Brown's Ferry Four
| Brown's Ferry Four | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Gospel |
| founding | 1943 |
| resolution | 1952 |
| Founding members | |
| Alton Delmore | |
Guitar , vocals |
Rabon Delmore |
Guitar, vocals |
Merle Travis |
singing |
Grandpa Jones |
Brown's Ferry Four was an American country gospel quartet. Consisting of four later country legends, the Brown's Ferry Four decisively shaped country gospel and were able to celebrate some successes in the 1940s.
Career
Brown's Ferry Four began their career when the Delmore Brothers, Grandpa Jones and Merle Travis were working at WLW in Cincinnati , Ohio . The Delmores had become famous in the 1930s through appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and recordings, while Jones had appeared on various radio stations in Virginia and West Virginia and Travis' band, the Drifting Pioneers , had broken up due to a lack of staff. The lack of the Pioneers left a gap in WLW's program, so program director George Biggar requested a new gospel formation. Alton Delmore got Jones, Travis and his brother Rabon to rehearse some songs together. " We left the studio and went out into the hallway and tried a couple of songs. They sounded okay - our voiced blended all right, ”said Grandpa Jones.
The group was named after a successful Delmores song, Brown's Ferry Blues , a blues that describes a place in Alabama , the home of the Delmores. At first the name was ridiculed, but later the group got more and more positive feedback from their audience. To increase their repertoire, the group bought old records from gospel bands in a record store owned by Syd Nathan . But World War II got in the way of career; Jones was called up for the US Army , Travis for the US Marines and Alton Delmore for the US Navy . WLW now filled the void with other local musicians including Rome Johnson, Ray Lanham and Dolly Good, a former member of the Girls of the Golden West .
In 1946 Sid Nathan, who had now founded King Records in Cincinnati, invited the four musicians to make recordings in Hollywood . At first, Travis, Jones and the Delmores only made solo recordings, later gospel songs followed. The quartet's first record, Will the Circle Be Unbroken / Just a Little Talk with Jesus , was an immense hit and continued to be pressed for the next ten years. Other hits followed such as If We Never Meet Again , Rockin 'on the Waves , On the Jericho Road or Over in the Glory Land .
But with the solo careers of the members becoming more and more successful, the problems grew. Travis had moved to California and dropped out shortly afterwards. Syd Nathan therefore hired other musicians such as Red Foley , Clyde Moody , Zeke Turner or Red Turner (no family relationship to each other) to close the gaps - because Jones and the Delmores could not always be brought into the same studio on the same day.
On August 28, 1952, the last session for King took place, a short time later Rabon Delmore died, which finally broke up the group. In the following time there were attempts to start new formations of the Brown's Ferry Four, but all of them were short-lived.
The Brown's Ferry Four are inextricably linked to country gospel. They shaped this genre like no other group. In addition to the big record sales, her songs were played millions of times on the radio and were even among the jukebox hits in the 1940s . Many of her recordings have become today's classics, such as I'll Fly Away .
Discography
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Records | |||
| 1946 | Will the Circle Be Unbroken / Just a Little Talk with Jesus | 530 | |
| 1947 | Rockin 'on the Waves / If We Never Meet Again | 577 | |
| 1947 | Old Camp Meeting / There's a Light Guiding Me | 593 | |
| 1947 | Everybody Will Be Happy / The Lord is Watching | 631 | |
| 1948 | Salvation Has Been Brought Down / When the Good Lord Cares | 622 | |
| 1948 | Keep on the Firing Line / Rock of Ages | 700 | |
| 1949 | Hallelujah Morning / When He Blessed My Soul | 750 | |
| 1949 | I've Got Old Time Religion / His Boundless Love | 760 | |
| 1949 | I'll Fly Away / I've Made a Covenant | 785 | |
| 1949 | After the Sunrise / Over in the Glory Land | 799 | |
| 1949 | On the Jericho Road / I'm Naturalized for Heaven | 832 | |
| 1950 | I'll Meet You in the Morning / Jesus Hold My Hand | 854 | |
| 1951 | What Will You Be Doing Then / Romans 10 & 9 | 938 | |
| 1952 | Heaven Eternal for Me / I am a Weary Pilgrim | 1032 | |
| 1952 | There's a Page in the Bible / We Should Walk Together | 1059 | |
| 1952 | Arm of God / Can't You Hear Him Calling | 1114 | |
| 1952 | I Need the Prayers / Through the Pearly Gates | 1138 | as Clyde Moody and the Brown's Ferry Four |
| 1953 | You Must Be Born Again / Praise God, He Loves Everybody | 1153 | |
| 1953 | I Feel Like Travellin 'On / Unclouded Day | 1177 | as Clyde Moody and the Brown's Ferry Four |
| 1953 | What Shall I Do with Jesus / When the Redeemed are Gathered In | 1207 | |
Individual evidence
- ^ Charles K. Wolfe: Classic Country (2001), p. 104