Country's Family Reunion Full Episode 1

its country's family reunion featuring The Legends that made it the Golden Age of country music so sit back and enjoy there will be laughter singing storytelling and a few tears thrown in here and there tonight's guest include Jim Ed Brown George Hamilton IV Martha Carson Gene Shepherd and hosted by Bill Anderson oh [Music] [Music] yeah yeah I would imagine if I had to go around this room to everybody in here I bet you nearly every hand would go up if I said was the first place you ever sang a song in church I imagine nearly every one of us in this room that was the first place first place we ever we ever sang a song the first songs I sang was in church about four five six years old Mama put me up on a went to a little Methodist Church and I I went to the Methodist Church one year the next year I'd go to the Baptist Church which everyone had the best baseball team I had this that's just telling it like that's telling it like it is I think Charlie laughs [Music] I'm glad morning when this life is all right Fly Away [Music] I'll Fly Away for Glory I'll Fly Away in the morning when I die Hallelujah Fly Away just a few more weary days and then I Fly Away we'll do that home where Joyce will never ends [Music] [Applause] I'll Fly Away into the morning when I die Hallelujah Fly Away I'll Fly Away [Music] [Applause] [Music] Wanda Jackson it is so good to see you didn't you once quit country music and go into strictly gospel music for a while shortly after I was saved yeah because simply I didn't ever divorce country music you know but uh it's kind of like the same thing happened to me that happened to Charlie Walker I was recording for capitals all I got saved and I was all excited about the Lord and wanted to get the message out the only way I knew how to sing and so Capital said okay do one so I did one and a couple years went by and I said I'm ready to do another gospel album they said another one nobody needs any more than one so they said maybe I should pursue a gospel recording contract and I guess I'm one of the few who asked for a release from Capitol Records you know that's not done too often but singing for the Lord was more important for me and I haven't regretted a bit of it sing one for us Wanda yeah this is so nice to sit around and hear everyone in country music talking so freely and openly about the Lord because I think all of us remember days when even if you loved the Lord you didn't talk about it so much you know and I think it's great God bless every one of you who are a testimony for the Lord I'm like Charlie I can't sing sitting down I'm too short when I sit down there's nothing left of me yeah let's drive it this world is not my hope I'm just passing through and my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue the Angels beckoned me from Heaven's Open Door and I can't feel at home in this world anymore [Music] [Music] well they're all expecting me and this one thing I know cause I fixed that up with Jesus 27 years ago and I know he'll welcome me for I am a weekend poor and I can't feel at home in this world anymore [Music] [Music] please [Music] hold in this world anymore [Music] Among Us here today we actually have one of our Opry members country music stars who's an ordained minister Stu Phillips that's right Episcopal Church is that right that's right well bill I uh uh a member of the Episcopal church and the the lead of the Episcopal church is called a priest and I wear vestments like the Catholic Church very colorful vestments and one day I was standing there just ready to do the service and I and a tiny little guy came up from the kindergarten and church school and tugs at my robes and he says hello God [Laughter] you know I didn't want to spoil a child's illusion so I never told him any difference but he's he's old enough now to know the difference oh Sega said so laughs [Music] many years ago in days of childhood [Music] I used to play till evening Shadows come then winding down an old familiar pathway well I heard my mama call let's settled some sing along come home supper time [Music] the Shadows [Music] come home come home it's suppertime we're going home [Music] one day beside her bedside I was kneeling and angel wings [Music] all she heard the call of supper time in heaven and now I know she's waiting for me there come home come home and suffer time the Shadows [Music] come home come home it's suppertime [Music] in version now I see her standing Yonder [Music] and her familiar voice I hear once more she heard the call of supper time in heaven and now I know she's waiting for me there come home come home it's suppertime [Music] the Shadows way Thunder fires from all come home it's suppertime we're going home yes we're going oh Lord [Music] still you were you were talking about the little boy he's asking if you were God a preacher up at a little church in Maine told me a story this summer he said that in his church they have a brass plaque that hangs and engraved on this plaque are the names of all the members of the church who have died serving our country in the military in the military service somewhere around the world back to the first world war the second world war so forth he said he was standing there by that plaque one morning and this little boy was standing there looking up at all of these names and the little boy said to the preacher he said what what are all of those