J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet - A Video Portrait - Part 3

[Music] [Music] [Music] yes all the peers I'll say where I stay inside we went to a concert to see the Blackwood brothers in the States and then I really got it stand those guys up there those great suits and those great haircuts and those pencil-thin mustaches and it was amazing it was like seeing those were stars [Music] I'd like to point out that that mold old voice there belongs to JD Sumner America's lowest bass singer and now let's pause for a moment while a friend of yours brings you a very important message it was JD's idea to get a bus and he says a lot of ribbing about that I remember son somebody in the group well it could get a train car you know and oh I'm down in the country over then and a train car so I say well could get a boat and go them down the rivers you know I in a boat back in the early days when you get through there's two in the front and three in the back five-man quartet what every two hours you switched you know but two one in the middle in the back when you went to sleep your legs would fall over on the other guys with you so you took your belt off strap it around your knees and buck of it and folded your arm and went to sleep like that so when you relax when you want to sleep your legs wouldn't fall over and other guys you know so those were rough days traveling I was the best idea he ever had because it's you know it's nice to get in that bunk and go to sleep and pull that curtain around you and read a book and then be like this 500 miles guy up in Iran on one side and Bill Gates there on the other that's between ugly and ugly I kept bugging James and James finally said but you think you do it do it and so I bought a 37 air of customer at first we put in five big recliner chairs in the bus and we'd sit in those as a time and lean them back and sleep on them at night and then we put in some bunk beds and first we put in inner spring mattresses but that didn't work because it bounced too bad goes up and down the highway so we took those out and put in about six inch foam rubber mattresses that worked when I was in the Army I used to take pictures homes and always a pool and I had you know probably compartment in the pool and so I said man would that be something to have the same thing it was when Sadie got the bus I said it isn't practical the more water and coming in from the left Little Rock one Sunday afternoon going into Fort Worth and he said why don't you even get on the bus I'll talk to you about some things but when I got on the bus he had my bed ready and all that sort of stuff I went back there and and went to sleep and I woke up in Fort Worth so we George and I got over down that record show that's a coffee shop and told him that we thought we needed both of us to get that bus and so hoga agreed and we went to Dallas and about two buses and just to like you know have explained Buster's the bush integrated I think it's the greatest thing I'm proud of that injury traveling by bus was not JD's only innovation to help propel the gospel music industry forward it was also JD's idea to begin an annual convention of quartets we were talking one day and JD said it would be nice sometimes we have concerts around the country where we would have two or three maybe quartets together but he said it'd be nice if we had a time and a place every year where all the groups came together for perhaps a weekend or a Friday and Saturday and always tried to get try to get the sunshine aboard to do it another with him and they wouldn't do it and when I came with Blackwood brothers with James finally got sold on the idea so we couldn't call it the camp-meeting of gospel music so we just called the National Corvette convention and at the same time we we organized the Gospel Music Association GMA and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame we had our attorneys secured the Charter for all three of these organizations the national core tech convention Gospel Music Association and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the first core tech convention was in 1957 in Memphis Tennessee although JD would be the innovator of these great institutions he was most proud of the friendships he cherished I think the friendship between daddy and Jake Hess was cultivated by two kids you know just having this burning desire to do nothing but sing I mean they were in the very you know together in the very first quartet that that I think each one of them basically sang in Jake is my godfather they've always been friends they've they've been you know for each other and a part of each other's life since since I have a memory I don't know anyone that any two guys that had a desire to sing in a male quartet more than George and I did of course those of you that know me know that I called him George and here's how you got that name we had been somewhere to sing one morning and we stopped at this restaurant to have breakfast and there was an extra chair there and so the waitress said well what does he want I said oh and say this is who she said whose and I said all he's gone to the bathroom was somewhere he'll be back I said just bring him the scrambled eggs and JD said no he doesn't have scrambled eggs he wants this egg over-medium I said no he wants scrambled eggs and jay-z said over meet him so we ordered one egg scrambled in one over-medium and then he said what what meeting would he like I said bacon crisp she said no sausage and we kicked that thing ran him around and finally ended up he got one egg scrambled and one egg over-medium and he got ham and the manager the quartet got mad and walked out on us then anyway we referred to the guide the Invisible Man there's George it's only fitting that we should keep that going so that's where it started calling him JD George and I called him that for 52 years but I want you to I just want you to know just how close George and I really are you see George smokes I get cancer I'm telling the truth [Applause] last year I was nominated for the Gospel Music Hall of Fame George was inducted we were up in Ohio James told you part of this story I wasn't feeling too well that morning so I took a laxative then affect me there George we still closed doors the first time I met TD I think it was something I'm not real good at dates places but I think it was Greenwood South Carolina the Blue Ridge Anna and the black woods were working together and back in those days we went on first and sometimes Elmo and the guys would sing a few songs then all of a sudden Elmo would pick somebody out of a group to do a couple of solos while they went in the back and just hung out a while you know so that night they asked me to do a couple of solos I mean man can't engage the piano player stayed out there well I sang a solo and then I told Katie I said I was gonna do something silly I said give me a key Kenny said what key I said I don't mean to never say CTI does it maybe in the wrong key I said notice just give me a rolling pin and I did the laughing song for the first time at night and now and what well a little bit later when we walked offstage went through with our stand I passed JD JD shook my hand and he said anybody that can be that big idiot I want to be their friend so we were friends for 42 years JD and I in 1963 the black woods purchased the Stamps Quartet music company and with it inherited the Stamps Quartet the now struggling Stamps Quartet needed a boost and JD had a plan in 1965 he came to me and he said I think to make this work I'm gonna have to sing in the Stamps Quartet I can travel with them so we just swap bass singers Big John Hall came to us and he wanted to establish quartet [Music] by 70 took away [Music] I was working for JD had a talent agency called Samar talent agency I've had a group since 1959 decided to get off the road so I went to work at his talent agency and I got a call one day and he said we're losing our baritone singer and I need you to fill in until I can audition somebody and so I filled in I joined the group and myself and the saints of God would shower and sing and pray I can still hear them singing of those hymns and they're ringing in my heart as they did way back there saints of God would start crying singing marching up to Zion and they'd sing until they said the last name and still see the tear-stained at the foot of the altar made by sinners who were running out of time then the glory started rolling and the bells from haven't told it when the being is pierced and the saints of God would shout and sing [Music] [Music] the saints of God would shout and sing [Music] the saints tonight would shouted singing pray and the saints of God which fantasy [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thanks so much for watching this clip from New Haven collections for full episodes of some fantastic shows go to www.dvc.edu/financialaid

Channel: newhavenvideos

Views: 63,312

Rating: 4.9533677 out of 5

Keywords: J.D. Sumner And the Stamps, Country Road TV, New Haven Records, New Haven Films, A Video Portrait, 615 Hideaway

Id: dMAHLy4V-nk

Length: 16min 0sec (960 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 19 2019