Here’s one more combination review! This time the common element is the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, one of my top favorites!
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet appeared at the Macedonia Baptist Church in the quaint town of Manchester. They had to leave their bus a couple of hours away from the previous night and make the trip with the help of church members from both churches. Michael Helwig was traveling with them on this weekend sweep through Georgia and he stayed with the bus while Wayne Little, Billy Blackwood, Butch Owens and the auditioning Doug Brady kept their commitment to sing in Manchester. They did not disappoint with their program! Among the best of the songs were What a Day That Will Be, When I Cross to the Other Side of Jordan, and He Touched Me.
During the Memorial Day weekend, Indian Creek Baptist Church hosts a 3-evening event in a large tent on their church grounds. They have a terrific variety of artists appearing and always have a good turnout. And, very importantly, they have a wonderful concession stand that doesn’t overcharge for their food and drinks! Thursday night included Jeff & Sheri Easter and The Primitive Quartet. On Friday The Inspirations and The McKameys were presented with a special appearance by Josh & Ashley Franks. On Saturday, the evening I attended, The Blackwood Brothers, The Mylon Hayes Family, and Jonathan Wilburn were on the program. The emcee for all three nights was Singing News editor Danny Jones.
The Mylon Hayes Family, with parents Mylon and Wendy Hayes and their children Bailey, Conner and Kennedy, continues to present great sets and their children are really maturing and sounding great! Each of the boys played the piano during the set – Conner playing Since Jesus Came Into My Heart as an instrumental with his dad on bass and Bailey playing while the family sang Jesus Is Walking With Me. And Kennedy looked and sounded as fresh as a little daisy while the rest of us were drooping with the heat and humidity! Here are some highlights:
Jonathan Wilburn was pretty peppy, too, but he at least had the decency to show the effects of the heat! He sounded great and he had his two granddaughters with him as they were headed to the mountains of Tennessee on vacation after the singing. Here are some highlights of his sets:
The Blackwood Brothers were their usually wonderful selves, including a guess appearance by Michael Helwig who has had to recently leave the group because of his advanced ALS symptoms. He sang one or two songs on the first part of the program and then joined them on the abbreviated second set.
Kudos certainly go out to the Indian Creek Baptist Church volunteers for an outstanding job of hosting this weekend’s festivities, which I believe they said was their 17th year. Georgia had received a lot of rain during the week leading up to the event so extra work had to be done to make the field usable for the concerts. The sound and lighting were really, really good thanks to bringing in expert help for those tasks.
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