The Southern Gospel Music Association is currently accepting nominees for the Hall Of Fame. Each member of the SGMA is asked to submit two living and two deceased individuals for consideration. Three of my 2022 nominees are the same as my 2021 nominees. (My other previous nominee, Karen Peck, was inducted in 2021.)
I am pleased to be nominating:
1. music producer/songwriter/singer/musician Wayne Haun
2. comedian/songwriter and former Gaither Vocal Band baritone Mark Lowry
3. Gospel Music Association and Sons Of Song founder Don Butler, and
4. popular historian, author, and columnist Bob Terrell
Record producer Wayne Haun has propelled the careers of numerous music artists forward over the past 30 years. Haun has repeatedly demonstrated a unique ability to produce a wide variety of musical styles ranging from Southern Gospel and Gospel to classic Jazz and Country.
Where most individual singers might hope to see a few songs hit the top of the Singing News monthly airplay chart and maybe win one or two Dove or Grammy awards over the span of a career, Haun has achieved that goal several dozen times as a producer and as a songwriter. In addition to his work behind the scenes, Haun toured for several years playing keyboard for Ernie Haase & Signature Sound.
Mark Lowry’s first album on the Impact label was released in 1970 when he was only 12 years old. Lowry was represented by Skylite Talent Agency at that time alongside other top gospel artists. By 1988, Lowry’s entertaining combination of stand-up comedy and singing had attracted the attention of Bill Gaither who invited him to join the Gaither Vocal Band.
Lowry was instrumental in the success of the Gaither Homecoming Series beginning in 1991, while simultaneously carrying on a solo/comedy career including both audio and video releases for Word Music. He continued to headline his own tours after leaving the GVB in 2001 and after returning to the GVB from 2009-2013. In addition to singing, Lowry wrote the lyrics to the most popular Christmas song of the modern era, “Mary Did You Know”, which has been recorded by dozens of artists spanning various genres. In recent years, Lowry has remained in the public eye through his successful podcast series.
Bob Terrell was a noted newspaper columnist with the Asheville Citizen-Times in Asheville, NC from 1949-1986 and became a regular columnist for Singing News after that publication launched in 1969. Terrell wrote his first book in 1971, a biography of J. D. Sumner initially titled Gospel Music Is My Life which has since been updated several times to include the rest of Sumner’s career and is now titled The Life And Times Of J. D. Sumner. Terrell authored several more books including histories of The Chuck Wagon Gang and The Inspirations as well as what is arguably Southern Gospel’s most cherished anecdotal history, The Music Men (1990). Terrell also traveled extensively with Rev. Billy Graham and conducted tours to the Holy Land.
Don Butler was a co-founder of the Gospel Music Association in 1964 and served that organization for many years. He also served as president of Sumar Talent Agency, vice-president for Stamps-Blackwood School of Music, and chairman of the board of directors for the International Gospel Music Hall Of Fame. Additionally, Butler held executive positions with the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the organization which produces the annual Grammy Awards) and the National Music Educators Association.
Butler also administered music catalogs for several major publishers, sang with several groups including the Sons Of Song (which he co-founded), and produced several major television productions including Singing Time In Dixie and the GMA Dove Awards.
Don Butler may have been vice-president of the Stamps Quartet Music Company, but not the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company. I realize that some people do not know there is a different between these two companies, but there was considerable difference in the two.
The article does not say he was vice-president of the Stamps-Baxter Music & Printing Company nor, for that matter, does it say he was president of Stamps Quartet Music Company.
It says he was vice-president of the Stamps-Baxter School of Music. I’m presuming that was in later years after the school was associated with Ben Speer, but it may have been another time. It’s entirely possible that statement may be wrong, too, but either way, it definitely does not say anything about the original Stamps-Baxter Music & Printing Company.
After doing further research into the matter, I do need to make a correction.
Don Butler was associated with the Stamps-Blackwood school of music, not the Stamps-Baxter School of Music. According to a Billboard article in 1973, the school had operated in Dallas, Texas and Waxahachie, Texas for about 30 years previously…probably meaning from the point JR Baxter and Frank Stamps parted ways. The 1973 article mentions the school is relocating to Murray State University. It was there during the summer school a year or two later, of course, that JD Sumner & The Stamps recorded their famous live album _Live At Murray State_.
I will update the article, but again, I will reiterate that the article never stated Don Butler was ever associated with the Stamps-Baxter printing company.
Here are my nominees
1. Danny Funderburk
2. Kirk Talley
3. Kyla Rowland
4. Johnny Cook
#2 The 3 tenors and a songwriter.
I would like to nominate Billy Brisendine for induction into the SGMA Hall of Fame.
Are you a member of the SGMA? They’ll start taking nominations for the 2024 Hall Of Fame around March or April of next year.
You can join at this link by selecting a one- or two-year partnership
https://sgma.org/donate
Over the past three or four years on numerous occasions when individuals have made suggestions about who should be in the SGMA Hall of Fame, I’ve directly asked them if they are voting members of the SGMA themselves.
Every single time, without fail, my question is not acknowledged. It’s like when you’re having a conversation on a phone and it gets disconnected, but you keep talking for another few seconds before you realize no one is listening.
Interesting.