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.