I really enjoy all of the concerts I get to attend, but every once in a while there is a concert that is much more special than “normal.” The concert I attended in Oxford, Alabama on Thursday was one of the very special ones! Pat Barker put together a powerful line-up to create the One Night Only Quartet: soloists Steve Ladd (tenor), Joseph Habedank (lead), Mark Lanier (baritone), and himself at the bass position. The live band included Corey Pearson (Diplomats) on bass guitar, Scoot Shelnut (Dixie Echoes) on drums, Jordan Hamby (Diplomats) on guitar and banjo, and Josh Singletary (Tribute Quaretet) on the keyboard. To make it even more special, he also had the rest of the Tribute Quartet and the Dixie Echoes members to round out the program.

The concert attracted fans from all over the country with people from California, Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama (of course!), Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and others that I just don’t remember. Fortunately, for me it was only a 90-mile drive each way! There was a pretty good crowd, especially since there ended up being local competition with the Charlie Daniels Band and high school playoff football games in town the same evening. (But why would anyone go to those when they could have gone to the One Night Only concert???)

The concert began with two numbers from the One Night Only Quartet – Home and I Hold a Clear Title – but those were just a teaser for what we would hear later in the concert! With so much talent on board, each artist was limited to 2 or 3 songs and the program alternated between soloists and quartets.

The first soloist was Mark Lanier. I didn’t see Mark when he was with Perfect Heart, but I did enjoy him while he was with Poet Voices. It was so nice to see him again as he performed two of his original songs, The Ground Is Level at Calvary and You Can Take Her Name Off The Prayer List.

Tribute Quartet was up next, performing three of their really popular songs – Jesus Saves, The Prodigal Comes Home, and Good News From Jerusalem. This group has a really stable lineup including Riley Harrison Clark (tenor), Gary Casto (lead), Josh Singletary (baritone and pianist), and Anthony Davis (bass). Josh wasn’t the only one in this group who did double duty for the concert because Anthony also ran the sound for everyone, and he did a wonderful job!

Joseph Habedank wowed the crowd with Here He Comes, If You Knew Him – solo edition, and The Beauty of the Blood. These are all songs that he wrote.

The Dixie Echoes brought on their wonderful, true 4-part harmony with In the Garden, Bye and Bye, and I’d Rather Have Jesus, with group members Stephen Adair (tenor), Randy Shelnut (lead), Randy (Scoot) Shelnut, Jr. (baritone), and Mark Cates (bass). Josh Singletary did an absolutely fabulous job accompanying the group on the keyboard.

Steve Ladd was next and did a great job on his songs Chain Breaker and a jazzy, upbeat arrangement of Since I Laid My Burdens Down. He performed what is probably his signature song, Preach the Word, with The One Night Only Quartet on the choruses.

We were then treated to a full set from The One Night Only Quartet that featured eight more pretty legendary songs: I Know, There’s a King On the Way, How Big Is God, I Just Stopped By On My Way Home (with Corey Pearson on the first verse and some great banjo playing by Jordan Hamby), The Lighthouse, Who Am I, Troubles Are Gone (also seems to be known as When I Get Home in some places) – which was written by George Younce and is rarely performed, How Beautiful Heaven Must Be, and a finale with all of the artists on Boundless Love. Of course, I’m sure most of us would have stayed around if they had sung for two or three more hours, but the concert had to end sometime! Will we see a second performance of the group sometime in the future, even though it was supposed to be “One Night Only?” Only time will tell.

Here’s a playlist of all of the songs sung by The One Night Only Quartet.

Here are all of the artists except Corey and Jordan (who are behind other artists) and Anthony (who was running sound).