Charleston Daily Mail Article
The Boys are Back in Town
By CHARLOTTE FERRELL SMITH - November 8, 2007 The Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, WV
A gospel group that first started in 1952 has planned a reunion concert this weekend reminiscent of the al-night sings it used to hold.
The Gospel Harmony Boys will celebrate 55 years of music ministry Saturday in Huntington. The concert will include various members who have performed with the group over the years and who were once a fixture on local TV stations.
"It will be a fun time," said Clacy Williams, who sings tenor for the group. "We will start of with the current group doing five or six songs. Then the guests will be there."
"The all-night gospel concerts, which included many gospel groups over the years, were held about six times a year in the 1960s and 1970s, with a Friday night concert in Charleston and a Saturday concert in Huntington," Williams said. They stopped after declining interest led to dropping ticket sales.
"We had groups from all over the country," Williams said. The upcoming show will reflect those times with a string of musicians performing. In addition to Williams, the current Gospel Harmony Boys quartet includes Rusty Ballinger, baritone; Greg Tingler, lead; and Calvin Thompson, bass. Two singers who perform when one of the regulars can't make an engagement are Scott Brooks and Dale Chambers.
Williams, 62, of Charleston retired last year from his position as executive director of the School Building Authority of West Virginia. He has been part of the gospel Harmony Boys since 1971. Thompson, 60, of Dunbar, is retired from Union Carbide Corp., where he worked as a chemical engineer. He joined the group in 1973, left for a while because of job duties, and returned in 2001. Ballinger, 42, of Gallipolis, OH is a nurse at Cabell Huntington Hospital. He joined the quartet in 2002. Tingler, 51, who lives near Portsmouth, Ohio, is an electrician who first joined the group in 1972 and has left a couple of times. He rejoined in 2004.
Everyone who has served in the music ministry over the years is treated like family
Numerous members have come and gone over the years because of work and family commitments. In 1962, Carolos Day left to devote time to a pastoral ministry. In 1958, on the way back from a sing in Logan, the quartet was involved in a major car accident that injured Johnny Bruce so seriously he was unable to return to the group.
"Everyone who has served in the music ministry over the years is treated like family," Williams said. The group was founded in Huntington in 1952 by lead singer Harold Lane. The rest of the original group included Leonard Adams, tenor; JB Short, bass; and John Embry, baritone. The first regular pianist was Don Owens. For many years in the 50's 60's and early 70s, bass singer, Gray Johnson, known to millions of television viewers as Pappy, was a favorite member of the Gospel Harmony Boys.
The group started its TV in 1953 on WSAZ-TV and later moved to WHTV-TV, its Sunday show ran for 17 years. The show's theme song, "Someone to Care," became the group's trademark. The quartet even had a record deal under its belt in 1964, when it signed with Skylight Records in Nashville. A Harold Lane arrangement of "Jesus Loves Me" became a hit in gospel music circles.
Our objective, obviously, is to carry the message that Jesus is Lord, is resurrected, and loves everyone
At this weekend's concert, many former members of the group will be on hand to perform with the current quartet including Homer Fry, Asbury Adkins, Jack Hanks, Dale Musgrave and Dick Lucas. Also joining the celebration will be the groups Sincere, Bloodline, and the Guardians.
While singers have changed over the years, the Gospel Harmony Boys maintain the same mission. "Our objective, obviously, is to carry the message that Jesus is Lord, is resurrected, and loves everyone," Williams said.
Traveling by bus over the last year, the group has performed 130 concerts in West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky. Williams said he believes that God has had a hand in the music ministry of the Gospel Harmony Boys throughout the decades. "This organization has always been one that is ministry oriented," he said, "We have been blessed."
