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Legendary American singer Earle Wheeler is called home

So as best I recall, it was 1984 at Raccoon Creek Bluegrass Festival in Dallas, Ga., I took it into my head that the Marksmen Quartet needed a fiddle player, so I crawled up on stage fiddle in hand from the audience and joined in. I was surprised Earle Wheeler didn’t kick me right back off.

Already a legendary American music singer Dr. Earle Wheeler, of Murrayville, Ga. whose appearances on “The Gospel Singing Jubilee,” J.G. Whitfield’s “All Nite Sings,” and “The Warren Roberts Show” greatly impacted Southern gospel and now he was making strides in bluegrass music. He would go on to add country music as another musical genre among his conquests.

Dr. Earle Wheeler (Marksmen Media: Leslie Laurendeau Abby-J Photography)

He contributed over 500 career recordings to American music and amassed over 20 career award wins across the three musical genres plus three Dove Award nominations for “God’s Masterpiece” and “Blue Ridge Mountain Memories” and “This My Crowd” in 2008, 2010, and 2013. He attained numerous chart songs including several #1 songs, some of those were “Sound the Battle Cry,” “He’s Still Setting My Place at The Table,” “Potter’s Wheel,” and “Preach the Cross.”

Earle left this world doing what he loved while on tour in Texas at the age of 84, (1940- 2024). An accidental fall caused a broken second vertebra requiring his hospitalization prior to his passing from heart failure on Oct. 31.

Earle had led the Hall of Fame and multiple-awardwinning Marksmen Quartet since 1967, a re-branding from his group The Gospel Hearts that he began in 1961.

My intervening in their performance 40 years ago, began friendships and musical collaborations that remain to this day.

My early years in music, I spent countless nights in their home. I slept in a bunk pulled out from under guitarist and vocalist Mark Wheeler’s bed when we were youth. Mark is Earle’s only son and a mainstay of the quartet. I ate many meals prepared by his wife Shirley at their dining room table.

When I graduated, Earle helped me get my first record company job. Of course, they would soon sign with that label and I promoted their music. While there I played on my first chart record for Earle “Meet Me in Heaven” which featured a fiddle solo in it.

That was one of a long list of chart songs in the three genres Earle would bring to music fans.

I stood on stage beside Earle for many years watching him move an audience with his master level skills of emceeing a show. His performances often brought explosive response from audiences was when he led “Get Away Jordan” and “I Want to Go There.” I saw long-time stars express their frustrations to follow Earle on stage because he would wear out an audience through his ability to move them emotionally.

The Marksmen joined me in my performance for the Grand Ole Opry’s 63rd Birthday Celebration in 1987 electrifying the audience. Within a year, they were included in a performance for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Legends of Bluegrass Concert in 1988 alongside Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Jim and Jesse, The Lewis Family, and the Osborne Brothers. Their efforts garnered them nine Gospel Bluegrass Band of the Year Awards once such an award was created.

was honored to be there for many of those great achievements with Earle and appear with them on shows such as “The Huff Cook Gospel Sing” from Bristol, Va.

Beginning in 1988, I joined the cast of “In the Heat of the Night,” and when the opportunity arose, I included Earle and the group to sing on “In the Heat of the Night” “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” CD with Anne-Marie Johnson and featured them with Carroll O’Connor, the cast and country hall of famers.

In later years, when ever I appeared Earle used to joke I left the Marksmen because Carroll O’Connor paid me more than he did.

His acceptance in bluegrass also yielded his transition and acceptance into the country genre performing side by side with that genre’s biggest stars. Still performing in the same fashion, just finding new audiences for four voices and their unique songs. The group would win Five Country Gospel Group of the Year Awards. They won Two Country Music Video Awards for “Grandpa Was a Farmer” and “Wagon Tracks.”

From our first concert to raise funds for the Pearl and Floyd Franks Appalachian Music Scholarships for the Share America Foundation, Inc., Earle and the Marksmen Quartet were there and made our efforts a success each year joining us for the last time in 2023 on the Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree.

Earle and his wife Shirley were an extra set of parents who have checked in on me throughout my life. Earle was there supporting me when I lost both my dad and mom. He is survived by his wife Shirley, his son Mark (Joy), and his grandchildren Will, Sarah Grace, and Cana and current and former members of The Marksmen Quartet.

Rest in Peace Earle… Well done good and faithful servant!

                            The Marksmen – 1987

 

Living in a Coffee World and Beau Weevils

It’s always a pleasure to see old friends succeed in their efforts.

One of my favorite comedians is Tim Lovelace and I have had the honor to share the stage and make thousands laugh.

He is having an amazing run with his project Living in a Coffee World. It has consistently stayed in the top 10 on Billboard’s chart for comedy albums, is currently sitting at number seven and shows no sign of slowing down.

“Tim makes the extra effort to ensure his comedy is appropriate for all ages,” said Nate Goble, StowTown Records producer and co-owner. “To be consistently in the Top 10 Billboard Comedy Album chart among such comedic greats as Jerry Seinfeld and Jim Gaffigan is fantastic. We are proud of Living in a Coffee World.”

Tim said he was excited about the success.

“I appreciate the team behind this Billboard Top 10 longevity; StowTown Records owners Wayne Haun, Ernie Haase, Landon Beene and Nate Goble, along with their incredible staff and the staff at Sony/Provident, have made this an incredible journey,” he said. “I have enjoyed taking the Coffee World Tour around the country this past year, and am hooking up my caffeine IV drip so that I can extend the tour into 2019.”

Living in a Coffee World is distributed exclusively by Sony/Provident and is available at retail and digital outlets worldwide. To learn more visit, www.TimLovelace.com.

I was privileged to attend the National Quartet Convention at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. It was an amazing opportunity to visit with the top talents of Southern Gospel music while catching many of them perform on stage.

The Southern Gospel Music Association inducted its 2018 class of Hall of Fame members at the event. They included Ann Downing, the late Tracy Stuffle of the Perrys, Mark Trammell, and the late Norman Wilson of the Primitive Quartet.  To learn more, visit http://sgma.org.

Another old friend – Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels is aiming for his latest studio album, Beau Weevils – Songs in the Key of E, set for release on Friday, October 26.

The new ten-track album features lead vocals, guitar and fiddle by Daniels, James Stroud on drums and percussion, Billy Crain on guitar, and Charlie Hayward on bass.

Beau Weevils – Songs in the Key of E is the culmination of a long held desire of James Stroud and myself to do a project together,” says Daniels. “We had worked together, with James in the capacity of producer, which had resulted in some of our most successful albums for The Charlie Daniels Band, but James is one of the finest and most soulful drummers in the business and I figured we could get together, musician to musician, and come up with something special. We just needed a vehicle in the form of songs that would fit the bill.”

Pre-sale album orders are available now at Amazon.com.