Final updates are made!
Memphis Quartet Show 2019 – Thursday Events
Note: I will be posting a single video highlight for each program again this year and will then update each post with more videos from home next week!
Matinee:
As usual, Triumphant Quartet was absolutely wonderful during their program! On so many of their songs, the crowd started applauding when the recognized the introduction or first few words of the songs. David Sutton, Clayton Inman, Scotty Inman, and Eric Bennett have been together for soon to be 17 years, so they’ve got this pretty much perfected! They sang some of their most popular songs as well as several from their newest album, Yes!
Here’s as early highlight from their program:
Here are a couple more videos. Both of these are from the brand new album.
Evening:
This was a fabulous combination of quartets for the second night of the show. It will be interesting to see if tomorrow night’s program can exceed this one!
Here’s a highlight from the Dove Brothers Reunion:
Bibletones Quartet – We were treated to some gathering/prelude music by Andrew Ishee before he accompanied the Bibletones for their set. Although this group has been around for over 60 years, they are still relatively new to me. I really enjoyed their solid, traditional sound, as I’m sure you will:
The Mighty Kingsmen brought some really great stuff tonight and featured several songs from the brand new CD, Victory Shout. The audience loved the new songs and they really participated well on Stand Up.
LeFevre Quartet was also in great form and featured mostly songs from their newest 2 albums and they really got the audience going on Let the Church Arise. I see this group more often than many others, so I can’t offer multiple new videos here. I am pleased to offer this one:
The Blackwood Brothers was perhaps a little less energetic than the other groups but they were so awesome on their a capella numbers and, of course, the crowd went nuts when Michael Helwig walked on stage to perform a song with them! In addition to the highlighted video above, here are two more from the program:
- Happy Rhythm/Wonderful Time Up There
- The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power – with Michael Helwig
Original Dove Brothers Reunion – just WOW!! They may have gotten a little older, but they still have their spunk! The reunion was a real crowd pleaser and I will be posting several more videos as soon as I get home.
I don’t normally post more than 2-4 videos from each program, but I’m making an exception for this reunion! Here’s a playlist for ten videos.
Here is a playlist of all of the videos I’ve posted from Memphis Quartet Show 2019!
Really a great lineup for my first MQS! Hoping it keeps up. Here’s one from the bibletones I caught https://youtu.be/85ufZOU43as
I miss the Dove Brothers so much. So much energy. They hit the stage so hard and worked it so hard like some other groups I remember (The Statesmen/The Oak Ridge Boys/The Cathedrals/TheKingsmen). I wish I could’ve been there.
This is strictly just a fan’s perspective as I was there to see the Dove Brother’s performance. It was full of energy and excitement. The singing wasn’t too bad at all, but to say, as some have on Facebook that the DB put on a quartet clinic is a bit too far. What the DB did was the same things they did when they attempted to bring back the old 50s style of singing and antics. Back in the early 2000s it worked for a short period of time for them but as it was merely just a gimmick of sorts, it did what all gimmicks tend to do…wear off and disappear. You can’t put a group like that on a stage with other successful groups and say the DB schooled them. Take Triumphant for example. They have been able to keep it all together for the past 17 years, without alienating their fan base, and are still travelling, known as the #1 quartet in gospel music. The Dove brothers went through various reincarnations once the old 50s style wore off and people were done seeing McCray jump, dance and run all over the stage while the audience shouted on credit and didn’t put a dime in the offering plate for them. So off they went to do country gospel, which then alienated the fan base that they did have for the moment. That, along with poor business decisions and personal issues coming to light put the nail in their coffin. Some have speculated they would rather hear this instead of the “klove” progressive styles that more artists are moving towards. Yet it seems that style is what is relevant in getting artists like Joseph Habberdank, the Erwins, the Hoppers, Old Paths, Lefevres, Booth Brothers, Triumphant,, and some others onto bigger better stages and in front of people who are willing to pay a ticket price to hear quality music and not see a dog and pony show. I’m glad we can honor our past but to say the DB are what is missing in SG music is stretching it a good bit. They didn’t have the staying power or talent back then, and years later, our music has surpassed the level and quality the DB could possible offer. Props to them for coming to Memphis to reunite but please let it stay at that. We dont need to go back 70 years and relive relic music and styles. Audiences tired of it back then and will tire of it again now. Let’s continue to honor these men for what they offered but move on past the circus side show so that we can show the world we have some of the greatest, polished and professional music available. Best wishes to the DB and their families as they were able to relive a glory day from their past.
