This month, I want to focus on what ought to be a red-letter day for fans of gospel music. Over time, the date June 30, 1954 arguably has the same impact in gospel music history as December 7, 1941 has on followers of American history. Even 51 years later, there are many fans of gospel music that can still recall what happened on that day.
I contend that the events that resulted from what happened that day have affected gospel music to the present, and in some respects are continuing to affect gospel music.
That day, the Blackwood Brothers Quartet arrived by airplane into Clanton, Alabama to sing with the Statesmen Quartet at the airport hangar there as a commemorative event to help celebrate the annual Chilton County Peach festival.
The Blackwood Brothers at that time were at the pinnacle of their career…earlier that month, they had achieved nationwide fame and notoriety by their appearance on the very popular Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts television program, where they had won the talent competition the night they appeared. Their 45 RPM single of the songs they sang on the show, “The Man Upstairs” b/w “How About Your Heart” was selling briskly at that time. They were the first gospel group to perform on national TV, and were reaping the benefits of that appearance.
Just two years prior, in 1952, the Blackwood Brothers had formed a professional partnership with the Statesmen, and it was working out for good for both groups by that time. The popularity that each group enjoyed was also unprecedented for a gospel singing group. Together, their “team” was the top attraction in gospel music by far at that time.
It seemed that the sky was the limit for the Blackwood Brothers. Sadly, they were soon to learn how true that indeed was.
It was also in 1952 that the Blackwood Brothers had decided to use an airplane to get to their concerts, reasoning that that means of travel would be much more convenient and less fatiguing than riding in the large automobiles that they and other gospel groups were using as their main means of transportation. The time they saved flying allowed them to spend more time with their families in Memphis, Tennessee. Baritone R.W. Blackwood was the group’s pilot, and bass Bill Lyles was the navigator and co-pilot.
On the day of the concert, R.W. decided it would be prudent to conduct an afternoon test flight, since the runway was narrow and had no lights, and it would be dark when the group left Clanton to return to Memphis. The usual practice in those days was to have cars turn on their headlights to illuminate the runways of such airports so pilots could see where they needed to go.
R.W. and Bill would have a passenger for their test ride…18-year old Johnny Ogburn, the son of the Festival’s director, had his parents’ permission to ride with them.
After the initial safety checks were done, the plane took off without any problems…as they circled the airport, the direction of the wind had ominously changed…and the people who had assembled to watch them looked on in surprise when they noticed that the plane was coming in to land on the opposite end of the runway where they were planning to take off that night.
On the approach, there was a hill the plane needed to clear to land on the runway safely…after numerous attempts to clear the hill safely to land without success, R.W. tried once more. On his last attempt, the plane’s engine stalled. As R.W. fought to get the plane under control, it suddenly dived straight upward before the engine finally stopped.
The gathered crowd below was becoming more anxious at the plane struggled, and when the engine stalled and the plane came hurtling down toward the runway, they gasped in collective fright as they watched the inevitable result.
The plane hit the ground with a sickening thud and burst into flames immediately. As it did, James Blackwood saw R.W. still strapped in his pilot’s seat, and in panic, rushed toward the plane in an effort to save his nephew and the others.
Attempts at rescue would have been futile, since there was so much fire engulfing the plane. Still, James was determined to do what he could, endangering himself in order to try to get to the bodies that were being burned in the wreckage. As James drew nearer to R.W., he felt someone pick him up and literally carry him to safety. James’ cries of “Let me go!” were not heeded, and his frantic kicks and efforts to escape were to no avail.
Years later, James would learn that it was Jake Hess who had physically removed him from the scene, and Jake’s reward for his heroism was a sore and badly bruised body from the struggle.
All three passengers of the plane perished. Autopsies revealed that R.W.’s and Bill’s necks were broken immediately on impact, and Bill’s body was found under the plane’s instrument panel, while R.W.’s remained strapped in the pilot’s seat.
News of the crash spread quickly. Walter Winchell brought the news to his audience right away, as did CBS radio and television, along with Arthur Godfrey. America was in shock at the news.
It was left to Hess to deliver the sad news back to James’ family and pastor in Memphis…and then, to take James back home to Memphis.
James Blackwood was in unspeakable grief and shock. All the way home, through a continuing mask of tears, he told Hovie Lister and the other members of the Statesmen (in whose car James was going home to Memphis) that he would not sing again…that he could not go on as a result of the tragedy. Lister tried to give James as much courage as he could, calmly reminding James that he was loved and that life must go on for the living.
