Making the case…
I’m back…did you miss me?:-)
Today, an often discussed topic arose again on the SGN message boards, namely, “Who Is Your Favorite Quartet, And Why”?
Well, as you might imagine, I have a definite bias in this case. Although I ordinarily stay out of such discussions(I don’t like to step on the toes of anyone else’s favorites, after all), I couldn’t resist today. So here was my answer to that seemingly eternal question…
Well, I have been a gospel quartet fan almost all of my life. I’ve always liked all kinds of music, but ever since my ears latched on to gospel quartet singing at the age of 7, I have been hooked. Amidst all the top 40 music I loved as a kid, the country music I also experienced, and the jazz and classical music I grew to love come my high school years, quartet music has always been there…and never failed to move me.I grew up on a steady diet of the Blackwood Brothers, the Statesmen, the Rebels(w/their great bass, London Parris), the Oak Ridge Boys, the Harvesters, and the Stamps…but through it all, one quartet always has and continues to stand apart from the rest.
Without a doubt, the Couriers Quartet composed of Duane Nicholson, Neil Enloe, Don Baldwin, Dave Kyllonen, and “Little” David Young is the best and my favorite quartet of all of them I have ever heard.
And yes, I’m very familiar with the Cathedral Quartet, Gold City, the Kingsmen, and all the rest. Why the Couriers?
For openers, they were one of the most musically skilled quartets that ever sung. With two of the best musical minds in gospel music history doing their songwriting and arranging(Enloe and Young), one of the finest pure tenors in history(Nicholson), an exceedingly versatile and gifted lead singer(Enloe again), one of the most naturally gifted and expressive baritones(Baldwiin), and a often overlooked but competent bass(Kyllonen), not to mention one of the greatest pianists in gospel history(Young again), who was also an outstanding singer, the Couriers had the bases covered musically.
And in that regard, they had the universal and complete respect from almost every other group in the business….but they were always(to paraphrase Bill Gaither)about “more than the music”!
For, as Cliff(Cerce) said, they became gospel singers in obedience to a higher calling, and they have been faithful to that calling for some 50 years now. And their wives are all the helpmates one could ever hope for.
When I became a Christian in 1976, it didn’t surprise me to learn that the very men I grew up with whose singing I loved so much were such dedicated followers of Christ…if the message of their music is true(and it is), then that should be expected.
After I finally got to meet and know these heroes of mine, the really important thing about them to me isn’t that they were among the greatest gospel musicians of all time, but that they loved God with their hearts, souls, and minds…and were(and are)my friends.
So the question of who my favorite quartet is is a “slam dunk” to me…musically, no one was better.
As people, they are everything I want to be.
And while they may not get the most recognition of any gospel group, where it really counts, they are true “hall of famers”.
Posted on Apr 04, 2006 - 08:26 PM | [0]
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