We were celebrating MusicScribe’s 20th anniversary throughout the week of the National Quartet Convention last month, so my plan was to write up a nice review of the event and publish it the following week. I attended NQC each evening on Monday through Wednesday plus the Tuesday afternoon showcase where Legacy Five celebrated 25 years and the SGMA inducted four individuals into the Hall Of Fame. I returned home on Thursday.

Friday morning back home in North Carolina, we had a little hurricane you may have heard about. I thankfully had no damage from the storm, but the power was out until the following Tuesday evening. The next few days were spent making last minute decisions regarding a concert I was promoting featuring the Chuck Wagon Gang on October 5. Our church had no power until Thursday and the sanctuary was flooded. We were thankfully able to hold the event in our church’s Family Life Center on Saturday at the originally advertised time. It was a welcome break from the concerns of the storm. By that point, I’d basically missed two weeks of work at my job, so the next week was spent catching up, plus I had to help finalize plans for my high school reunion on October 12…40 years…class of 1984…yay!

So…this report is a bit late, but I really do have good reasons!

Special Moment of the week
The SGMA Hall Of Fame induction ceremony was bittersweet this year. Kelly Nelon was expected to enter the Hall Of Fame as a living inductee, but of course the tragic plane crash changed all of that. Of course, there were other special tributes throughout the week including Autumn Nelon Streetman joining Joseph Habedank during his set. The tone of the convention as a whole was a mixture of sadness in the wake of the tragedy combined with a renewed appreciation of just how special it is to be together each year. All things considered I must commend the SGMA staff for how well they handled what must have been the most challenging ceremony in the organization’s history.

NQC 2024 Highlights
In terms of production value, the return of the center stage layout is the best decision NQC has made in recent memory. When the back row is just 150 feet away from the stage (as opposed to 300) and four times as many fans get to share that “up close” experience whenever artists move to their side of the stage, the crowd as a whole is more engaged.

On that same note, the fact that NQC offered to sell permanent seat holders the same seats we lost after 2019 (the last time the center stage setup was used) means I get to take photos from the second row on Wednesday nights again! I’m including several in this article, but you can click HERE to view more photos from NQC plus every other concert I’ve attended so far in 2024. (A Facebook account is required to view them.)

Wednesday night was a parade of the top groups. Where most nights featured a range of talent with a range of set lengths…some singing several songs and some singing just one…Wednesday featured just 14 groups doing 20 minutes of their top hits each: the Perrys, Kingsmen, Poet Voices, Whisnants, Mark Trammell Quartet, Inspirations, Triumphant, Karen Peck & New River, Tribute, Hoppers, Greater Vision, Booth Brothers, Brian Free & Assurance, and Gold City. I heard several fans say it was the best night of the week.

A young family group I know well from Rutherford County, North Carolina where I live won the talent competition on Monday morning. That meant they got to sing a song on the Main Stage on Monday night. Congratulations to The Rogers Family!

The Lowlight…
The weather was the lowlight of the week, and obviously, the National Quartet Convention can’t control the weather. Even though Hurricane Helene would not arrive until Friday, she sent a lot of rain in advance. My traveling companions and I actually went over to the venue without any umbrellas on Monday and Tuesday. We just happened to dodge the rain which came down so heavy a few times it could be heard over the volume of the groups on the Main Stage. We decided not to push our luck on Wednesday. It’s a good thing we chose to carry umbrellas that day.

How could the 2025 NQC be improved? 
I still miss the big exhibit hall that defined NQC during the Louisville years, but I’ve also resigned myself to the fact that it can’t come back as long as the event is held at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge. That being said, it would be a great improvement if the LeConte Center would relocate their office space to the North end of the building. Artists who end up with booths in Rooms 2 and 3 are pretty much wasting their money as few fans ever make their way over there. If the LeConte Center’s offices were on that end of the facility, additional booth spaces could be added near the Food Court on the South end where foot traffic is high.

Given the success of the Wednesday night parade of hits, I would really like to see NQC bring back two other themed nights that used to be popular in years past: male quartet night and family group night. Traditionally, those used to be on Monday and Tuesday respectively. I believe the last time it happened was 2009.

With Interstate-40 closed between North Carolina and Tennessee, it may take a little longer to get there, but I’m still looking forward to NQC 2025.