Rocky Flatts - Gospel Bluegrass at its finest

Last night we hosted the gospel/bluegrass group, Rocky Flatts, at our church. What a great bunch of talented guys! As I was moving the altar furniture off of the stage around 4:45, the guys started walking in. Dustin, Shaun, Jeff, Jason, and Rusty, each one carrying an instrument of some kind. I was so excited that they had brought all of their instruments, banjo, guitar, dobro, stand up bass, mandolin, they had them all. I knew we were going to be treated to some awesome music.

Our crowd was a little down last night. From what I understand several folks had some kind of prior commitment and wasn't able to attend. We had around 50 people in attendance. The guys in the group didn't seem to let that bother them. They said they were there to worship and spread the gospel through their music, and that's exactly what they did! I video taped the entire service and hopefully will get a song or two uploaded soon.

Rocky Flatts sang 11-songs all together last night. Kicking things off with Jason Miller on the banjo ripping into an exciting rendition of "Over in the the Gloryland." They then moved into the inspiring story of our Savior on the cross with, "Three Men on a Mountain." Their next song was one of my all-time favorite hymns, "The Unseen Hand," which lead into an instrumental version of everybody's favorite, "I'll Fly Away." Next up was one of my favorites of the night, "Soul Train." I loved the instrumental work that they did on that one. The imitation sounds of a train being played by Dustin Atkins on the dobro was fantastic. After that they performed another beautiful song "Rock Of My Soul," sang by the very talented Shaun Kirkland. This song had a haunting instrumental sound that just seemed to stir my soul.

Probably the most heart wrenching and thought provoking song of the night was, "Sorry I Never Knew You," superbly sang by Rusty Watson with Jeff Amburn showcasing his awesome guitar playing. I had heard this song before but I don't think I ever paid that much attention to it as I did last night. I think everyone in the congregation was choked up of hearing the story of a man's horrible dream of not being able to enter Heaven because his name was not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. When the song ended there was dead silence, no one even clapped. I'm sure they were all like me, wrapped up in thought about the song and not really sure that it ended. Wow, talk about a song being able to reach someone! After that they played a rendition of "Amazing Grace," to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun." It was wonderfully performed and I enjoyed singing along. One of my kids was talking in the car about how much they enjoyed that song.

Next up was a song written by Dustin's mother, titled, "I'm Saved Today." What a great song! After that they went into another of my all-time favorite hymns, "He'll Hold My Hand." They did an excellent job on this song and I even heard my buddy, Jerry Butler, who made a surprise visit last night, say, "nicely done," when the song ended. They ended the night by asking our pastor to come forward to give an invitation and they played, "Pass Me Not."

It was a great evening of gospel/bluegrass. I felt that Rocky Flatts was very sincere in their desire to spread the message. I enjoyed their testimonies of their Salvation experiences. After the concert my son insisted he have his picture made with the guys. They were gracious enough to take time away from their tear-down to accommodate us. We visited their product table and purchased their new CD, "In the Beginning," which you can sample on their website. My son also bought a Rocky Flatts baseball cap and said it was the best hat he has ever bought.

If you are a music minister or concert promoter for your church, and you are looking for groups to come and worship, I highly recommend Rocky Flatts.

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No noise but a lot of joy!

Last night at church we were blessed with some of the finest bluegrass/gospel music this side of Heaven. I had been looking forward to hearing my pal Jerry Butler and his friends for quite some time. Of course I was already very familiar with their sound and expected that it was going to be awesome. My expectations were exceeded last night!

The definition for the word noise is: noise (noiz)
n: Sound or a sound that is loud, unpleasant, unexpected, or undesired. Well, the Bible says to "make a joyful noise unto the Lord." Let me tell you, there wasn't anything last night that would have fit the definition of "noise," at least not in the sense that we normally think of, but, there sure was a whole lot of Joyful sounds coming from 3 very talented men. Read on...

Jerry Butler has been a professional bluegrass musician his entire life. From the time he was able to hold a guitar in his hands he has been on the stage performing. Starting out in the 70's playing at Buddy's BBQ (back when they used to have live Bluegrass), Jerry and his longtime friend, Phil Leadbetter, shot straight to the top of the bluegrass circuit playing right along with the top names in the industry. Jerry has played with several groups and is currently singing lead and playing guitar with Carolina Road. You can learn a little more about Jerry in an interview I did with him a couple of years ago.

