Greetings from Monument! Marshall assigned this artice and told me to have fun but not to get us expelled, so here it is.
You know, there are alot of things I don't understand. Some of them are extremely inportant and used quite frequently, yet others are more obscure. An example of a widely used item would be an automobile engine. Now I did not say that it could not be understood; I just said I don't get it, however, I'm not gonna push my car till I figure it out. Other observations may seem a little trivial, but worth mentioning in my mind. This is my article anyway, so I can note whatever I deem necessary.
Here are a couple of the latest: First, why in the world does our GPS on the bus tell us how far it is to our destination "as the crow flies"? As of our last trip, in spite of several attempts, our bass singer's design for wings (to be added to the bus) have proven unsuccessful. I'm not saying it won't ever work Brad, it just hasn't yet buddy. You keep striving for excellence. Until then, I don't see the reason for this information. Secondly, and by far the most intriguing... cushioned toliet seats. Two questions spring from this subject. Does every cushioned tiolet seat come with a tear already in it? I don't think I've ever sat on one that didn't pinch. Really! Also, does it actually help? I mean admittedly I'm a big guy, but the immediate "pfft" sound denotes a lack of sustained cushioning ability. Doesn't it? A lesser remark on this subject, if your still the slightest bit wet from a shower when you sit you might slip off into the floor! Not cool...especially if your visiting. Not that I would know, I'm just saying hypothetically. You understand I'm sure.
I realize that this deep intellectual kind of thought is not the stuff that sermons are made of, but honestly it seems to me that we do well when we take ourselves a little less seriously. There are also plenty of spiritual topcis I can't quite get my mind around, like God's grace and why He would choose to love me, but that's another article. This one is for laughs and maybe even a merry heart or two( which doeth good like a medicine Prov 17:22).
Life is fun, especially as a christian. Christ said "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly."(John 10:10) What we have to do is live that abundant life so thoroughly that it points people to the one who gave it to us.
God bless and feel free to add anything that YOU might not understand,
John Tidwell
Monument Quartet
http://www.monumentquartet.com
http://www.myspace.com/monumentquartet
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/
Written: 09/01/2007
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Category: Monument Quartet
Comments: 1
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Tell us a little about the group, Monument Quartet
Marshall Pugh (baritone) was raised in Crossville a little town in East Tennessee. He played various sports in elementary school including softball, basketball, and football. During High School he played football, starting and lettering all four years. His real love was driving racing karts and racecars. Marshall and his father, Clifford, started racing together when Marshall was 11 years old. Marshall has had a successful semi-professional racing career with well over 100 wins and 12 top ten national points titles in various motor sports organizations in 26 years.
In fall 1986 he went to a Christian junior college, Tomlinson College in Cleveland TN. He was part of the TC Chorale, a 14 voice ensemble, and the TC Singers, the campus choir. That was his first time singing on a stage, but would not be his last. He finished his college at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville TN with a degree in business economics. He then embarked on what would be a successful career owning and managing a garbage collection company.
He never thought he would ever enjoy doing anything more than racing until one day in 1996 when his father-in-law, Deloy Brown, asked him to sing in a local trio called New Beginning. He sang in New Beginning until 2001 when one day through what he says was an answer to a Jabez prayer, he found himself traveling with The Happy Goodmans. He leased them a bus and was their Sound Engineer for the Final Stand Tour. After Howard Goodman passed away and Vestal Goodman began doing solo dates, she asked Marshall to sing a few songs with her each night. He would travel and sing with Vestal Goodman until she passed away on December 27, 2003 only 12 days after recording a duet ("Eastern Gate") with him for his first solo CD.
On July9, 1988 Marshall married his long time sweetheart Kristie Brown. Kristie and he have two children, Lindsey born in 1992, and Blake born in 1995. They make their home in Brentwood TN, and are members of The River of Life Church in Smyrna TN.
It should come as no surprise that Matt Felts (tenor) ended up singing southern gospel for a living. The sounds of the Cathedrals, The Statesmen, and the Happy Goodmans often could be heard through the halls of Matt’s childhood home in St. Louis, MO. His favorite group growing up was the Cathedrals and you would often find him at one of their concerts learning all he could from his favorite tenor, Ernie Haase. From those early days, Matt knew he had a calling to sing in a quartet.
While waiting for this desire to be filled, Matt graduated college with a Bachelors degree in Business Marketing. He has always had two loves, music and baseball. Matt played baseball in college and even spent time in the minor leagues.
