Bill Gaither: Still carving out new audiences for gospel music

BP NEWS ^ | Jan 2, 2004 | Stacy Hamby

[Dubya]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)-Bill Gaither wasn't good enough for gospel music. At least, that's what he was told.

So, with his dream of singing Southern gospel music seemingly out of reach, Gaither went home and began writing. More than 500 songs and dozens of popular videos later, Gaither and his wife, Gloria, were named Christian Songwriters of the Century in 2000.

"I became a teacher because I was not good enough to do gospel music," said Gaither, who taught high school English in his hometown of Alexandria, Ind. "There were piano players and singers better than me. So I started writing songs. I never realized it would become this popular. Writing came naturally to me."

The Gospel Music Hall of Famers together penned songs that are mainstays in hymnals around the world. Those songs include "The King Is Coming," "Because He Lives" and "He Touched Me" -- the song that catapulted him into the national spotlight in 1969 when Elvis Presley recorded it. He, Gloria and his brother Danny founded the Bill Gaither Trio in the 1970s, and later he formed the award-winning Gaither Vocal Band in which he still sings bass.

In recent years, the Gaithers have been best known by their popular "Homecoming Series" videos and concerts. What has become an international phenomenon actually started with an impromptu taping in a Nashville studio in 1991. The Gaither Vocal Band was wrapping up a recording session that had included several legendary Southern gospel music artists, including The Speer Family, The Cathedral Quartet and the Happy Goodmans.

After the planned session ended, the artists lingered and gathered around the piano, singing, swapping stories from the old days and sharing a few laughs and tears.

The video camera was still rolling. Gaither knew he had something special.

That spontaneous sing-along became the first "Homecoming" video released in 1992. The response to that video was so overwhelming that Gaither decided to reassemble the artists and try to reproduce the spontaneous style, fearing it might not work. He had no need to worry. The artists forgot about the cameras as they sang and shared stories. Today, there are Homecoming concerts in just about every major venue in the country, and the videos -- which have sold more than 7.5 million copies -- consistently rank in the top 10 on the Billboard video charts.

Gaither, though, takes it all with characteristic humility. "Whatever I did, I couldn't do without them [the artists]," he said. "I'm like the turtle on the fencepost -- I didn't get there by myself. All I did was expose them; I let people see them and hear them sing."

Gaither is credited with rejuvenating Southern gospel music and the careers of many legendary singers as well as launching the careers of many others.

Tim Riley, bass for the 2003 Male Quartet of the Year, Gold City, said, "Bill Gaither has done so much for gospel music. He quickened peoples' spirit. They heard songs on the radio and saw the videos. They had to come see the groups in person. It gets into your blood."

Gospel music has gotten into the blood of Becky Wittrock and her daughter, Tricia Alberts, both of Holts Summit, Mo., and members of Concord Baptist Church in Jefferson City. For years, the two have traveled together to Gaither Homecoming concerts and to the Gaithers' annual Praise Gathering in October in Indiana.

"It all began when my grandpa had a stroke, and we used the Gaither videos to keep him occupied during the day and night," Alberts recalled. "So then my mom and I got to go our first concert, and we have made it a family tradition to go to the ones in Missouri. Our husbands go occasionally, but most of all, it's special for mom and me. Gospel music is the one thing we found we liked in common, and it has really grown into a friendship."

Wittrock said gospel music is more than just music -- it's ministry. "The songs touch me deeply," she said. "If I'm having a bad day, listening to gospel music lifts me up and keeps me focused on Christ."

She has had cause to have more than one bad day in the past year. On Dec. 13, 2002, doctors diagnosed Wittrock with breast cancer. It was the same day she was planning to attend a Gaither Homecoming concert in St. Louis.

"I never considered not going," she said. "Being with thousands of other Christians, singing and praising the Lord was good medicine. It also gave me strength to face the reality of what I was going to have to go through. The concert helped to calm some of my fears and reminded me God was in control."

During the next several months, though, she said she had a hard time finding comfort even in gospel music -- until she saw a couple of the Gaithers' latest videos which focused on the themes of "heaven" and "going home."

"When the doctors tell you that you have stage two or three cancer, who doesn't start thinking about heaven and going home?" Wittrock asked. "I believe my name is on those two videos because they blessed me so much, and finally I had peace of mind. Once I found that peace, I could deal with the doctors and treatment, and I got through it fine."

Gaither's music not only ministers to the hurting, it also appeals to younger generations. "Listen to the most recent form of Southern gospel music before you pass judgment," Alberts, 31, said, noting many of her friends say she listens to "old-fashioned" music. "Check out David Phelps and Guy Penrod [of the Gaither Vocal Band] -- they're not bad for 'old men.'"