Josh Goforth has more musical talent in his left pinkie than I have in my entire body. That feller could get music out of a tree stump! He showcased many of his talents last night by playing the guitar, mandolin, and the fiddle. Oh, and he also tickled the ivory's on our grand piano before church started...WOW! Josh is also has a very pleasing tenor voice which blends in perfectly with everyone he sings with. Josh is also a member of Carolina Road. Get to know Josh a little better over on his website.

Matt Leadbetter is one of the world's top resonator guitarist. He also grew up knee-deep in bluegrass, going show-to-show with his famous father, Phil Leadbetter. Through the years Matt has honed his musical skills on several instruments and last night he delighted us with his bass playing talent. I guess some church folks wouldn't appreciate a resonator guitar (dobro) in a church setting but it would have fit in right nice at Highland Baptist. Maybe he can come back sometime and spread the gospel with his instrument of choice! Check out Matt's website.

Now that I've talked about how talented these guys all are, let me tell you about the worship experience. Whether you are a bluegrass fan or not, you couldn't help but be touched by the sincerity that emitted from the stage. They spoke of their past church experiences, family worship time, and how they give God the glory for their musical talents. All too often when you have a group of guys that posses such talent and skill as these men do, it all becomes about "them." That is not the case with these fine men. It was all about the music, the lyrics, and the worship. I found myself clapping along with the beat and crying my eyes out over songs.

My two favorite songs of the night were, "Fly Away," which was written by Jerry Butler, and "You Gotta Believe." I have written about both of these songs before, HERE, and HERE.

The cute moment of the night was after the service, looking out across the church, was Jerry's pretty little daughter, Sami, fast asleep in a church pew. I sure do remember those days.

I know it's always a gamble to have a concert on Sunday because it is hard for folks to leave their home church to visit somewhere else. I know I couldn't do that either. While the size of the crowd last night was a little disappointing, especially after all of the time and effort I put into advertising and talking about it, the Spirit was there in a mighty way. Even my 16-year old daughter made the comment that it was the best she has felt in a service in a long time. I hated it for the guys because I know they took time out of their very busy schedules to come to our church. They didn't ask for a single penny to come out either which is something very rare these days. We took up pretty decent love offering considering the low attendance. The size of the crowd didn't seem to effect how the guys performed, they played a full 50 minutes and poured their heart and souls into it.

One thing about our church is that it is so large inside. Unless you have over a hundred people it looks like there aren't many people there. It also doesn't help matters that everyone tends to sit in the very back of the church, which is something I'll NEVER understand. But, all of that is out of my hands and I shouldn't let it bother me. The important thing is that I was there to worship, praise God, and listen to some good music, and that is what I did.

If you are interested in having Jerry Butler come out to your church, send me and email and we'll get you hooked up.

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An Evening With Jerry Butler at Highland Baptist Church

Come out to Highland Baptist and join us as we host Bluegrass-Gospel recording artist, Jerry Butler. This event will take place on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. during our regular evening worship service.

Jerry is an anointed singer, songwriter, musician, and full-time Bluegrass artist who has a desire to share the gifts that God has given him in order to spread the Gospel message.

This is a free event, a love offering will be taken. For more information email Byron or call 865-219-0996.

Download printable flyer here.(.pdf 130Kb)

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Why Don't You Give This CD A Try?

As I’ve mentioned a few times before, when I was growing up here in good old East, TN, my family spent many hours sitting around the living room picking and singing gospel music. We would pull out the old maroon (red-back) Church Hymnal and sing until our throats gave away. Those old songs always had a way of lifting you up when you were sad, or giving hope in times of trouble. I’m happy to say that the tradition lives on.

Being a Baptist music minister, a purveyor of music, and bluegrass aficionado, I can say with complete authority that the CD that I’m holding in my grubby hand, ‘Why Don’t You Give Jesus A Try,’ is the best Bluegrass/Gospel CD that I have listened to in years. I had the pleasure of listening to Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road perform most of the songs from this Blue Cirlce Record's project earlier this year. So, I already knew I was in for a treat before I even took possession of it. Jerry Butler finally had a free moment from his busy touring schedule and invited me to drop by and pick up my copy.