The grief of gospel music fans was almost as great as James’…the funeral for R.W. and Lyles was held at the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis…and the crowd of some 3,000 + mourners made even that fine auditorium seem tiny. And significantly, although they sat in a separate section from the majority of the mourners, the number of black people in attendance was large…and striking. It was a testament to the universal appeal of gospel music and its’ message to all people, regardless of social position or skin color.
Fortunately, the group had not scheduled any more concerts for a two month period. This allowed James time to ponder what to do next. It didn’t take him long to decide that he would indeed go on…that the Blackwood Brothers Quartet would keep on singing.
There was one engagement left to fulfill, in Fort Worth, Texas. James gathered tenor Bill Shaw and pianist Jack Marshall, and with the help of R.W.’s younger brother Cecil, and the Statesmen’s bass singer, Jim “Big Chief” Wetherington, the group made it through that concert. Wetherington and Kent Higginbotham, bass singer with Cecil’s part-time quartet, the Songfellows, filled in at various times during the period of transition, as did Cecil himself.
Then, James had to find permanent replacements for R.W. and Lyles. The baritone opening was relatively easy to fill…Cecil was R.W.’s brother, and he was avalable. Cecil became the group’s new baritone, and would remain so for the next 46 years, eventually, upon James’ eventual retirement, becoming the manager of the Blackwood Brothers.
But who would sing bass? James asked the opinions of those closest to him, and one name became prominent quickly, though it was not the one James first thought of. The Sunshine Boys were another popular group of the period, and they had a talented bass singer named JD Sumner. James said years later that Sumner’s name just “kept coming up”, and though he didn’t think Sumner would be a good fit (he sounded nothing like Lyles), he began to believe that God was becoming involved in his replacement choice. With that idea in mind, James relentlessly offered Sumner the job, despite getting applicants far and wide from elsewhere (given the Blackwoods’ stature and popularity, this was no surprise). James was convinced that God wanted JD Sumner to sing bass for the Blackwood Brothers, and he would not take “no” for an answer.
“No” was indeed JD’s first response…since he was happy and content with the Sunshine Boys…but as James persisted, JD’s resistance quickly began to fade, and when James made JD an offer he could not refuse (part ownership in the quartet), JD finally accepted. JD Sumner became the Blackwood Brothers’ new bass singer.
And what a hire that was…almost immediately after JD joined the group, he gave the group a new stage presence, and a whole brace of new song material. JD wrote songs, which was a skill he had that was not encouraged by the Sunshine Boys, but with James Blackwood doing the prodding, JD’s creativity came bursting out. Sumner wrote over 700 songs during his Hall of Fame career, and the vast majority of them were written during his 11 years with the Blackwood Brothers. For part of that time, the Blackwood Brothers’ albums almost featured JD’s songs exclusively.
Also, not to be overlooked, James took a bigger role as MC during personal appearances of the group…and his stage personality became more powerful and had more of an impact upon audiences than ever before…and the strength of his voice seemed to grow proportionately!
Two other aspects of Sumner’s came to the fore during his time with the Blackwood Brothers. JD was an innovative, visionary thinker…he had ideas about group transportation and the gospel industry as a whole. With the Blackwood Brothers, he was in a position to put those ideas into practice that he was not before. About a year after he joined the group, he persuaded James that traveling by custom bus would be the way to go for a gospel quartet…and in 1955, the Blackwood Brothers became the first organization in all of entertainment, gospel or secular, to use a bus as its’ primary means of transportation! The Statesmen soon followed, and eventually, the bus became the standard form of transportation for most all entertainers…certainly for gospel singers!
A year after that, Sumner conceived an idea for an annual talent convention for gospel singers…to encourage fellowship and cooperation between artists, and to give fans a chance to see all their favorite singers in one place in an annual gala event! In 1957, that dream became reality as the National Quartet Convention was formed, and remains gospel music’s premier annual event today!
And for the Blackwood Brothers and Sumner, JD’s joining the group was musically fortuitous as well. Not merely because of JD’s original songs, but because of JD’s well-deep bass voice…which became such a staple of the Blackwood Brothers sound. If possible, the quartet became more popular than it was before the crash. Symbolically perhaps, the quartet’s first appearance with Cecil and JD was August 5, 1954 in the still flame-scarred airport runway in Clanton, Alabama where the group’s career threatened to come to an end!
Further evidence that the group was all the way back, and then some, was when they returned to the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show once more in September, 1956…and won the talent competition again! The Blackwood Brothers were back…on top, as they were just two short years before!
