The Kingsmen – Live in Dayton (1990)
Over the course of the last 2 years, the Kingsmen encountered several changes within the group, and the final change occurred in September 1989 when they hired Parker Jonathan to sing baritone. Parker grew up singing with his family group, and prior to joining the Kingsmen, he sang a couple of years with the Canadian quartet, Royal City, who also just happened to record for Foxie’s label, Pinnacle Records. Parker was their emcee, and with that in mind, Foxie had the foresight of hiring Parker, knowing eventually Hamill would begin pulling back some. Parker’s audition for the Kingsmen was a unique experience in that he didn’t even know it was an actual audition. The Kingsmen were singing on a program with Royal City, and they asked Parker to join them on a song during the second half…and the rest is history!
“Live in Dayton” was recorded on Friday, April 20, 1990, at the famed Dayton Memorial Hall in Dayton, Ohio, where the Kingsmen sang to an excited, standing room only crowd, even having people sitting up on the stage. Produced by Eldridge Fox, Jim Hamill, and Anthony Burger (Anthony’s first recording being credited as Producer), the Kingsmen band provided all the music, along with Chris Payne, who was credited with playing Rhythm and Lead Guitars. The Kingsmen opted not to record a live video on this night, but they eventually did record a live video a few months later in June 1990, called, “Live in Orlando”, which featured most of the songs from this recording, along with a few others.
After a classy introduction by the legendary Larry Orrell, the Kingsmen dive right into the bouncy, jazz infused “Go and Tell Somebody”, which features both Ray and Garry. Written by Jeff Gibson, the song was the second single from the recording, and it went all the way to #1 for December 1991 and January 1992. Jeff Gibson was an outstanding songwriter, and he sang with the popular group HeavenBound, out of Kinston, North Carolina. Both groups had forged a deep friendship over the preceding years, and Jeff had a couple of cuts by the Kingsmen during the 80’s. Funny story about the song…Jeff pitched the song to Jim Hamill on the bus before a concert one evening. He had handwritten a chart for Anthony to play on a little Casio keyboard there on the bus, and they made a tape recording of it right there on the spot, with Hamill there listening. Hamill acted like he wasn’t sold on the song but told Jeff he’d think about it and see if the group can work up an arrangement. Jeff felt strongly about this particular song and knew the Kingsmen would have a hit with it, and he would question Hamill about it every time he saw him. Hamill, being the prankster that he was, kept stringing Jeff along and kept telling him that he really didn’t like the song and even told the other members of the Kingsmen that if Jeff came to them asking about the song, tell him it wasn’t a good song. It came to a head in March (a month prior to the recording of this live album) in Mount Sterling, Ohio when Hamill told Jeff to sit backstage and hear some of the “great” songs they had planned to record. The Kingsmen sang right after HeavenBound, and they started their stand with “Go and Tell Somebody”, and Jeff was overcome with emotion and just started bawling his eyes out. The Kingsmen, who were obviously amused at the joke they just played, just turned and looked at Jeff as they sang his song, and Hamill had the biggest grin on his face, as he was immensely proud of himself for pulling one over on Jeff. The song was a hugely popular concert favorite for the Kingsmen, and I personally, would have loved to have heard HeavenBound’s interpretation of this song!
Without missing a beat, the Kingsmen tear into “Real Good, Feel Good Song”, which features Tim, who does a tremendous job enthusiastically delivering the goods. Just like their earlier hit song, “Stand Up”, this was a country hit for Mel McDaniel in 1988, and once again, Garry Sheppard re-wrote the lyrics to fit the Kingsmen’s gospel messaging. This was the first single from the recording, peaking at #6 for April and May 1991, and it was an exciting concert tune for the Kingsmen.
Garry Sheppard once again steps into the spotlight as he does a fabulous job on the Bruce Haynes penned, “In the Name of Jesus”, which remains one of my all-time favorite Sheppard features. The Kingsmen have always been known for their power singing, and this song proves they can also deliver a powerful lyric very delicately. These are the types of songs that Garry truly excelled at, and it’s the triumph of the recording, before the tempo gets ramped back up for the exciting, “When He Comes”, which was written by Squire Parsons. This song just exudes that “Kangsmen” excitement featuring both the high and low, as Ray tackles the second verse before Garry ramps it up on the final choruses. As Hamill creates more excitement by getting the crowd pumped up, the Kingsmen tackles an encore, much to the delight of the crowd. This was such a great song recalling the days of such exciting Kingsmen classics as “Beautiful Home” and “Saints will Rise”.
After 4 songs in a row, Hamill finally stops for a few minutes to introduce the newest member of the Kingsmen, Parker Jonathan. As with every new person that comes through the ranks of the Kingsmen, Hamill makes a spectacle out of them, and just relentlessly picks on Parker, and it’s a fun few minutes of hilarity before Parker steps up to sing the powerful anthem, “The Name That Set Me Free”. Parker brought this song to the Kingsmen from his time with Royal City, and it was a song that was very special to him that was written by Royal City’s piano player, Rick Ashe. It seems that with this song, Parker set the precedence for singing power ballads, and most of his prominent features going forward would be those slower power tunes, as he could deliver them with such finesse, power, and emotion.
