After recording one album with Riversong Records, the Greenes were approached by Roger Bennett about becoming part of his new label, Eagle One, joining a pretty impressive list of artists at the time, including the Lesters, The Sound, Dixie Echoes, Paynes and others. Roger had left the Cathedrals in November 1986 to focus on his new venture (Eagle One), and though the label itself didn’t last very long, it’s impact on the Southern Gospel genre was massive, releasing some amazing music during its short lifespan. Even though the Greenes changed record labels, Eldridge Fox continued to work with them as their producer, and of the 3 albums that he produced for the Greenes, “Family Praise” would definitely go down as the most impactful.

With Foxie at the helm producing, and Roger Bennett serving as Executive Producer, strings and horns were utilized for the first time on a Greenes recording, which were arranged and conducted by Steve Mauldin. Mauldin would continue providing orchestrations for the Greenes over the next 8-10 years, adding his touch to those big arrangements on some of the Greenes’ most popular power ballads. Mauldin’s orchestrations add an elegant touch to the recording, complementing the Greenes, and not overshadowing them. Sometimes when you listen to a recording with lots of orchestrations, you come away remembering the big orchestrations, but here on “Family Praise”, you remember the Greenes and the songs themselves!

“Family Praise” kicks off with what would end up being what was arguably, the greatest song the Greenes recorded in their entire career called, “There’s a Miracle in Me”. With its big orchestral track, expertly arranged and conducted by Steve Mauldin, you know right off the bat, this is going to be a very different album for the Greenes. Written by Phil & Carolyn Cross, the song would go all the way to the #2 position in the Singing News chart for January and February 1988. The song easily could have been a #1 hit, had it not been for a little song called “Midnight Cry”, by Gold City (a song Eldridge Fox produced as well, AND Steve Mauldin orchestrated!), which held the #1 spot for January-June 1988! Incidentally, this was actually the final song chosen for this album, as the Greenes had all 9 songs pretty much recorded, and didn’t know what to do for a 10th song. As fate would have it, they sang at a church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where a young songwriter named Phil Cross was the minister of music, and after the service he pitched them a couple of his songs, and upon hearing “Miracle in Me”, Tim and Kim both knew this was the 10th song they needed to finish up the album; thus beginning a lasting relationship between the Greenes and Phil Cross, as they would go on to record several of his songs over the years. “Miracle in Me” has gone on to become one of the best loved classics in our genre, and it remained part of the Greenes’ performance repertoire for the next 20+ years. Interestingly, this was the first big, power ballad the Greenes recorded, and it solidified the Greenes as “Masters of the Power Ballad”, as it would be this type of song that the Greenes excelled in. There has never been anyone that could sell these emotional power ballads better than the Greenes, as they not only could sing them vocally, but they could deliver such a stunning stage performance that the auditorium would just explode before even finishing the song! It truly was something to behold, and I am so glad I witnessed it many times over!

Picking up the tempo, we come to the light and airy feel of the song, “The Light on Yonder Mountain”, which features a really cool guitar track, along with some nice mandolin and piano highlights. The song was the Greenes’ grandpa’s favorite song, which was actually a tune that the Chuck Wagon Gang recorded on their 1983 album, “Keep on Keepin’ On”. The song is a story of the second coming, told as a dream, and producer, Eldridge Fox wasn’t entirely on board with the Greenes recording the song, but he relented and it became a fan favorite. I remember hearing the song on Paul Heil’s “The Gospel Greats” radio program when he featured this album on his show, and I thought it was such a cool sounding song about the second coming, told in a unique way.

Slowing things back down, we come to the tender Tim Greene penned tune, “The Teardrop”. With its lush strings and country-style piano playing, this deeply meaningful song has the feel of a traditional country ballad, and Kim turns in an outstanding performance, before the tempo kicks into high gear for an early Daryl Williams penned tune entitled, “The First Drop of Rain”, which features Tony. With a strong piano track, highlighted by the electric guitar and harmonica, along with a strong beat, this was one of Daryl’s earliest published songs, as he had just signed as a writer with Eagle Eye Publishing. Ironically, Eagle One had a development label called Genesis Records (a young Ernie Haase was a soloist on this label as well!), and a relatively unknown male quartet at the time called the Down East Boys released an album on that label in 1987, produced by Roger Bennett titled, “The First Drop of Rain”, and they did a good job with their version of the song. Personal side note, I first heard the Down East Boys in October 1984 (their first album was released in 1983, which was produced by Roger Fortner) and I have been following their music ever since!