Sumner would go on to revitalize the Stamps Quartet in 1965, and become even more well-known as the “world’s lowest bass singer” as he and his group backed Elvis Presley on stage during the last five years of that superstar’s life. And Sumner would continue to be a leading figure in the gospel music world all the way up to his untimely death in 1998…and even today, the legend of JD Sumner still looms large over the world of gospel music.
Would JD Sumner have achieved what he did if he had not become a member of the Blackwood Brothers? That question is certainly a matter of discussion…but it’s arguable that had JD not enjoyed the profile he did as a member of the top quartet in gospel music (at least in terms of income and recording popularity), he might not have made quite the impact he did on gospel music as a whole.
And what of the Blackwood Brothers? How did they fare following the tragedy? Well, their record sales remained strong…only the Chuck Wagon Gang has sold more recordings than the Blackwood Brothers among gospel groups. And the level of popularity in the gospel singing business lasted for another two decades following the crash…fading finally in the 1980s when the industry had finally changed too much for the group to keep pace. Because James Blackwood had the faith and determination to carry on despite the tragedy, gospel music is richer historically and spiritually because of the example that James Blackwood put forth.
And there are other questions one could ponder as well as a result of the tragedy…for example, one of the bass singers that auditioned for the vacant job in 1954 was a young man named George Younce. Had Younce been hired, would there have been a Cathedral Quartet a decade later to enrich the history of gospel music?
All these “what if” questions are impossible to answer, of course, but there is no doubt that the plane crash of June 30, 1954 was a momentous event for all of gospel music…then, and yet today!
The tragedy “shook up” many in the world of gospel music…but because of the faith and determination of James Blackwood, the talents of James and JD Sumner, and the God-given characteristics of all involved, wonderful gospel music came our way…despite the horrible tragedy.
June 30, 1954, then, should be remembered by all gospel music fans…not only because of the voices that were stilled because of the plane crash, but because of the music and lessons we all can learn from it!
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 05/31/2005
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Category: SG History 101
Comments: 38
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Great job! Once again, you've brought the history to life!
John: You have "rung" the bell again with your article about the Blackwood tragedy. I was a teenager in Iowa when this story unfolded and remember Kent Higgenbotham comimg with Cecil Blackwood and I believe Jim Hammil and the Songfellows to our little church in Woodbine, Iowa before the flight accident. They sang several songs at my mothers piano in our tiny living room while I stood inraptured by them taking time to do so. The former piano player for the Blackwood Brothers ,Hilton Griswold, was the youth director for the Assemblies of God in Iowa at the time also. At youth camp he would call me up to sing with him and others and we always sang Blackwood songs. I heard Bill Lyles and R.W. Blackwood with the group many times in those years and began to dream about someday singing gospel music. Litlle did I know at that time thatI would share the platform with the Blackwoods and other wonderful groups in venues all across America. Your article about some of my heros in gospel music has made me more grateful that I was priviledge to sing with them.
Another home run, John! You described the event so well, I felt like I was an eyewitness. You also include some info that I didn't know.
Great article, John. I enjoy all of your articles. The Blackwood Brothers, especially James Blackwood, have influenced me greatly. J.D. was one of my boyhood heroes. I always wanted to be a bass singer and sing just like J.D. However, I ended up being a baritone, so all I could was just sit back and appreciate such great singing. I also beleive that J.D. was vocally at his best during the Blackwood years. He was more than just a low note singer during this time. He also did a great job with his upper register.
Wow. John, what a great job you are doing with this monthly article. I look forward to each and every one. I had heard the highlights of the Blackwood Brothers tragedy in the 1950's, but I am fascinated to hear the deeper, more complete story. I'm curious, how do you do your research? However you pull it together, please don't stop. I love this. In fact, here's an idea: when you have enough of these articles compiled, you should put them into a book. I'll buy the first copy. If this website doesn't pay you, they should! If they do pay you, you deserve a raise!
John,
John,
GREAT story. I was too young to remember this story.I was born right before Elvis died. I LOVED it.
Great Article John!
John, another great story. I was in the Navy at Memphis during most of 1952 and listened to the Blackwoods on the radio each morning. What a way to wake up and get ready for another day listening to them.
Another great article, John.
How wonderful to know that, even in the deepest of tragedies, God's plan for our lives can and will continue. He always has a way to turn disaster into triumph and cause our best days to still be ahead for us.
This story reminded me of the faithfulness of our God, even in the midst of our deepest sorrows and deepest needs.