After Hamill takes a few minutes to introduce everyone else in the Kingsmen, the Kingsmen band turn in a masterful performance on the classic hymn, “Just Over in the Gloryland”. Featuring each man on their respective instruments, it’s a fun and exciting highlight of the recording, further emphasizing the exceptional prowess of the Kingsmen band. In fact, during the 1990 Singing News Fan Awards, they walked away once again with the “Favorite Band” award!
Next, Hamill calls Tim center stage to sing, “Raise Your Hand”, which was a song Hamill was quite fond of. The song was a perfect fit for the Kingsmen and Tim does a spectacular job on it. Written by a gentleman named John Reinhardt (who was actually pianist for Gold City prior to Garry Jones joining them in late 1981), the song eventually became a huge hit song later in 1990 and into 1991 for John’s family group, the Reinhardts.
Though not planned for the live album, Hamill calls Garry to step up and sing “The Judgement”, and Garry, very authoritatively, delivers each verse and gives one of his most powerful performances ever on the song, before the rest of the Kingsmen join him on the chorus. As the atmosphere begins to transform into a more worshipful tenor, they sing the chorus acapella before Hamill has the guys step away from the mics to continue singing the chorus acapella. At this point, church starts to break out with the audience, and it’s one of the most powerfully emotive performances ever recorded. As a finale, the band kicks back in on the final line, as each man gives it all they’ve got as they sing…”thou art worthy, thou art worthy, the Lamb be praised…the Lamb be praised!”, and as Garry goes up for that last high note, it’s pandemonium and the atmosphere is so thick, you can cut through it with a knife!
In all the excitement, Hamill thought the Kingsmen were done with their stand, but he momentarily forgot about he and Foxie’s song for the recording, “My Friends”, which was a very special song for both gentlemen. Hamill wanted to find a song specifically for he and Foxie to sing as a tribute to the many fans and friends of the Kingsmen. Written by Elmer Cole, this song was originally recorded back in 1975 by Willie Wynn & the Tennesseans. Featuring both Foxie and Hamill, you can hear the emotion in their voices, especially with Hamill, in their performance of the song, which really seemed to bring the recording to an appropriate and sentimental close.
One thing I noticed with this live recording was how Hamill really started scaling back his singing and utilizing Tim Surrett more on the front lines. I realize at this point, the Kingsmen were looking ahead and ensuring longevity and vitality, and it was certainly a concentrated effort to maintain the excitement and energy of the Kingsmen, while also guaranteeing there would be a Kingsmen for another 20-30 years or more. While not every group could pull it off in the way the Kingsmen did, Hamill and the Kingsmen made it work…and they made it work extremely well!
In addition to recording this live album, on the following night, they recorded another live album called, “Indiana Live” with Gold City, HeavenBound and Gerald Wolfe in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was a wonderful live recording with each group singing 3 songs each, and Gerald Wolfe singing 1 song. I have to admit though, the Kingsmen’s portion on this live recording is my favorite part, as the Kingsmen do a phenomenal job singing, “I’m On My Way”, “No Man Can Stop This Army” and to top it off, they belt out a verse and a couple choruses of my all-time favorite Kingsmen song, “I’m Standing on the Solid Rock”. All 3 songs are pure ear candy to me and when all the groups came together for the finale of “I’ll Fly Away” and “Where the Soul Never Dies”…it’s about as close to quartet heaven one can get! This was the start of something magical, as the Kingsmen and Gold City began doing concerts together billed as “KingsGold”, which became hugely popular throughout the 90’s. Both groups worked extremely well together as the Kingsmen brought their 3 chords and a cloud of dust type delivery, coupled with Gold City’s more polished blend, it harkened the days of the glory years of the Statesmen and Blackwood Brothers team. The team recorded four “KingsGold” live albums together during the 90’s, all filled with a lot of fun and exciting singing, led by the maestro, Jim Hamill!
“Live in Dayton” was another exciting live album in a continuing string of successful live recordings by the Kingsmen. Once again, the auditorium was filled with excited Kingsmen fans, eager to hear what the Kingsmen were going to do that night. In fact, sitting in the audience that night was a certain young fan named Bryan Hutson, who would eventually join the Kingsmen as their lead singer in 1996. Bryan recalls that night fondly as the air was electric when the Kingsmen hit the stage. While “Live in Dayton” is an exciting and electrifying live performance by the Kingsmen, live recordings were sadly becoming a dying breed. Times were changing, and so was Southern Gospel Music, and live recordings didn’t quite have the same mystique and allure as they once did in the 70’s and 80’s, which I consider the golden age of live albums. Nonetheless, the Kingsmen were still the kings of live albums, as they could still crank them out better than anyone else!
Please check out my music page on Facebook for more content related to Southern Gospel Music including more discography reviews on other groups, we well as other thoughts and discussions related to Southern Gospel Music. Please like and follow my page at https://www.facebook.com/James-Music-Page-102612571620560.
