They’re coming back…

…and I plan on being there to see and greet them.

I’m referring to Dave, Duane, and Neil…the original Couriers and very dear friends of mine. I saw them in person and met them for the first time in February of last year at the Harbor Lights Church in Santa Cruz…and it was one of the most memorable nights of my life, having been a fan of theirs for some 30+ years…they were one group that not only sang well, but showed me that it was possible for good singers to be great Christian witnesses as well.

And when I assumed the SG History 101 column on Southern Gospel News in the fall of 2004, they were the first artist I chose to write about. For as I looked over the entire history of gospel music, it occurred to me that the Couriers were the finest top-tier group(and a host of accolades, Dove Awards, and some of the most fiercely loyal fans in gospel music history are the proof of that)that never got a lot written about them by the gospel music “experts”.

Not that I’m an expert by any means, but I know enough to know the Couriers were one of the all-time greatest artists in gospel music history, and their story deserved to be told!

And since I wanted to do it right, I decided to enlist some help. I had just become acquainted with Duane Nicholson’s youngest daughter Meredith, and I had had a bit of correspondence with her regarding the Couriers.

Besides yours truly and Cliff Cerce, I know of no one more dedicated to keeping the Courier flame(and awareness)alive more than Meredith…so when I decided to write the article on the Couriers, I asked Meredith if she couldn’t have her father help me with my facts.

Excited, Meredith asked her father to help me…and he did…but he did even more than that.

When they were about to hit the road to go do some concerts, Duane asked Neil Enloe to help me further, citing Neil’s somewhat clearer memory. Neil gave me a boatload of facts, and I was able to write my maiden article.

The article still has the most reader comments of any SG History 101 article ever written, even those by my illustrious predecessor, John Crenshaw! And while it’s not that good an article, it did a lot for me…and I like to think that it helped people gain some much needed awareness of the Couriers’ huge contribution to the heritage of gospel music, and their large influence yet today.

It was in the shadow of that article that I finally met the men themselves that blessed day in Santa Cruz…and it solidified two of the most important frienships I have in my life now, Duane Nicholson’s and Neil Enloe’s.

I keep in touch regularly with both men through e-mail and the telephone…and they have been delightful fellowship companions as well as important spiritual examples and guides for me. It is like a dream of mine come true to have such fine friends as Neil and Duane.Both men are two fo the greatest singers gospel music has ever produced, but more important to me, they are two of the finest people I know…and I’m extremely proud to call both men “friend”.

And that friendship, as well as some of the best singing I or anyone else will ever hear, is what I’m looking forward to renewing Saturday night in Costa Mesa.

I will have a review here, as well as on the message boards I frequent. Suffice to say, I know it’ll be a night of joy for me…a night I need desperately, and a night I surely won’t forget.

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