Those days, in 1998 when I joined the Vocal Band, and then around 1990, I guess, when the first video happened, and then about '92
y'all showed up, and we got to know
these people. You know, I look back
at those videos, and I didn't even realize,
I didn't realize then what I was amongst.
- Yeah. - But when you get older
and you look back, you realize we were having a good time.
- We were. And, you know, you see
those people all your life, and you hear them sing,
and then you get to know them, and you realize
they are as wonderful as you always hoped
they would be. - Yes, exactly.
- Always, and it became family,
it really did. We all became family. - Vestal had a big--
- A part of my life. - Part of your life.
- Oh, absolutely. Well, we galled her Granny
on the road because she took care
of all of us, but we wanted to have a baby, and wanted to start our family. We had been married
for several years, and it just wasn't
happening for us. And I had gone to the doctor. If you've been through that,
you know, the heartache and the grief that goes through that process. And the doctors told us, "You know, without a miracle this probably won't
happen for you." Well, I knew where
to get a miracle because we loved
to hear Vestal sing, but we loved to hear
her pray even more. - Oh, yeah. When she prayed
she'd quote scripture to God like He'd never heard it. - That's true. - She'd hold God hostage
with His own words. - Oh, yeah. So if you needed somebody to touch heaven for you,
you go talk to Vestal. And so we went on her bus
one night after a concert, and we told her
we want to have a baby. And so she told me, she said, "Darling, now, most of the time "when I pray for couples
to have a baby they have them two at a time." So she laid her hands
on my belly, and I told her to pray
a very short prayer. She prayed for me, and less than a year later
we gave birth to our firstborn, Trey, who is now 15. And then he has a baby sister
who is 13 years old. And, I'm telling you,
until the day that she passed away, those kids would be
running around backstage and she'd say, "Now,
Joyce, you know those kids belong to me more
than they belong to you." - And Jonathan down here, we should have had Vestal
to pray for him so he wouldn't have so many.
He had six. - I got six, man.
It's awesome. - Six kids. And down here, Judy, she married Jake Hess, Jr. and she's got four, so they are a fertile bunch. When God said go
and replenish the earth, they said okay. One of my favorite people of the Homecoming folks
was JD Sumner. Oh, Reba, you knew JD. Duane.
Many of you knew JD. He was in the "Guinness Book
of World Records" as the lowest bass singer ever. And I, one time
when Gaither was doing one of those semi-circle concerts, you know, where everybody
sits in that semi-circle? I was on this side. I was watching this side,
and I saw JD lean over and whisper something
into George Younce's ear, and George laughed so hard
he coughed up a lung, nearly. And I said, "You know, I got
to know that JD Sumner." So I set my cap,
and I got to know him. And his wife had passed
so he was alone, and I was alone, and we'd go have breakfast, and I heard
all these great stories of his days with Elvis, and his days on the road, and when he first thought
up the tour bus. He's the one who thought
up the tour bus. Before that, everybody
traveled in cars. He said, "Let's build a bus." So he did that. And he told me, he said,
"Mark, when I was first, "when I first joined
the Blackwood Brothers, I was a nervous wreck." He said, "You know,
I was raised out in the sticks." He said, "My mama
was Church of God, "and we're not talking
educated Church of God, we're talking backwoods
Church of God." He said, "My mama, if you said a word with
more than three syllables in it, she'd slap you because
she thought you was cussing." And I heard all this
and then he went on to say, "So I was a nervous wreck. "You know, I just joined
the Blackwood Brothers, "and I was living
right down the street "from James and his wife, Mim, "and I invited them down to eat
with me and Mary, and I was a nervous wreck." And he said, "You know,
I was raised ignorant. "I didn't know one roid
from another roid. "I didn't know a thyroid
from any of the rest of the roid family," he said. "And I had a real
bad sore throat, and at the end of the dinner
I leaned back and told James, "My hemorrhoids are killing me." And James said, "Well,
if they're that high, they ought to be." And then I heard another story. I wish I'd been there
for this one. Back in the '60s
when the Happy Goodman Family-- Vestal Goodman. Oh, do you remember
the Gospel Singing Jubilee? ♪ Jubilee! ♪ I heard that
every Sunday morning while I was getting
whipped before church. ♪ Jubilee! ♪
Pow, pow. ♪ Jubilee! ♪
Pow, pow. And they'd say, "Today
the Singing Rambos." And you'd see the Rambos
come up over those stairs in that black-and-white TV. And then, "The Florida Boys." And here come The Florida Boys. And then,
"The Happy Goodman Family." And you'd see Vestal's hair
about ten seconds before you saw the rest of her. She was an electrical storm
in a beaded gown. Sometime back
in the '60s, The Happy Goodman Family
were singing in Alabama, and they were
under a band shell, and the audience
was sitting up a hill. The hill was up this way and they had lawn chairs
out there, and the Goodmans--Rusty, Sam, Howard, and Vestal-- the magic four were there. And while they were singing,
it started raining. Vestal stopped the show and told the Lord
to turn the rain off. It rained harder. She stopped again
and said, "Now, Lord," she quoted a few scriptures
and said, "Now, "Lord, we're trying
to have a concert here today. Turn that rain off." And all of a sudden
the heavens opened, and the cats
and dogs were falling, and lightning was flashing, and thunder was sounding, and a dam at the top of the hill that had never broken broke, and a tsunami started coming
down that hill towards the stage. Vestal said, "Good God,
He said no. Run for your lives!" [laughter] Sometimes the grass
needs water more than the people
need to hear you sing. And what healthy Father
can't say no?