The first side finishes out with one of my personal favorites entitled, “On Deck with the Lord”, which was written by Arlie Petree. Featuring Tim and Kim, this was a song that Tony really liked and pushed for the Greenes to record it. Tastefully accented by strings and featuring a nice acoustic and harmonica track, one of the things I love about the song is its distinct Rambos feel, and the Greenes do a marvelous job capturing the message in the song. I also love the final tag, as the Greenes repeat the line “Oh what a thrill…oh what a thrill…oh what a thrill to have Jesus on board”, ending the song, and the first side, with a jubilant feel.

With its brass infused track, the second side kicks off with the up-tempo Tim Greene penned, “Let the Waters Pour”. Featuring Tim, this would end up being the second single from the recording, and it also would be Tim’s first penned song that was sent to radio. The song made it to the #22 spot for November 1988, but I feel the song was a strong contender for the top 10, or at least break into the top 20! Though it wasn’t the Greenes biggest chart song, it was a great song, and in due time, Tim would go on to pen several #1 songs and top 5 hits for the Greenes!

With a nice acoustic guitar track, backed by a beautiful string section (and a haunting harmonica track), the Greenes churn out an amazing rendition of the Videt Polk classic, “More Precious Than Gold”. Published in 1968, the first major recording of this Stamps-Baxter tune was in 1982 by the Primitive Quartet, on their album, “Because He Loved Me”, and then in 1984, it was recorded by the Spencers, on their album entitled, “Movin’ Out”. The Greenes first heard it sung by their church choir, who found it in an old songbook, but then they later heard it by the Primitive Quartet, and ultimately the Greenes re-arranged it to fit them. Highlighting that amazing family harmony, the song became a hugely popular concert favorite for the Greenes. As an added side note, the song was most recently recorded by Jeff Tolbert & Primitive Road, on their first recording, “Heaven is Waiting for Me”, which was released in 2025, and they did a great job with the song.

Tony steps up next, as he sings the up-tempo, “He’s Gonna Come Soon”, which was one of Daryl Williams’ first co-writes, penning the song with his friend, Rich Moore (who also collaborated together on the classic Talleys tune, “Worship the Name of the Lord”), before the pace slows back down as Tony also sings the reflective and sentimental, “Country Boy’s Dream”. With its mournful harmonica and fiddle track, along with some slip-note piano stylings, the song has a very distinct classic country feel to it. Written by Eldridge Fox’s cousin, Gary Fox, the song was pitched to the Greenes with Tony in mind, and he quickly picked it for himself to sing!

With its dramatic opening, the recording concludes with another Tim Greene penned tune, “I Won’t Need a Mansion”. With Tim delivering a heartfelt performance on the song, this is one of my all-time favorite tunes written by Tim, and the group does a fantastic job on this song. The song was a perfect candidate for adding orchestrations, but they took a more rustic approach, allowing the band to give the song a big feel. I love the dynamics in the song, as well as the dramatic closing tag with Tony taking the lead, as they sing, “As long as I see Jesus, I’ll know I’m home!”. I fell in love with this song from the very first time I heard it back in 1988, but here is a funny personal story about this song and this recording…I bought this on cassette when I saw the Greenes in September 1988 (the Greenes had stopped carrying vinyl LPs by this time), and for some reason, right when they hit that last note in the song, the tape cuts off. It was obviously a manufacturing mishap when duplicating the cassettes and I obviously bought a bad copy. Every time I went to listen to the song, the tape would run out on that last note, and it drove me nuts! It wouldn’t be until around 1994/1995, that I would finally get my hands on a vinyl copy of this recording, and I was finally able to hear the complete ending of the song. I listened to this recording and this song so much when I had it on cassette, and it’s so engrained in my mind, that still to this day (30 some years after I bought the vinyl), I can’t listen to the song without hearing the song ending mid-note in my head!

“Family Praise” ranks as one of my all-time favorite albums by the Greenes, and it was the pinnacle of success for this era of the group. I love everything about this album…the rich, full music tracks, the vocals, song selection, sequencing, arrangements…everything! The Greenes were growing up, and the maturing and creative growth they experienced over the previous 2-3 years all culminated in one fabulous celebration, aptly titled, “Family Praise”. By this time, Tim, Kim and Tony were around 23, 20 and 18 years old, and were all full-fledged adults, and coincidentally, “Family Praise” would be the last album their dad, Everette Greene, would be a part of. The Greenes were becoming more popular, traveling further out from home, which in turn meant longer tours, and Everette opted to let the kids handle the singing, while he took care of their transportation needs as their bus driver, only occasionally taking the stage to sing or play a song.

“Family Praise” opened a lot of doors for the Greenes, and it truly was a spectacular piece of work! While the album took the Greenes several steps forward from a music and creative standpoint, it still had lots of those sweet harmony moments throughout, that made the Greenes’ music unique and special. This was truly a “career” album, catapulting the Greenes to the forefront of the industry, proving to everyone that they were a force, and were here to stay!

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