names and the preacher said those are the members of our church who have died in the service little boy said which one 8 30 or 11 o'clock [Music] well I want to tell y'all I grew up near Atlanta Georgia and about 12 15 every day on WSB radio I would turn my radio on to hear James and Martha Carson used to sign on sing and Keep On the Sunny Side oh and some of the greatest gospel Martha Carson is is a true legend in gospel music I am so glad you are here with us put that microphone on the stand there and give us some Martha Carson music we need we need to hear some of that we're gonna have to raise this thing up I never could do nothing sitting down here we go everybody here we go I've got that I'm religious [Music] me if I'm happy if I have peace Within if I'm worried about tomorrow when I reach my Journey's End well I'm satisfied with my Jesus I'll let him eat it through the valley before I know he is my friend satisfied [Music] Play One Voice [Music] now visit this person if my friends they always say me and they turn me from their door if they sow no seeds of kindness make the thorns in my Petro well it won't matter [Music] other side or I'm going to sit down by my Jesus satisfied because [Music] that is [Music] [Applause] my granddaddy was um a real hillbilly he was a mountain man from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina a place called Beaver Creek near Ashe County and he taught me to love country music um when I was a kid I used to sit on his knee and he'd listen to the radio from Nashville WSM the Grand Ole Opry only he talked funny being a mountain man he he didn't call it WSM he said we're going to tune in double yes ma'am on the radio here and uh and he didn't call it the Grand Ole Opry so we're going to listen a little bit of the grand old uproar on our talking radio machine and uh he had moved out of the mountains to Winston-Salem North Carolina to work for the railroad that's how I became a city Billy instead of a hillbilly because granddaddy had moved to Winston-Salem and he worked for the southbound and one night we were listening to the Grand Ole Opry Roy Acuff in a Smoky Mountain Boys and Minnie Pearl and all that and I was sitting on his knee playing with his railroad watch and just a little fell and he said you know something son I'm a mountain man and I'm a railroad man I know about them things let me tell you something and I said yes sir he said you know life's just like a Mountain Railroad and I said what do you mean Granddad and he said well you know sometimes you're up on a mountain top where the Sun's shining and skies blue and everything's going great then sometimes you go way down the deep dark holler where it's scary and Lonesome dark he said life's just like that just like a Mountain Railroad sometimes the road of life gets to twisting and turning and if you don't watch it sometimes you get sidetracked granddaddy said stay off the side track son stay on the main line I didn't know what he was talking about and uh I was just a little fella and then he said to him he said you know son when you get a little older you'll understand what I'm talking about he said when you get older the road's going to get bumpy for you just like it does for everybody it's bound to happen it's just part of life he said sometimes the ride gets a little bumpy out there but he said that's not what's important the important thing is not how rough the riot is It's the Final Destination it's funny thing I thought he was talking about railroads Granddaddy's favorite song was a song called last Railway to heaven I remember when I was a little kid some railroad men sang it at his funeral and I sang it at my daddy's funeral I hope someday George Hamilton V sings it at mine all right [Music] Life Is Life a Mountain Railroad engineer that's Brave we must make the runs successful from the Crave to the Grave watch the curse the fills the tunnels to your duty and never fail keep your hands upon the throttle and your eyes [Music] setlist for sure in thy praise forevermore [Music] I'll pick a gym [Music] as you roll Across The Trestle spinning Joy swelling time you behold the Union Depot into which your train will Glide there you'll meet you'll be superintendo not the father and God the son with a heart a joyous plotting we're a pill come welcome home let's let's save till we wish that was for sure where the Angels way to join us in my praise forevermore where the Angels Wade to join us in thy praise forevermore thank you I want to tell you something I love to hear him talk and tell those things like that but I'm gonna tell you if you go over to Europe and especially in England you've got to get him on the show with you because I I traveled over there with him one time and he's the most interesting man and I tease him about this but he really is takes you around all those places and tells you about all of them and it makes it so much that ain't funny but it's interesting Tinky says I missed my call and I should have been a sightseeing guy that's because tanky don't want you at home that much telling me when we was in Phoenix the last time for the show there about this guy that was uh giving this uh preach not preaching but teaching you know and and the guy the girl or somebody stood up and asked a question you remember telling me about that there was a great um Theologian yeah yeah named Dr Carl Bart and he was German I believe and he went over to