Penrod said today's gospel music is blending the sound of the old 1940s and '50s quartets and pop groups with the technology of the current generation. "Kids are starting to hear that and say that's cool," he said. "We're growing a new generation in gospel music, and Bill is helping to do that with the concerts and videos."

And he shows no sign of slowing down. In his mid-60s, Gaither keeps an active schedule with his Gaither Vocal Band, Homecoming concerts, the annual Praise Gathering and the management of everything in between. "I work together as a team with Gloria," he said. "We have no long-range plans for retirement; we never have. We just walked through the doors God has opened."

Fans can read more about the Gaithers and their journey into gospel music history in Bill's new autobiography, "It's More Than the Music" (Warner Faith) now in bookstores nationwide.

[Dubya]

Banding together

Bill Gaither (left), who once believed he wasn't good enough for gospel music, sings with his Gaither Vocal Band -- a quartet whose music regularly keeps them at the top of the gospel music charts. Other group members are (from left) Guy Penrod, Russ Taff and David Phelps.

by Stacey Hamby

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[Dubya]

Healing homecoming

Mother/daughter duo Becky Wittrock (left), who has battled cancer, and Tricia Alberts (right) visit with Southern gospel music artist Connie Hopper of The Hoppers during a Gaither Homecoming concert in Springfield, Mo. Wittrock found comfort in the Gaither events during a battle with cancer.

[billbears]

Bill Gaither bump

[bethelgrad]

not a big fan of the Gaithers but I know they reach a lot of people for Christ. God bless them!

[Pure Country]

I used to enjoy The Gaither Trio back before they got into the rock stuff. Now I can't tolerate them, and funny thing is that my teenagers didn't like it when they jazzed up their music either.

[Dubya]

I like the old songs best.

[Flashlight]

"now I live and breathe in free-dom...
with each breath of life I take,
Loved and for-gi-ven...
Back with the liv-in'...
I'm just a sin-ner saved...
...by grace."

- my fave Gaither song

[Zack Nguyen]

I'm 29 and I like their music. Reminds me of a different time. Bump for a soaring faith.

[Dubya]

That is a good one. I like it also.

[Zipporah]

Bill & Gloria Gaither, as well as, Sandy Patty and the Happy Goodman's, and the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana. I went to a graduation at Anderson College years ago and was blessed to hear all sing together..

[Dubya]

I bet that was a nice get together.

[Zipporah]

Make that: Bill & Gloria Gaither, as well as, Sandy Patty and the Happy Goodman's, are from the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana). I went to a graduation at Anderson College years ago and was blessed to hear all sing together..

[tubebender]

My wife has a dozen of their Cd's. I enjoyed their TV programs...

[deport]

Gaither 2004 Concert schedule

Vestal Goodman, wife of Happy Goodman and founding member of The Happy Goodmans passed away on Dec. 27, 2003.

[Pathfinder]

Couldn't choose our favorite...we are big fans. Thanks to the Gaithers, we were introduced to a totally new (to us) variation on Christian music...and it's been an enormous blessing to us.

Thanks to Dubya for posting this article.

[Dubya]

Your welcome.

[Jerry Attrick]

Thank you for the article.

I sing in a gospel quartet and we do between 5 and 10 concerts a month. It is neat to see the "young people" enjoying this "old-fashioned" music.

Gospel music is also a great community to be part of. Try it sometime! :)

[Dubya]

Thanks for the info.

[Dubya]

I really enjoy them too.

[Dubya]

Good advise. I love Gospel music.

[Dubya]

5 and 10 concerts a month

Sounds like you are doing a good job for Jesus. Thats a lot of concerts.

[deport]

It is neat to see the "young people" enjoying this "old-fashioned" music.

---

Many many moons ago they used to have the "all night singings". Quartets from all over [Stamps, Blackwood Bros., Jordanaires, Statesmen, etc.] plus local groups, individuals, etc. would come together and share time on the stage.

[Dubya]

A good Devotion

A Scraggly Christmas Tree and God's Grace
By Quentin Schultze

As I pulled up to my mother's ramshackle trailer on a snowy Christmas Eve more than 20 years ago, I felt trapped between two worlds. As a new Christian, I accepted God's promised peace. But as a scared young man, I felt childhood memories tugging anxiously at my heart.

My alcoholic father, who had died a few years earlier, always complained that my mother had driven him to drinking. My older siblings had long ago fled the scene.

My mother, who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, sat alone, staring out the window. It seemed as if for years she had done little else.

"We need a tree, Quinnie," she said. Maybe she did know what day it was.