“We dont need to go back 70 years and relive relic music and styles. Audiences tired of it back then and will tire of it again now…….” So what about the Dixie Echoes? Their style is one that is “old school” and they still seem to be popular. Same would go for the Chuck Wagon Gang. As relates to the Gang, you can’t sing together as a group for 80+ years if people don’t support you. To me, their style is refreshing compared to a large majority of the mixed groups out there today.
I just thought it was awfully interesting that “two” different people had identical thoughts on this issue.
If you’re going to make up a fake identity, why ruin the illusion by submitting it a second time using a different name??? Hooper, Hopper, Jason, Jonathan, whatever…
This is strictly just a fan’s perspective as I was there to see the Dove Brother’s performance. It was full of energy and excitement. The singing wasn’t too bad at all, but to say, as some have on Facebook that the DB put on a quartet clinic is a bit too far. What the DB did was the same things they did when they attempted to bring back the old 50s style of singing and antics. Back in the early 2000s it worked for a short period of time for them but as it was merely just a gimmick of sorts, it did what all gimmicks tend to do…wear off and disappear. You can’t put a group like that on a stage with other successful groups and say the DB schooled them. Take Triumphant for example. They have been able to keep it all together for the past 17 years, without alienating their fan base, and are still travelling, known as the #1 quartet in gospel music. The Dove brothers went through various reincarnations once the old 50s style wore off and people were done seeing McCray jump, dance and run all over the stage while the audience shouted on credit and didn’t put a dime in the offering plate for them. So off they went to do country gospel, which then alienated the fan base that they did have for the moment. That, along with poor business decisions and personal issues coming to light put the nail in their coffin. Some have speculated they would rather hear this instead of the “klove” progressive styles that more artists are moving towards. Yet it seems that style is what is relevant in getting artists like Joseph Habberdank, the Erwins, the Hoppers, Old Paths, Lefevres, Booth Brothers, Triumphant,, and some others onto bigger better stages and in front of people who are willing to pay a ticket price to hear quality music and not see a dog and pony show. I’m glad we can honor our past but to say the DB are what is missing in SG music is stretching it a good bit. They didn’t have the staying power or talent back then, and years later, our music has surpassed the level and quality the DB could possible offer. Props to them for coming to Memphis to reunite but please let it stay at that. We dont need to go back 70 years and relive relic music and styles. Let’s continue to honor these men for what they offered but move on past the circus side show so that we can show the world we have some of the greatest, polished and professional music available. Best wishes to the DB and their families as they were able to relive a glory day from their past.
And I take the opinion of Jonathan-Jason Hopper-Hooper with a grain of salt.
The Original Dove Brothers were immensely popular, and worthy of making a Reunion appearance on a major stage. Their Reunion appearance served a purpose, regardless of whether they had #1 hits or are supposedly “relevant” in today’s era. All genres of music need a reminder of the type of singing and musicianship that took place in the old days every now and then, and the Original Dove Brothers serve a great purpose in showcasing such for the quartet scene. Quartet clinic indeed took place on the bulk of their program (harmony, diction, phrasing, timing, stage presence), and as for their final two songs, well, nobody likes it but the people. Sure, they were a little rusty here and there like any artist who hasn’t sung together in 10-plus years would be, but they gave the listeners a lesson on where we came from, in addition to bringing back memories as one of our industry’s biggest crowd pleasers of the late 90s and early 2000s.