Memphis Quartet Show 2018 – Thursday events

by | Jun 15, 2018 | Concert Review, Major Concert Events

Matinee

Ernie Haase & Signature Sound has appeared at the Memphis Quartet Show both as an evening concert artist and, more frequently, as a matinee feature. This year they appeared in the matinee, and for 1-1/2 hours, the delighted the still enthusiastic crowd with many new songs from the Clear Skies album and some of their older popular songs and songs from the Cathedrals.

Since David Griffith has come off of the road, they enlisted Scoot Shelnut to play the bass guitar for this appearance. It sounded like Scoot was a regular member of their band with the wonderful job he did!

I want to share just one video from the program now and I’ll be sharing more next week. This is a patriotic medley that they recently sang at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (in my home area!):

Here are a couple more videos from the matinee:

 

Evening Concert

The evening concert was as fabulous as Wednesday night’s program plus a little bit more since there were five groups instead of four! After the groups sang a song together, it was announced that Mark Trammell has been inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame. It was just last year that Mark was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (a different organization entirely).  It’s so good to see Mark rewarded for his more than 40 years of extraordinary service in the Southern Gospel music industry!

The groups that appeared tonight were outstanding, including Dixie Melody Boys, Blackwood Brothers Quartet, Bibletones, Tribute Quartet, and Mark Trammell Quartet. I’ll have more to say about their programs and more videos to post, but for now, I was only able to upload one video using the hotel wi-fi.   (These are very large hd movie files, so I guess it’s just to much for a shared wi-fi system even using the overnight hours.)

Bibletones – This was my first time to see the Bibletones – but I sure hope it isn’t my last!

 

The biggest highlight of the entire day (and probably the week) was when Michael Helwig WALKED onto the stage to sing with the Blackwood Brothers. If you’ve been following his story, Michael has been confined to a wheelchair due to ALS for about a year. I have finally been able to upload the first portion of my large video which shows him walking on stage and giving some comments.   I’ll post the complete video next week.


The Dixie Melody Boys were the first group for the evening with SGMA Hall of Famer Ed O’Neal and his “boys” Jerry Skaggs, Josh Garner, Willie Sawrey.  Ed is truy a treasure and he sounded wonderful!  Here are a couple of the songs they sang:

Bibletones – This group from Mississippi has been singing since 1957!  I really enjoyed their traditional sound with group members Danny Jackson, Chris Bryant, Jack Armstrong, Glen Floyd, and Ken Keyes (bass guitarist).  Andrew Ishee is their normal pianist but he was unable to attend because of family plans so Jeff Stice appeared with the group.  Here’s one more video from this group:

Tribute Quartet – Riley Harrison Clark, Gary Casto, Josh Singletary, and Anthony Davis make up this group which prides itself on “Preserving the Heritage” of gospel music.   These two videos come from their album “Quartet Tribute”:

Mark Trammell Quartet – This group appeared in two of the evening concerts this year.  During this appearance, it was announced that Mark Trammell will be inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame.  The other group members are Blake Buffin, Nick Trammell, Randy Byrd, and pianist Trevor Conkle.

The Blackwood Brothers Quartet are such legends and it was such a joy to hear them at two evening concerts.   Their group members now are Wayne Little, Jonathan Mattingly, Billy Blackwood and Butch Owens.

Here is the full video of Michael’s appearance which includes I’d Rather Have Jesus and Forever Forgiven.

 

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Diana Brantley

Diana Brantley

Diana is from the Atlanta, Georgia area and is a relatively recent southern gospel fan, having started listening avidly about 15 years ago. With easy access to eastern Alabama, southeastern Tennessee and north and central Georgia, Diana attends as many concerts as her schedule allows to see a wide variety of artists.

2 Comments

  1. Chris G.

    Diana,

    I sure would like to hear what you thought of the all-too-infrequent performance by the Classic Dixie Melody Boys. ( I realize they are officially “retired”). They are one of my all-time favorite SG quartets and had been one of the most under-rated, IMO.
    If you have a video of their performance, it would be greatly appreciated if you would post it.
    Thank you.

    Reply
    • Diana Brantley

      Hey, Chris! I am assuming that you meant Gerald Williams and the Classic Melody Boys. They have performed three times at the Memphis Quartet Show, and they appeared on Friday night this year. I love hearing them – especially since I only got to hear them once in a full concert before their retirement. I’m working to get more videos posted from all of the performances at the Memphis event, including the Classic Melody Boys on the Friday program. Please check back in another day or two.

      Reply

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