By request…why be a part of the GWSGFF?

Since wintry weather has taken a rare momentary hold here in Central California, I'm resigned to staying in on this Friday night.

And since I'm here, I might as well oblige a request.

You see, a while back I asked my readers here to make suggestions as to what topics they would like me to discuss here on this blog, and I had a couple. I'll act on one of them after I finish listening to a few more of my live Kingsmen LPs, but tonight I'll honor the other one, for a very loyal reader here as well as a dear friend.

Back in 1997, the Board of Directors of the National Quartet Convention voted to establish regional conventions...some in Canada, and one out west in Fresno, California(my home town). As long as that convention was held in Fresno, I attended. It was my chance to see many of the country's finest gospel artists all in one place without having to drive to one of Polly Grimes' concerts in either Oakland or Long Beach, which is as close as most of the major groups came to Fresno.

After the first couple of years, the NQC board voted to move the Great Western Quartet Convention(as it was called then)from Fresno to Sacramento, citing better travel connections. And I suppose they were right, if one evaluated travel connections solely on the basis of airplane connections. Even now, Sacramento has far better airline connections than Fresno. But in every other aspect, Fresno is better.

For one thing, it is more centrally located than any large city in California, being near the geographic center of this large state. More important, it has a gospel music connection unlike any other western locale. For one thing, the majority of migrants to California from the South and Southwest settled in the Central Valley, of which Fresno has been the largest city...and they brouight their favorite music with them when they came. My long-time neighbors as a child growing up in rural Kerman introduced me to gospel quartet music when I was very young. They were from Texas, and loved the Blackwood Brothers, Statesmen, and the Gospel Singing Jubilee, which I would sometimes watch with them on Saturday afternoons(when it was on back then in Fresno).

For another, Fresno is where ex-Blackwood Brothers bass singer Don Smith(who became a close friend, and whose KMJ radio show I would first produce and later co-host)established himself after he left the Blackwood Brothers to settle down with his wife, Peggy. Once here, he not only established a radio presence on KMJ(always the area's most prestigious station), but he also established one of the area's most successful music stores, called Gospel Music and Supply Company(at Smith's insistence), and had a good part-time quartet on the side, the Gospelaires.

It was Smith who along with Grimes got a lot of the major quartets to appear here with his group. Since Smith and James Blackwood always remained close friends,. Fresno audiences were able to see the Blackwood Brothers on a fairly regular basis here in Fresno. In fact, the first gospel concert I ever attended was one Smith put on in the 1970s in Fresno with the Oak Ridge Boys(they were still big in gospel then), the Happy Goodmans, and an up and coming group from nearby Salinas who Smith often encouraged and featured at his concerts, the Hinsons...along with Smith's Gospelaires.

Because of the popularity of Smith's shows on KMJ(he had a daily program into the 1970s, and two Sunday programs that eventually became one), people in the Fresno area became loyal gospel music fans. That strong fan base no doubt was key to the NQC board's selection of Fresno as the first site for the Western Convention.

But the Western Convention floundered in Sacramento, and when the NQC sold it to Les Beasley and Claude Hopper in the early 2000s, the new owners decided to move it back to its' rightful location. The completion of the 16,000 seat Save Mart Center in 2001 helped in that decison as well, I'm sure.

Anyway, for the last five years, the Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival(as it's now called), has provided a most congenial venue for the nation's leading gospel groups to gather, and since its' location is rooted in a gospel music tradition of its' own, singers and fans alike enjoy the opportunity to get together annually there.

Who has been here? Well, among the headliners in recent years, Signature Sound, Legacy Five, the Dove Brothers, the Hoppers, the Florida Boys, the Pfiefers, the Dixie Melody Boys, and the Nelons have come here to enthusiastic response.

And regional groups from the West, such as the Liberty Quartet, Revised Standard Version, the Johnson Family(both the Northern and Southern California versions), the Golden State Quartet, and the Sons of the Shepherd have graced the Save Mart Center stage as well.

Most all those groups are returning for this year's event at the beginning of May. And surely more will be added between now and then...stay tuned to this blog for more information as it becomes available.

Still, some of the bigger gospel music names have yet to appear at this event, or haven't done so since it was part of the regular NQC.

I urge those groups to consider making the trip...it's a nice break from the regular circuit, there's a lot of great scenery to see on the way out here...and around here once you get here. Fresno is the only metropolitan area in the country within a 100-mile radius of three national parks!

Besides, the people out here have a historic love and appreciation for gospel music...and Bill Gaither's Homecoming concerts always sell out here as well.

So the Great Western Southern Gospel Fan Festival is a must-see event for any gospel music fan in the Western United States...and we get lots of charter buses here from Oregon and Washington too(as well as some of their groups)!

Come out West this May...and enjoy some great gospel music...and people!

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