I couldn’t even make it home without tearing the shrink-wrap off and popping the CD into the disc player of my vehicle. Normally, my kids are sitting in the backseat with their I-pods stuffed in their ears, but tonight they were singing along with Carolina Road! Many of the songs they were already familiar with, as we frequently sing them during church services. Titles such as ‘Just A Little Talk With Jesus,’ ‘I Like the Old Time Way,’ and my youngest daughter’s favorite, ‘In the Sweet Forever,’ made this an instant hit. There are 12 cuts on this CD and not a stinker in the bunch. There are even two Lorraine Jordan penned songs, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Track 1 of the CD kicks off with Butler’s rich voice belting out the catchy, ‘I Like the Old Time Way,’ complimented with a nice 4-part harmony courtesy of the other Carolina Road members.

Track 2 is another catchy tune, which was penned by group founder, Lorraine Jordan, called ‘The Judgment Day.’ All 4 vocal parts are also showcased on this one.

Track 3, ‘Harp With Golden Strings,’ was an audience favorite when I heard them perform it at Boxcar Pinion Festival this past May. The song’s lyrics have Butler pining for the day he’ll “trade in his old guitar for a harp with golden strings.” However, if you have ever witnessed the way he cherishes his Mike Long guitar, you would be hard pressed to believe that anyone could ever pry it out of his fingers, even for a golden harp!

Track 4 is another Jordan written song called, ‘Smiling Faces.’ According to the liner notes in the CD, Lorraine wrote the words after visiting an orphanage in Russia and witnessed that even among the sadness she saw the smiling faces of the children.

Track 5, ‘It’s Time to Give Jesus A Try,’ was written by Tom T. and Dixie Hall, and is also the title cut. It talks of how after you’ve tried everything in the world and discovered that nothing can cure your troubles, you just need to turn to Jesus and give Him a try.

Track 6, features the high tenor voice of Josh Goforth, as he leads the gospel standard, ‘Just A Little Talk With Jesus.’ If you were brought up in an old fashioned kind of church, you will quickly recognize this as being page 92 in the Church Hymnal. Coincidentally, a fellow Tennessean, Rev. Lister Cleavant Derricks, wrote this song. Derricks once lived in Knoxville where his two famous actor twin sons, Cleavant and Clinton, were born.

Track 7, is another old-time gospel tune, ‘Just Over In the Glory land.’

Track 8, ‘Let the Church Roll On,’ is a refreshing song with a sense of humor. “Well there’s a deacon in the church (oh my Lord) and he won’t do right (oh my Lord) what shall we do? Turn him out and kick him out and let the church roll on!” Read all of the lyrics here.

Track 9, ‘I Saw the Light from Heaven,’ is an old traditional gospel folk song. In it’s entirety the song tells 5 different Bible stories all packed into a neat 2 minutes and 30 seconds, Josh Goforth, arrangement.

Track 10, ‘In the Sweet Forever,’ as I’ve already mentioned is my youngest daughter’s favorite. We sing this song quite frequently at church. Our Alto section really shines on it. In fact, we just sang it this past Sunday. Carolina Road does a wonderful job on this one as well.

One song that I have taken particular liking to is track 11, ‘You Gotta Believe,’ written by Tony Rackley and Pat Terry. I had never heard this one before. It is reminiscent of an old George Jones song with a catchy upbeat tempo likening to a Ricky Skaggs or Michael Martin Murphy hit. I believe it would be instant radio success. The first verse of the song tells the story of a church congregation that loses their church to a fire. The second verse tells the story of an alcoholic finding the strength to give up his drink, and how his loving wife stood beside him through it all. Both stories are followed with the chorus; “You gotta believe through the darkest hour, put your faith in a higher power, find the strength to start again, you can’t give up and you can’t give in, hold on with all your might, let love be your guiding light, everything will turn out right, you gotta believe.” Beautiful song beautifully performed.

Last but certainly not least, track 12, an instrumental of, ‘Tell It To Jesus Alone,’ really showcases the musical talents of this fine bluegrass group. It’s just the kind of tune you would expect to hear at the end of a Carolina Road performance, just before the audience is standing and yelling for an encore.

If you are a bluegrass or a gospel music lover, you will not be disappointed with this new Carolina Road project. So come on, why don't you give this CD a try? You know you want to!

Listen to samples and buy a copy from the official Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road Website.

(this article was previously posted on my Knoxville Trivia Blog)

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