The Vocal Coach

Tribute To The Singing Rambos

This month I would like to write about some friends who were instrumental in my getting the opportunity to sing with “The Stamps Quartet”. They are “The Singing Rambos”.

As I have already mentioned in previous writings, “The Singing Rambos” started out singing in North Central Kentucky, just a few miles south of Evansville, Indiana where I started. We sang in a lot of the same churches when we were all starting out. We also had a lot of respect for each other.

Eventually after I had sung with Smitty Gatlin, I wound up in Nashville, Tennessee working with Hal Kennedy. We had formed a trio in late 1967 and worked for just a couple of months together. The trio was Hal Kennedy, Don Watson, and myself. This group was formed in November of 1967. Hal had a recording studio in the Inglewood area of Nashville. I helped him a little bit with putting the finishing touches on the sound baffles he was putting in the studio. He and I and Don Watson started out to sing. Hal booked us in a few churches in November and December. Then we took off for Christmas. We were supposed to go back to work in January. This was the worst winter that Nashville had for many years. It snowed, and snowed. Hal and his family decided to move back to Florida, because of the bad weather in Nashville. After that ,Hal took a church in Titusville, Florida, and he pastored there for many years.

That was when I decided to enroll in Lipscomb University. Which I started in January of 1968. I thought my career as a gospel singer was over. I faithfully studied my courses and did quite well with them. I graduated in June of 1971 with a 3.34 grade point average. What happened during my last year there is what I want to write the rest of this article about.

In the fall of 1970 I was sitting in the city library, in downtown Nashville, doing some research on a paper that I was writing for one of my classes, when Kenny Parker walked in to the library. I had known Kenny for some time, and he had always been a good friend. I looked up from what I was writing, and saw him. I immediately stood up and spoke to him. I asked him what he was doing there, and he said “I came to see you”. He had called my home and my wife had told him where I was. We sat down, and he began to tell me how Buck had to go in the hospital and would not be able to travel for a couple of weeks. Then Kenny asked me if I could come and sing with him and Reba for those couple of week so Dotty could stay home with Buck and help him get ready to go back to work. I said something like “I would like to try it, but I have to check my class schedule and your date schedule to see if I can make it work”. I did just that, and I was able to make everything work out so I could make the dates and keep up with my classes also. I have to say here that it was such a pleasure working with two such professional singers and musicians as Reba Rambo, and Kenny Parker. We got on the bus and since I was such a big Rambo fan, I knew all of their songs, so we just rehearsed them on the bus on the way to the first date. We got up and sang them that evening and it went great. The people at that date seemed to understand the situation quite well and accepted that Dottie and Buck could not be there. We traveled quite a ways over night and the next evening we were going to sing in another town . The next night we would be in a town, at a high school gym, somewhere east of where we were. I can’t remember exactly the town, but I do remember what happened there. When we arrived, and the promoter heard that Dottie and Buck were not with us, there was quite a stir. I gathered the group and the promoters together and asked them to all have prayer together. We had prayer together and the promoter said ok, we will have the singing. I tried to assure him that everything would work out ok., and it did. The people were well pleased, and we were blessed to be able to fullfill the commitment that had been made.

From there we went to the big singing in Harrisburg, Pa. that the “Couriers” sponsored at the time. We got up and sang that night. It is a night that I will never forget. I sang one of Rusty Goodman’s songs , “Until You’ve Known The Love of God”. It was very well received there in Harrisburg at this huge arena. I believe the arena seated about 10,000 people, and it was full. This was a singing that the “Couriers” promoted every year.

By the way, I want to interject something here. “The Couriers”, in my opinion, were the reason that our kind of Gospel music was accepted in the Northeastern United States. They are wonderful men of God and their ministry in music and the Word, has been and still is superb. “Dave, Duane and Neil” are truly just the best. They are all ,greatly gifted and talented ,men of God. I admire and respect them so much. They are a blessing to all who know them. They treat the music and the ministry with such great respect. I want them to know that I am a huge fan.

Getting back to that night, I remember singing Rusty’s great song, and the crowd liking it a lot. “The Goodmans” were also on the concert that evening. I didn’t know at the time that Rusty would have J.D. Sumner listening to me sing. J.D. and “The Stamps” were on the same program, and Rusty, whom I had been friends with for several years, because of our time spent together in Evansville, Indiana earlier in life, brought J.D. to listen to me sing Rusty’s song. It didn’t hurt anything that I went up and hit an F# above high C in the song. I think that might have impressed J.D. a little, I am not sure, because he never said anything about it to me later. However, he seemed to like it when I did it with “The Stamps” I heard after the concert that Rusty had J.D. listen to me. A few months went by and the “Stamps” were in the process of changing tenors. I got a call from Kenny Parker, whom J.D. had asked to call me, and Kenny wanted to tell me that J.D. would like to try me out with “The Stamps. Kenny gave me J.D.’s phone number and I called J.D. I tried out with “The Stamps” and got the job. I will talk more about this later. This was in early 1971. I was still in school, and for the next few months, I finished my school work and traveled with the Stamps on the weekends. The rest of the story, of course, is that I traveled with “The Stamps” for 5and 1/2 years before going into full time ministry on my own.

My point being here in this article that, if Dottie, Buck, Reba and Kenny Parker had not had the faith in me that I could do the job helping them, then I would probably never had the opportunity to sing with “J.D. Sumner and The Stamps Quartet”. Also, if Rusty Goodman had not believed in me, he would never have told J.D. to listen to me. I don’t want to be remiss here, at that time Kenny Hicks was playing bass for “The Rambos” so he was also with us on the dates that I have written about. Dottie Rambo, Kenny Parker and Kenny Hicks, Rusty Goodman, and J.D. Sumner have all gone on to be with the Lord. I miss all of them. Thank you God for allowing me to know these wonderful people.

Remember Psalm 118:6 says, “The Lord is on my side”. He is on your side too.

May God richly bless each of you.