Driving along darkened streets, I found a vacated tree lot with a small, hand-painted sign that read, "FREE." I picked up one of the scraggly balsam trees and put it into the trunk of my car.

A bit giddy about my find, I headed home. The tree represented more than just a lucky deal. On my ride home I thought about the significance of the Gospel and that tree.

As the tree was, the Gospel is "free." We can't buy it. God pours abundant, overflowing grace into the world, and we need only to accept it.

At home I set up the tree in our tiny living room. My mother looked at the tree, puffed on her cigarette, and softly pronounced, "Now it's Christmas."

For that one moment Mom seemed to recognize that there was more to the world than her own delusions. That alone was her Christmas gift to me.

From that night until my mother's death a decade later, I explained the Gospel to her several times. I never knew if she grasped the fact that Christ died especially for her sins. But one time she responded, "Yes, God is love." A glimpse of God's grace?

Some people look with fear and anxiety to the coming year. They worry about the downward moral spiral of society, our growing dependence on technology, and continuing wars and famines around the globe. How can we not worry about these things?

In the midst of fear and anxiety, God gives abundant grace and peace through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Every day, but especially at Christmastime, we need to receive these gifts of grace and peace.


Prayer
Lord, we thank You for the peace of Christ in our hearts, even when the world is in chaos. We confess that at times we allow fear and worry to overwhelm us. As we prepare for a new year, help us to turn to Jesus Christ with our concerns. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[kimmie7]

I love Bill Gaither's songs and videos.....but I don't watch the Vocal Band. Guy (next to Gaither in the photo at #2) is just too yummy, and I have bad thoughts. ;-) So to keep my mental house in order, I don't watch the Vocal Band. LOL

Bill Gaither is truly an amazing person, as is Gloria. They've blessed many, and been blessed. He's a true asset.

[kimmie7]

Oh, and Russ Taft is an awesome talent as well. I grew up on the Imperials' music. ;-)

[kimmie7]

Ahhhh, the Blackwood Brothers. J. D. Sumner was truly a grand addition to Heaven's choir. Imagine that concert! I'm really looking forward to it.
Larnelle Harris is another favorite of mine.

My favorite Gaither song has to be "He Touched Me" -- goosebumps every time.

[Dubya]

Thanks for your info.

[shhrubbery!]

Russ Taff -- woooooohooo. That guy is HOT. My introduction to him and to gospel music was from the soundtrack for the Robert Duvall movie 'The Apostle' -- where Taff sings 'Ain't no grave (gonna hold this body down).'

Also on the Apostle soundtrack -- 'There is a River' by the Gaither Vocal Band. POWERFUL stuff!

[deport]

JD Sumner and the Stamps. He had the deepest bass voice known. He toured with Elvis and the last time I saw him he was with a quartet called The Masters V: Jake Hess, James Blackwood, JD Sumner & Rosie Rozell with Hovie Lister on the piano.

[Grandma Pam]

Thank you so much for posting this. I love the Gaithers and am so grateful for all they've done to spread the Gospel and for the impact they've had on the Christian music genre. A lot of prominent gospel singers were part of the Gaither "family" over the years--Larnelle Harris, Sandy Patty, Michael English, Mark Lowry.

I grew up going to gospel singings with the Statesmen, Blackwoods, Goodmans and Oak Ridge Boys. Two of my uncles were gospel singers. The Homecoming videos mean more to me than I could ever begin to express.

[Grandma Pam]

Jake Hess, another Southern Gospel legend who was a regular on the Homecoming videos, passed away Sunday around 2:00 a.m. with his family at his side.

[Dubya]

Thanks for letting me know.

[Dubya]

Jake Hess

Born on Christmas Eve, in a house at Mt. Pisgah Church in Limestone County, Jake Hess was the seventh son and youngest of twelve. He started singing at age five with his brother and at age fourteen started singing with the Haleyville Melody Boys. He has become one of Gospel music's most imitated singers, innovators and leaders.

Labelled as Mr. Gospel Music, Hess sang with the John Daniel Quartet, Sunny South Quartet and the Original Melody Masters before joining the Statesmen Quartet in 1948 as an original member and lead singer. In 1963, Hess formed The Imperials, who backed Elvis Presley on a gospel album.

The winner of four Grammy awards, Hess was a founding father of the National Quartet Convention and a director of the Gospel Music Association. He has hosted television shows in Nashville and California. Hess was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1987.

Hess is the 1995 John Herbert Orr Pioneer Award recipient.

[Dubya]

KATHY and JAKE

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I love the Gaither shows. Bill writes great stuff! There are always awesome singers on that show.

[Dubya]

Thanks. I like them too.

[4CJ]

Kudos for the Gaither family.