Bargain Won by One for the holidays

Today while shopping at the Book Warehouse on Merchants Rd., I stumbled across an excellent buy. Right there on the rack of Christmas music was Won by One's 'Ring Those Golden Bells' CD. And, best of all, it was only $3.99! You can't beat that with a stick!

As soon as I got back in my vehicle, I ripped the shrink wrap off and popped that thing in the CD player. From the opening of 'Carol of the Bells,' to the ending of 'How Great Thou Art,' I was thoroughly delighted. Of course the lineup of singers in the group at the time this project was recorded, was the very best; Greg Shockley, Clayton Inman, David Jenkins, and Bob Caldwell. It doesn't get any better than that!

Songs on the CD include:

1. Carol Of The Bells
2. Come On Ring Those Bells
3. O Holy Night
4. O Come Emmanuel /What Child Is This
5. Winter Wonderland
6. Go Tell It On The Mountain / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
7. Silver Bells
8. Home For The Holidays
9. The Christmas Song
10. O Come All Ye Faithful / Joy To The World / How Great Thou Art

If you enjoy Christmas music and good Southern Gospel music, do yourself a favor and head to the Book Warehouse and pick you up a copy. It'll be the best 4-bucks you'll ever spend. Oh, and tell my cousin Patsy hi, as she is ringing you up!

Directions to Book Warehouse here.

All Book Warehouse Locations here.

Read more posts about Won by One here.

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Crystal River - Out with the old, in with the new

The Southern Gospel group, Crystal River, started out as a proud Knoxville based quartet. A few years ago, Zach McGill took CR to new heights when they broke out with their Arthur Rice produced album titled, For the First Time. The group was comprised of owner/baritone, Zach McGill - lead, Jeff Snyder - Tenor, Dusty Barrett - Bass, Jeremy Lile. Despite their youth and sometimes eccentric hairstyles and stage appearance, Crystal River became an immediate hit with Southern Gospel fans. In fact, I posted a really enthusiastic comment back in 2005 on Southern Gospel News.com:

On Crystal River's first website they said the following: "With everything good that God gives us, the devil tries to use things to make you stumble," said Zack. "He will use anything. He has used financial troubles, sicknesses, and personnel changes to try and discourage us. However, the Lord has been there through it all, and He has been faithful to us and has blessed us with so much."

"We do what we do to see souls saved and lives changed and transformed through the power of God's Word through song," remarked McGill. "The proudest moment that we have in all of this is that God would allow us to do this full-time. It's been such a blessing."

When asked about the future of Crystal River , the group feels confident that they are in this for the long haul.

"We see our ministry expanding greatly. We feel that it's a matter of time before we're taken to the next level," said Zack. "No matter our plans, we also have to plan for what the Lord wants us to do. However, for now the sky is the limit!"

In September of 2005, Crystal River joined the Beckie Simmons Agency (BSA) and followed up in 2006 with a new album titled, Taking A Stand. These guys were quickly becoming Southern Gospel superstars and garnering much respect throughout the industry. In 2006 and 2007, they were nominated for “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” by the Southern Gospel news media and nominated for “Horizon Group of the Year” by the Singing News fans. Things began to unravel though, when in early 2007, bass singer, Jeremy Lile, and lead, Jeff Snyder, left the group. Lile went to sing with Brian Free & Assurance. I'm not sure where Jeff Snyder went.

Crystal River continued on as a trio with McGill, Barrett, and former Won by One lead, Chris Whitaker. In 2007 they produced one album for BSA, titled, Hope Is Alive. This trio didn't sound much like the CR of old, but rather more like something from the Crabb Family. Regardless it didn't quite catch on with fans. Shortly after that, McGill married his high school sweetheart and the group pretty much disbanded.

Apparently, McGill sold the rights to the name Crystal River. BSA is now representing a "new" Crystal River with a trio of guys from an acapella group out of Georgia, that were formerly called, Chozen. I don't know what they sound like, as the sound clips on the BSA site are still from the former trio. I'm sad that Crystal River is no longer based out of Knoxville. I hope these new guys do justice to the name.

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Remembering Won by One

This Knoxville based group started out as a trio. In August of 1994, Tenor-Greg Shockley, Lead-Clayton Inman, and Baritone-David Jenkins, made their debut appearance as 'Won by One.' The next year they won the coveted, Singing News Horizon Group Award for 1995. They continued on as a trio for the next 4-years, delighting Southern Gospel fans of all ages. Then, in 1999, they smartly added Bass singer, Bob Caldwell, and rose to the ranks of one of the greatest quartets of the day.

The Singing News cover on the left, was from August 1999. In that issue they were booked solid all across the United States. Singing in Hueytown, AL to Lake Charles, LA and everywhere in between. Their number one (June 1999) smash hit single, 'King Jesus,' was sitting in the 10th spot on the Top 80 Chart. They quickly followed up with another hit song, 'Dead Man Walking,' which was written by David Jenkins. It looked like there was no stopping this awesome quartet.

The article from the Singing News had the following statement; "As they step into the future with great anticipation, Won By One has one common goal: they want to remain in the center of God's will as they continue and unmistakable sound of seamless harmony that has stood strong for five years, without so much as even a membership change."

Sadly, that didn't last very long. A year later, Greg Shockley left the group and was replaced by Nic Holland. Two year's later, Bob Caldwell and Clayton Inman left the group to pursue other opportunities. Inman went on to join his buddy, Eric Bennett, former bass with the Kingdom Heirs, to form a new group called, 'Integrity Quartet,' which was later changed to 'Triumphant Quartet.' Caldwell spent more time at home and did some bus driving work for the popular Morristown, TN trio, Greater Vision. He also made a few guest appearances with various groups. To my knowledge, he isn't singing with anyone as of this writing.

Won by One continued on as a Trio for 2 more years, changing out the Tenor position a couple of times and a new lead, Chris Whitaker. They never did achieve the success that they once had, and in 2004 they disbanded. Founding member, David Jenkins, lasted throughout the entire history of the group and in July 2005 went on to sing baritone for a trio out of Dayton Ohio, called 'New Life.' I'm not sure what he is doing currently.



I would love to see the group name, Won by One, be used again. Maybe Greg and David could resurrect it! Probably just wishful thinking...

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