Chicago University to do a lecture on history of the Bible and when he got through he said he'd take questions and some young students stood up and said I have a question for you and I said after all these years you're a great Theologian you know more about the Bible than any of us I guess more than we'll ever learn what is the greatest truth that you've ever learned from a lifetime of studying the Bible and being a great theologian and without blinking an eye this great Theologian Carl Bart said Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so simple as that really Jeannie Pruitt we need a song out of you well I was just sitting here listening and enjoying what everybody else had to say in it and it brings back a lot of memories to me to know that people all over the world usually try to think of something to do for little people you know the children of the world and I think my favorite little kids song is still my all-time favorite gospel song as well and an old friend of mine that I've Loved dearly for many many years 37 years Jeanette Rudy and I have been personal close friends and this is her all-time favorite thing and I know that she'll buy at least three or four hundred of these tapes to give for Christmas gifts if I'll sing this for her and I'm going to do it it's called Jesus loves me and we're going to do I'll do the verses and everybody join in on the course and we'll do a first course uh verse course tagging out and Jimmy's got the intro [Music] Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so little ones to him belong they are weak but he is strong yes Jesus loves me yes Jesus loves me yes Jesus loves me the Bible tells me so Jesus Loves Me He will stay close beside me all the way if I love him when I die he will take me home all night yes Jesus loves me Jesus loves me again Jesus loves me the Bible tells me so Jesus Loves Me He will stay close beside beside me all the way if I love him when I die he will take me home on high yes Jesus loves me yes Jesus loves him yes Jesus loves me [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] bill I was thinking a while ago when Stu was talking about the little child that came up to him and asked him if he was God and then while Jeannie was singing I was thinking about Karina my grand little granddaughter and and then I got to thinking about a story I read and it was this little boy about four years old and his mom and daddy had told him that he was getting ready to get a new brother or sister that would be the Lord would be sending down from heaven this is a true story and So eventually the the baby was born and they brought the baby home and he went over to the little baby little baby sister and he said tell me what God looks like I'm beginning to forget what a great story true goodness out of the mouths of babies we were created to have fellowship with him that's the reason that we were created in his likeness if we stop and think about in his likeness that's hard to imagine how we in this old worthless Shale but we still look like him and he wants to talk to us every day because uh he loves us and we need to talk to him it's like I'm talking to you he's not someone Plum Out Of Reach that you have to go through someone to get to we have a direct line to him by just mentioning his name and At The Mention Of His Name the enemy who is the only one that comes between us and him the enemy has to flee and see he is love God is love Jesus is the perfect epitome of a perfect love the only perfect man that was ever made and we are made in his likeness and he loved us so much you know that he gave his life for us and can you imagine now if you think of all the bad things in the world the evil comes from the enemy Satan okay there's coming a time when he won't be with us can you imagine what it's like when there's nothing but a perfect love left in the world and the enemy is gone there won't be any prejudice and in Creed any lust there won't be anything but perfect love what are some people in this room that missed their callings too I think a lot of people in this room should have been preachers that's a beautiful Buck some people in here are preachers and they just didn't go to school and Bill I almost say something a little louder note you know I think God has a sense of humor because you look around this room and see that okay Russell took that personally my grandson they all go to Sunday school they know God but my grandson had this little cat and he loved his cat and he went outside to play one and a little cat followed him out and got hit by a car and I thought Lord have mercy I'm going to tell him that that cat is dead he'd come back a couple hours later and we'll know where his cat was I said baby I hate to tell you this but your kitty cat followed you outside while going got hit by a car and got killed I said it's up in heaven with God he looked at me real strange he said granny what would God want with a dead cat that reminds me of Justin Tubb's little son one of the youngest one when he was a little Feller his wife told me about this that their dog got killed a little puppy and and she when he came home from school that she didn't know how to tell him but she could tell the older woman and you know he explained to him she did but she took the little one in the car and thought well I'll drive around the block several times and we'll talk you know it's ease it you know and said