Southern Gospel Music began 99 years ago when James D. Vaughn decided to sponsor a traveling quartet to sing his songs and sell his songbooks. 2010 will be the Centennial of this unique style of gospel music.
Since that time many hundreds, maybe thousands of gospel male quartets, mixed quartets and trios have come and gone. Many have left wonderful legacies of great singing, interesting personalities and interesting histories. Some, like the Blackwood Brothers sang for forty years, some like the Cathedrals traveled and sang for thirty years. Most, however, blossom and bloom for four or five years and fade away.
One quartet, based in California, was formed out of the Stamps Harmony Boys in 1954 and has now survived fifty-five years, over 55% of the entire history of Southern Gospel Music. The Songfellows Quartet is now one of the longest lasting groups in the history of Southern Gospel Music.
The Songfellows Quartet is dedicated to the spreading the message of love and redemption found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our Savior and King.
Musically we are dedicated to preserving the sound and style of the traditional Southern Gospel Quartet. Four part harmony, a high tenor, and very low bass and a big full sound.
It all started back in 1920’s when a young man in Sweetwater, Texas attended a Stamp School of Music. That young man, Bob Jones Sr., a member of the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame, formed the quartet in San Diego in 1944. One of the original members was another Hall of Fame member, Earl Weatherford. Together they developed a style of quartet singing that influenced an entire generation of quartets, including the Weatherfords, Imperials and the Cathedrals. Bob Sr. was active in the quartet until he passed away at the age of 93. He was still singing on the main stage of the National Quartet Convention at 91 years of age. His son, Bob Jones Jr. joined the quartet as a teenager and is still active as manager and lead singer.
The Songfellows Quartet was based in California for over 50 years. In 1936 Bob Jones Sr., the founder of the Songfellows was responsible for bringing Southern Gospel Music out West and establishing a love for this wonderful style of heart warming, toe tapping gospel music.
Decades later from their radio program on KFI, the 50,000-watt clear channel NBC station in Los Angeles, people listened to their Sunday night broadcast from Guam to Des Moines and from Vancouver, BC to Mexico City and were featured on many early television shows originating on the West Coast.
The quartet was an early participant in television and appeared with many country artists such as Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Red Foley, and Glen Campbell. They have also been featured on Gospel Music Southern Style, TBN’s Praise the Lord and the Voice of Calvary. Now they are the featured group on the "Brush Arbor Jubilee" the synicated Southern Gospel program heard and seen over much of the United States.
The Songfellows were featured in the historic concerts in the Long Beach Civic Auditorium with the Statesmen, Blackwood Brothers, Oak Ridge Boys, Couriers, Weatherfords and others. The quartet regularly traveled from Vancouver, BC to Dallas, Texas and occasionally toured the entire country.
The Songfellows helped organize and create the Western States Gospel Music Association, which led to the expansion and popularity of Southern Gospel Music in the Western States today.
For the last fifteen years the Songfellows have been featured at the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, twelve of them on the main stage.
The Songfellows’ newest record release on Homeland Records is “Hymns of the Homeland”, a collection of 13 of your favorite old hymns. Over the fifty years dozens of Songfellows recordings were made for Dial Records, Cornerstone Records, Gospel Singtime Records, HeartWarming and Homeland Records. These were 78, 45, 33 1/3 long play albums, cassettes and compact discs.
In 2006 the Songfellows moved from California to Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1954 The Songfellows Quartet was launched on the Mutual Radio Network. Over the next 57 years this quartet was the premier gospel quartet in the Western Sates of America. Except for their annual appearance on the main stage of National Quartet Convention in Louisville, KY their ministry was all "out West". In 2006 the quartet moved from Los Angeles to Nashville, TN.
Bob Jones Sr, founder of the group, was joined by his teenaged son in 1958. They sang together until 2007 when at the age of 93 Bob Sr passed away. In 2006 Bob Sr. Was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
The current group includes another Hall of Fame inducted, Ed Hill singing baritone. Ed has over fifty years singing with the Prophets, Singing Americans an JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet. Rick Strickland, another iconic industry veteran sings tenor. Rick is recognized as one of the finest tenors ever to sing gospel music. Brad Smith, a full blood Cherokee, is the bass. Brad is gifted with a six octave range which enables him to add some exciting vocal dimensions to Sonfellows arrangements. Bob Jones continue to sing lead and manage the quartet.
Brad Smith is a full blood Cherokee and an adopted Hopi. He is rightfully proud of his
Native American heritage. His Indian name is Pakwa. Which means, “bullfrog singing
in the night.” As quaint as that is his singing outshines his name. Brad has one of the
finest bass voices in Gospel Music. Many bass singers can sing low but few do it with
the style and feeling of Brad Smith. Brad has a long and successful career with the
Impacts of Louisville, Kentucky. They toured nationally and had an extensive and loyal
following. Brad also was a member of the Southmen, the Blackwoods, and the Speers
and even spent some time with the Statesmen.
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Today, many gospel quartets have adopted a much more progressive, even contemporary sound. The use of “stacked tracks” (vocals recorded on the soundtrack and the groups sings along with itself) and pre-recorded music has changed the sound of the traditional gospel quartet. The emphasis on getting a good radio single has also caused groups to abandon the great old standards that people love.
The Songfellows do it the traditional way, a great piano player and four guys that just step up there and sing four-part harmony. If you love traditional gospel quartet music you will love the Songfellows Quartet.