“I enjoyed my time in baseball but knew God had a different calling on my life,” said Matt.
Matt left his baseball glove behind to pursue a successful career as a human resource director for a Fortune 500 company.
When the phone finally rang and he was asked to join his first quartet, The GloryWay Quartet, Matt jumped at the opportunity. Following his time with them, he was asked to join the Skyline Boys out of Manassas, VA. God definitely had a reason to bring Matt to Virginia. One Sunday during a concert, a young lady walked into the church that quickly got Matt’s attention. Following their first date, appropriately at a baseball game, they both knew they had found their soul mate. In August, Matt and Jennifer were married in Myrtle Beach, SC. They will make their home in Smyrna, TN.
Being invited to join Monument Quartet was a dream being fulfilled stated Matt, "I always prayed that God would allow me to sing with men of integrity who truly desired to see souls saved and who would be like family. I enjoy every moment on the bus, most of the time we are watching sports, laughing, and just having a good time.”
Matt has quickly gained attention throughout southern gospel for his extremely high quality tenor voice. He looks forward to the future of Monument Quartet with great anticipation.
Singing the bass part is Brad Smith. He has been involved in gospel music for almost 20 years. His Gospel music career consists of being a vocal member of the Impacts, the New Speers and, most recently, the Blackwood Gospel Quartet. Brad has performed with the Symphony Orchestras in Phoenix, AZ, Jackson, TN, Louisville, KY, as well as the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, AL. Twice, Brad has been nominated for “Male Vocalist of the Year” by the Gospel Voice Magazine. Brad lives in the Nashville area with his wife, Cassie, and their three year old son, Jackson.
Music and ministry seem to be a constant theme in John Tidwell's (lead singer) family. Growing up in a home where his grandfather was a minister, his father was a music minister and his mother played the piano in church, John was called to use both music and ministry in his goal of reaching the lost. Not only is John licensed to preach but he also earned a degree in vocal performance, which opened doors for him to teach at the Steve Hurst School of Music.
John saw his hearts desire fulfilled when he and another family member, his cousin Ricky Capps, formed The Master’s Voice in his hometown of Bristow, Oklahoma. He traveled with his group for over twelve years before taking the lead position with Monument Quartet.
If you spend time around John on or off stage you will find that his rich voice is coupled with a natural quick wit. “Most of the fun we have on stage is a mirror of what happens on the bus” John says. “It makes it easy to have fun when you really do get along and have the same focus.”
Although he spends much of his time riding the highways on a bus, John loves the outdoors. He is an avid fisherman, hunter and loves baseball and football. One of his dreams is to sing for his favorite team, the Chicago Cubs.
The real love of John’s life is his wife Jessica and their son, Brooks. As most events in his life, laughter somehow finds a way in. “When I asked Jes to marry me, I was so excited that I put the ring back in my pocket,” stated John. John and his family make their home in Smyrna, Tennessee.
Bass singer Brad Smith attends church with you. Did that have an influence on him becoming a part of the group? What influence does attending church have on how you pick any of your singers?
It was very important to me that all my guys were grounded in a home church, not necessarily my church, but a Bible believing church. We all try to remain as active in our home churches as is absolutely possible and as a matter of fact part of the reason the group has taken the path it has is the fair and festivals are not mostly on the weekends, which allows us to remain more involved in our local church body.
You recently reorganized as a group. I understand that your goals and plans have changed to even include some Country music in your program, can you tell us a little about that? What percentage of Gospel and Country will you do at your Fair bookings? Is your sound and style different? Is your dress style any different? How do you still integrate ministry into what you are doing now?
We don't do country music at all of our concerts, that is only done at the promoters discretion. It's important for us to let the SG fans know that we are a group that sees our mission as primarily to reach the unsaved people who might be at a fair or festival. That is why we use country music, it is a tool just as a church might use a family day with blow up slides and a carnival atmosphere in their parking lot to hopefully attract the un-churched people in their community. We use the country music to hopefully attract the un-saved people who are walking thru the fair or festival who might not wander in and set down for just gospel music. We mix it up and use comedy and patriotic songs as well. We use all this to attract them then later in our program we use a song that is basically the salvation message to share with them about our Savior. All of what we do is a tool to reach people who most likely don't know about our style of music and probably wouldn't any other way. These are people who would not come to a church for a concert with anybody for that matter, I don't care how popular they may be to someone inside the SG fan base.