someone said you know your little doggy little puppy he went to dog heaven today he said well all right [Laughter] Johnny I think the song that you put down to do would be very appropriate right now just a closer walk with thee well let me get these words I don't want to sing it wrong and you didn't write it so I don't know it [Laughter] a little joke there jokes that little shouldn't be out by themselves [Music] I but Thou Art strong [Music] from all wrong [Music] I satisfied as long as I walk let me walk close to me [Music] just a closer walk with me [Music] granted Jesus is my pleasure [Music] today [Music] Let It Be oh Lord Let It Be through this world of toads and snares [Music] if I falter Lord who cares [Music] with me my burden share [Music] let me walk dear Lord close to thee [Music] just a closer walk with thee [Music] Grant Jesus this my fleas [Music] walking close to me Let It Be dear Lord let it be [Music] when my feeble life is old [Music] time for me will be no more God guide me to that peaceful show close to me [Music] it's a closer with ease Jesus is [Music] [Music] let it be dear Lord Let It Be let it be here Lord Let It Be [Music] for a long time for a long time I couldn't read revelations in the Bible because I just could not imagine anybody that could take Jesus and put him on a cross and I didn't really understand what that was all about but the whites do a song and I don't know if they can do it now I I'm just going to ask off the top of my head there's a song called he took your place that I think has helped me understand that more than anything and I don't know if y'all can do it now it's my one of my favorite songs in the world can you guys do this song he's talking about all right [Music] thank you kills him for they know not what they do or sing for you he died [Music] outside he's pleading to come in his heart is breaking as he waits for you to wash you free from everything those called Thorns it pierced in my savior's head the blood was flowing down his face [Music] and I oh see Peter friend he took your place [Music] his hands [Music] outside he's pleading to Korea his heart is breaking as he waits for you to wash you free from everything [Music] someday he's coming back to Flame his own will fly to Heaven's Golden Shore a Crown of Life he gives on that great day with him we'll live forevermore his hand is gently knocking on your door outside he's pleading to coming his heart is he waits for you to wash you free from everything [Music] thank you his heart is breaking as he waits for you to wash you free from everything [Music] so [Applause] what not a mean song bill that is beautiful thank you all for doing that Skeeter you got a song for us today well I was just thinking of when I got so sick I felt a little shamed like I always thought that Christians are just not supposed to be sick you know I mean I just kept thinking that how could this be happening because uh I never smoked I never drank I didn't do all this and I remember one night at the Opry uh somebody told me somebody that I looked to as a as a Christian told me quit talking about the illness and don't tell anybody anymore and about that time Ricky Skaggs walked out of the dressing room there Mr Roy's room I still call it Ricky walked out he said how's my little sister tonight and I said oh I'm great I'm just fine and he pulled me right into his chest and he said you need prayer and I said well I'm not going to ask anybody anymore and he said the devil would just love it if you didn't ask us to pray for you and I know John I think about you so many times I pray for you so many times and we pray for one another and I thought earlier a while ago when we talked about praying in that in that daily relationship with God and with Jesus that daily relationship we have is uh is like what really is love any love relationship you know you nurture it and and it nurtures you and that's what love is all about and love with the Lord is is like that way and I just don't know what anybody does without him or can do without him and even when they ain't sick but the old preacher says and I will repeat this today y'all pray for me I need the prayer and you all need to practice that's what he said so remember that till this thing is gone sing this great old Albert Brumley song that we were talking about her I hope I can get through it because all I was telling Larry black that these songs today have taken me right back to the day of my salvation and that little Baptist church and we used to sing this at every homecoming and always at the next homecoming there'd be somebody missing so we never know I hear you boys soon we'll come to the end of life's journey and perhaps we'll never meet anymore [Music] over there on that beautiful Shore if we never meet again beside of Heaven as we struggle through this world and it's dry as we never meet again [Music] I will meet you on the beautiful Shore [Music] they say that we'll meet by the river where no storm clouds ever dark in the sky will be happy in [Music] the world [Music] inside I believe [Music] [Applause] bodies be present with Christ [Applause]

Channel: Country's Family Reunion

Views: 22,580

Keywords: countrys family reunion, old country, stonewall jackson, bill anderson, golden countrys, country music, nashville country, gospel music

Id: u-f897O0AKg

Length: 43min 51sec (2631 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2023