Thanks again for a wonderful story.
Cliff Cerce
The Cerces, PO Box 8525, Springfield, MO 65801
417-863-8440
http://www.thecerces.com
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For the most part this article was very informative however greatly tarnished by the comment about black people sitting in their own section at the funeral. That statement was and is irrelevent for this article and in this day and age, should never have been meantioned even though it was one of the major sins of the south in the past and hopefully not in the 21st century.
First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for their comments. I enjoy reading what people have to say about these articles.
John,
John,
JOHN, you are the man! Thanks for giving us the details about one of the most horrific tragedies in Southern Gospel music history. It makes me appreciate the Blackwoods all the more.
John, thank you for yet another interesting article! The plane crash surely made an impact on Quartet music. You did an excellent job of sharing many intiguing ideas.
John,
John-
John-
Great article. In the early 70's, when I was hanging around with later incarnations of the Blackwood Brothers, I still owned and loved all those great RCA albums by the Shaw/James/Cecil/JD lineup and I had an old 78 of the RW/Lyles lineup doing "Looking For A City." Still, in my humble opinion, the Shaw/James/Cecil/JD lineup was the best quartet ever, with the possible exception of the Statesmen with Rosie/Jake/Doy/Chief (or possibly with Denver Crump or even Cat Freeman.)
Chris...
Bill Shaw is still an outstanding tenor, as he shows us each year, at the GOGR. He is very deserving of the SGM Hall of Fame.
John,
I thoroughly enjoyed your article. I was a very young teen at the time and had only seen the Blackwoods 2 times. Our family was greatly sadened and I remember the song "Peace Like a River" was a comfort to me. We were at the Ft. Worth singing when James was there(around July 4). As I recall, it was just James, Bill Shaw and Jackie Marshall. He spoke briefly, then Bill Shaw sang "An Evening Prayer" --"If I have wounded any soul today, if I have caused someone to go astray...." In later years James remarked that he couldn't remember much of that night and I reminded him of what he did. I have always felt that James and Jake Hess were the two greatest men, talent and integrity, in gospel music. I was privileged to attend both of their funerals and look forward to "that glad reunion day".
Wonderful job in writing the history. The Blackwoods were awesome. JD was a great friend.
FINE ARTICLE, I will look foward to many, many more. Our Past is indeed gone, but always helps form our future.
THANKS FOR THIS ARTICLE. IT BEST DESCRIBES MUCH OF WHAT HAPPENED IN 1954. AS CECIL BLACKWOOD'S WIFE, I GAVE BIRTH TO OUR FIRST BORN JUST 2 DAYS
Great article. Thanks for letting us younger ones who have been fans for years know what happened on the fateful night. Andy- lead singer of "the Cerces"
Please continue to send comments to me. Your
Very Good Job
hi i'm the niece to the singing Hinson family i've been singing since i was 9 years old. im trying to start up my own singing group now. just need a word from you to get some bookings. thanks so much. TammieHinsonMinistries.
Bill Lyles was my uncle; I was 4 yrs old when he died. This is the first time I have seen the full story of his airplane accident. My Mother always spoke of his gentle personality. I met a retiree who sang gospel for 30+ yrs; he said he modeled his bass singing after my uncle's style. I enjoyed the article. Thanks for a complete story of this event.
Hey there,
That is a marvelous story!
Thanks for your history lesson. One little follow up trail. The Blackwoods and the Statesmen bought the same kind of bus...a Greyhound 3751. The Statesmen later sold their bus to the Golden State Quartet in Long Beach, CA. The Singing Ledbetters from Wichita bought the bus from them. The original Statesmen bus was purchased by The King's Quartet from Grand Rapids, Michigan. I sang with the King's for three years and remember well picking up the bus in Wichita. It finally was laid to rest on a highway in Indiana as we were on our way to Nashville to record a new album. The bus caught fire and was then hit by an 18-wheeler. It was totaled after serving gospel musicians well for over 20 years.
To me, there is only one gospel quartet. That gospel quartet is the Blackwood Brother's Quartet. That James certainly had a gift to sing and perform. R.W. was also sensational too. How perfect that R.W. could harmonize with James is unbelievable. What a sound. A sound like that is one-in a million. I can see why James was devastated after the accident. It was the pinnacle of James career. But James was a great man of great character to continue on and bless us all with his music. A great thanks to the Blackwood family..
hey i love my blackwood brothers my favorite song of theirs is this old house.that tim duncan sang with ernie haase and signature sound before he left.EHSS.
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