really did not care what people thought, she was going to talk about her Jesus at every opportunity. But the average fan did not really understand the highly competitive nature between groups, especially during the mid 1900’s.
If we could time-transfer the Klaudt Indian Family from 40 years ago to the year 2010, where would the group fit into the various styles of Southern Gospel Music today?
In today’s present styles, I believe the Klaudt Family would compete quite favorably. When you look at the landscape of the present day Southern Gospel Genre, there are only a very few groups that sing what used to be a pure Southern Gospel Sound. In fact, many of the present day fans do not understand the history of SGM to even define the pure past SG sound. You look at the groups of today, solos, duets, trios, mixed groups, family groups using sound tracks. The Klaudts would be their own backup musicians with a mis-mash of several diversified styles. So I think the present day fan would be more open to the sound that was always our style.
The Klaudt Indian Family has a College Sponsorship program. Please tell us all about it. How can people donate or help build your program?
When Mom and Dad Klaudt passed away in 2001, the family got together and decided to set up a 501 c 3 Non-Profit Corporation to continue the ministry of our parents started in the mid 1920’s. The purpose was to do what we could to perpetuate Southern Gospel Music by presenting scholarships to needy talented kids that wanted to pursue a ministry in Gospel Music and pulpit ministry. The students with a Native American bloodline would have a priority over other potential recipients. However, ethnicity is not the ultimate criteria.
The Foundation now has 4 scholarships, 3 at Lee University and one at New Orleans Theological Seminary. These are in the names of 1) Lillian Little Soldier Klaudt 2) Eva Mae LeFevre 3) Vernon Klaudt, and in the fall of 2010, the nursing school will open at Lee University and there will be a scholarship presented in the name of my daughter Melody Klaudt Fisher who passed away after a 10 year battle with cancer in June of 2009. The New Orleans scholarship is in the name of Rev. R.H. Klaudt, our father and is a ministerial scholarship.
The Foundation has just begun the development of their long anticipated TV Ministry, entitled “Just Keep Singing”. The format will be past and present SGM group videos, personal testimonies of ordinary folk that love the Lord, and scripture commentary. Several TV outlets have expressed an interest in programming this ministry. The TV ministry is not for the purpose of pumping personalities or raising funds, but only to bring honor and glory to the Lord through song, testimony and word.
Raymond Klaudt, who now lives in Southern California is developing our printed ministries to teach and minister to children on Indian reservations and local churches. The concepts of the Native American printed materials will be very colorful, unique and creative to get kids, not only interested in the salvation message, but to also inspire an interest in Biblical study. These materials will be made available to any organization or individual interested in Children Ministries and to those who have a burden to minister on Indian reservations.
The Foundation’s web site, http://www.klaudtmemorial.com , is being updated, but in the meanwhile they can go into this web page for more information on the family. Since the ministry is ongoing since the mid 1920’s, we would want the public to think about this as being, not a Klaudt ministry, but an extension of God’s ministry to talented young people and needy spiritually starved children. We as a family have been given so much from the public, that this is our way of saying thanks.
Think about this, our schooling as a family was afforded by the public and their desire to see an Indian family mature in the Lord. In fact, everything we are and have is because of the goodness of the Lord and His people. When an individual gives to the Eva Mae Scholarship, we would want them to understand that they are contributing to the ongoing ministry that the Lord gave Eva Mae many years ago. The same is true of any of the names of our family member’s scholarships individually. This ministry is only an extension of the donor’s daily ministry because of the Christ that lives within them. We never want to reach a point of selfishly assuming a mind set of this being our ministry thereby thinking more highly of ourselves than we should. We only want be a conduit of God’s blessings to others.
Two members of the “Voices of Lee” that sang on NBC’s “Sing Off” program in 2009, are recipients of the Family’s Scholarship Program. I would want everyone that contributed to the Family’s foundation and watched the Voices compete to sit with a spiritual pride in knowing that, this was an extension of their personal ministry.
Has there ever been any thought given to a Klaudt reunion on stage? Do you have any Klaudt Indian Family reproductions that you offer for sale to the public? If so, how can fans get some, even if it’s LPs?
We have thought about a family reunion, but this is not on our immediate radar screen. The reworking of past recordings and videos will take sums of money to re-master that is not available at this time. We are still mulling in our minds as to what to do with our past recordings and videos. Maybe the public can help us decide this. We respect the spiritual input of God’s people.
Deon, we want to thank the Unthanks personally for participating in our first scholarship presentation at the Conn Center in Cleveland Tennessee and the initial development of the Foundation’s Web Page. God continue to bless your ongoing efforts for His cause.
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Written: 01/06/2010 
Author: SGN
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