It is a beautiful Autumn day, and my friend Kenny is walking through the streets of downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. He says "Hi" to people he passes, even stops to shake a hand of an old friend as he goes. As he passes along North Dunbar Street, he sees a plaque mounted, and does a double take!
He stops, looks at the plaque, and sure enough, in a flashback from the early 1960's, he sees a familiar face smiling back at him. A smile he sees in the mirror every morning. Yes, he is looking at a picture of himself, along with his friends Burl Strevel, Ed Sprouse, Elmo Fagg, and Bill Crowe! You see, my friend is Kenny Gates, who was the pianist for the Blue Ridge Quartet, a gospel singing group formed in 1946, which moved to Spartanburg in 1948, and which he joined a year later. He even sang baritone with the quartet for 6 years. They sang the "Sweetest Singing This Side Of Heaven" for almost 40 years, and in 2011, this plaque was erected on what is called the "Spartanburg Music Trail". It honors 13 singers and musicians who called Spartanburg home.
The plaque says "The Blue Ridge Quartet was a pioneering gospel group, rising to national prominence through it's syndicated television show 'Music For All America,' which was filmed at Spartanburg's WSPA. Founded in 1946 by Elmo Fagg, Ed Sprouse, Kenny Gates, and Burl Strevel, and later joined by Bill Crowe, the group would go on to record several hit songs and over 100 albums during the next four decades."
Kenny states "What an honor it was for us to be a part of that group along with the Marshall Tucker Band, The Sparkletones, Don Reno, Buck Trent and others."
No comments:
Post a Comment