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Lee Roy Abernathy
13 August 1913 - 25 May 1993
Mr. Abernathy was born to sharecroppers in Cartersville, Georgia. Neither his parents' economic situation nor the Great Depression stopped him from pursuing his musical goals throughout his life. He was a singer and a piano player, as well as a song writer among many other things.
Some of the songs that he is wrote are: Listen to the Bells, The Master Locksmith, and Everybody's Gonna Have A Wonderful Time Up There.
He performed with various quartets over the years. Some of these groups were the Homeland Harmony Quartet, The Rangers Quartet, and The Jubilee Quartet. Here is a video with Mr. Abernathy playing the piano with the Singing Time in Dixie Band.
In 1973, he was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.
In 1997, he was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame as one of its initial inductees. He was joined that year by other inductees that were some of my favorite singers, members of the quartet known as The Statesmen. The inductees from The Statesmen Quartet that year were: Denver Crumpler, Jake Hess, Hovie Lister, and last…but certainly not least, James "Big Chief" Wetherington. One more was in the perfect grouping, Doy Ott, but he wasn't inducted until 2000. You'll learn more about these guys in other posts this month.
Mr. Lee Roy Abernathy died in Canton, Georgia.
Sources
http://sghistory.com/index.php?n=L.Lee_Roy_Abernathy
http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/a/b/e/abernathy_lr.htm
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/arts-culture/lee-roy-abernathy-1913-1993
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eImHoB0paM
Posts
Thanks, Denise, for visiting and commenting. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about anything to do with Southern Gospel and bluegrass! This was so interesting. Thank you for sharing, sweet friend. God bless you!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I grew up with Southern Gospel music and love listening to it. I am glad that you enjoyed it.
DeleteMay our Father bless you, too, my friend. :)
Well that was fun! I really loved watching his hands on the keyboard and how he would flip one of them over occasionally. What a maestro!
ReplyDeleteThanks! There is another really good piano player named Roger Bennett. Here is a link to him playing: https://youtu.be/WFnTSDQ06so
DeleteHovie Lister, the founder and pianist for Statesmen Quartet, was pretty good, too. He is also funny to watch. He is very expressive. You'll see him in many of the Statesmen posts this month. :)
The name didn't ring a bell, but soon as I saw him and heard his voice, I know I saw him on shows growing up. Probably something Mama had on. I'll have to search him on Spotify. I want to sample some of his gospel.
ReplyDeleteRevisit the Tender Years with me during the #AtoZChallenge at Life & Faith in Caneyhead!
Thank you for sharing your link here, Barbara. I will most definitely head over to your blog and read your challenge posts, too. :)
DeleteHave fun researching Mr. Abernathy. David and I love learning about these very gifted people and listening to their music.
Have a great weekend!
Loved this, and I too, love Southern gospel music! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Patricia, and thank you, too!
DeleteHave a great weekend. :)