In short this is the call on Monument Quartet. There are many groups out there that sing in the churches and we applaud them for the encouragement of the saints but for us that just isn't our calling. Where we are allowed, our concerts are about 35% COUNTRY, 35% GOSPEL, and the remaining % is made up of comedy and patriotic. Our programs are geared to be very entertaining and we let the music and our personality and genuineness do the preaching. In our 1 1/2 hour program we sing all or part of 27-30 songs, it's non-stop.
What can fans expect to see when Monument comes to town?
Other than the program we described above we are doing a tour that promotes the *Faith & Family Tour* and we really try hard to conduct ourselves as professionals.
You have a new recording, what's it like? What sets this apart from any other Southern Gospel recording?
Our new recording that is out now is just straight up Southern Gospel with 1 or 2 songs with a different feel, but all Christian. We will be doing a country CD soon with carefully selected, clean, family oriented, country songs and a few patriotic songs as well.
A Fair audience is much different than a church or concert audience. A Fair audience may mingle around the place you are singing, walk out, even sing along loudly with you. What has been your experience with this different type of audience? What has been the interaction with other (secular) acts that perform with you at Fairs?
So far we have had great reaction from other secular artists that we have shared the stage with and are looking forward to working with more this summer. Yes the crowds are very different. At fairs most of them don't really know what to expect because they haven't been exposed to anything like our music before. But most fall in love with the harmony, and before the night is done they will be on their way home before they realize that they have been ministered to. That is the way we want it, it's subtle so they will take it with them, then want what we have. That is our prayer.
If someone wanted to get in touch with Monument Quartet to book them for a concert, how would they do that?
We book our church dates through our office which is my home. E-mail me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (615)377-3315. For fairs and Festivals you can contact us and we will put you in touch with the right agency depending on what part of the country you are in. We are exclusively represented by state with Variety Attractions in Zainsville OH and Kingsland Productions in Louisiana.
Visit Monument Quartet online at http://www.monumentquartet.com or http://www.myspace.com/monumentquartet
Author: AGM
| Author's Website: http://absolutelygospel.com/ Written: 06/15/2007
| Category: Special Feature Comments: 12 RSS Feed
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I can't wait to come see them. It sounds like a great concert. I am uplifted to see groups enter the harvest field.
I really appreciate you doing the interview. Whether people like what they're doing or not, it was nice to have such a candid view into their ministry. Sure beats guessing what's going on!
me and my grandmother attended one of your many shows here in our hometown of Carthage, TX and we were absolutely amazed and impressed with your performance that has been about 8 months ago just guessing and we are ready to see you again it looks like you have changed the group up i do not see the wonderful red headed piano player on the website me and her have to admire his god given ability to play that piano i was just curious where he is today thank you and god bless
Marshall and guys, keep up the good work! I am looking forward to seeing you again soon.
I am a southern gospel fan and enjoy hearing various groups in concert. I am also a country music fan, however, I do not feel that 35% of a gospel concert should be country music. I do not mind 1 or 2 country songs if they contain a spiritual basis. IMHO though, I feel like it makes groups look a little local to include a country song made popular by a famous country artist. I understand what you are saying about reaching the unsaved and agree that it is most important. How many dates do you sing at a fair per year? I can understand perfroming this kind of program at a fair but I would be upset if I went to a church and ended up attending a country music concert. Just my opinion.
Diana, I think that you may have misunderstood....
It's nice to see a group stretching their boundaries. Way to go Monument. I hope to see you in concert sometime soon.
I enjoyed this article. This is a refreshing approach and contrary to most of the "singing to the choir" groups that are already out there.
I listened to the audio on myspace and loved it! I applaud this ministry for letting their light shine somewhere beside the church building. Very smart move, guys!
It sounds like God has some really big things in store for Monument. I can't wait to see where He takes them.
I heard your sound clips and they are great! Best of luck!
In the young career of Monument Quartet they have had the opportunity to perform at the West Virginia State Fair, the Winkler Harvest Festival in Winkler Manitoba Canada. They have performed at Silver Dollar City in Branson MO and Dollywood in Pidgin Forge TN. Monument's 2008 schedule boasts more than 70 fairs and Festivals including the New Jersey State Fair, Delaware State Fair, West Tennessee State Fair, West Missouri State Fair and returning to the West Virginia State Fair, the Punxsutawney Ground Hog Festival in PA and the National Peanut Festival in AL. With more than 40 dates already on hold for 2009 it is clear that these guys have already stolen the hearts of people all across the U.S. and are destined to become America's premier country quartet and variety entertainers.
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