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THE
GOSPEL MUSIC OF RAY WALKER
About six years before I
discovered the most moving and thrilling (to me) of the great gospel
lead singers, James Blackwood —I discovered the voice and style of
my musical idol in bass singing, Ray Walker of The Jordanaires. The
masterful smoothness of Ray's style, his tone and his ability to
caress lyrics as the ultimate harmony bass singer (in addition to bass
soloist) put Ray in the category of "world's finest" when it
comes to vocalists and quartet men.
I was hooked on gospel music when I heard that famous Ray Walker vocal
line in Elvis' "In My Father's House": the line Ray sings
that goes, "Do not shun the Saviour's love from up in glory, or
you won't be there to sing the Gospel story..." I'm one of the
guys who may know the words and music to every Elvis-Jordanaires movie
soundtrack song — from "Look Out Broadway" to "Who
Needs Money" — because, in large part, of my repeated listens
to the sound of The Jordanaires with Ray Walker.
I'd always hoped to have the opportunity to meet the great bass man,
Ray Walker, in person and to thank him for all he'd meant to music and
my life. I barely missed him at a Mesquite, Texas church where he
visited in the 1980s. Try as I might, I could never quite catch up
with my bass-singing idol until December 1999 when The Light Crust
Doughboys and James Blackwood first had the opportunity to record with
The Jordanaires. And what a joy to learn that my musical idol was as
genuine in person as he appeared on record and on stage/screen. Since
our first meeting, Ray Walker and The Jordanaires have greatly
contributed to our four Grammy-Nominated gospel albums: THE GREAT
GOSPEL HIT PARADE with James Blackwood, GOD IS LOVE with Ann-Margret
and ALWAYS HEAR THE HARMONY with Engelbert Humperdinck, in addition to
our Grammy-Winning album with Larry Ford and The Light Crust
Doughboys, WE CALLED HIM MR. GOSPEL MUSIC: THE JAMES BLACKWOOD TRIBUTE
ALBUM. My prayer is, in the words of the famous poem, that we all have
"miles to go before we sleep" with regard to many more
gospel albums together... And before "night cometh..."
Ray's dad, R.C., was an evangelist, and when Ray was a child, the
Walker family moved every two to four years throughout the southern
states of Mississippi, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama,
Arkansas, and Florida. Ray has sung in quartets beginning with his
third grade years. In 1952, Ray became bass singer in his college's
quartet. Pat Boone was also a member of this particular college group.
Four years before the famous Sun Records "Million Dollar
Quartet", it's easy to see the makings of a "million dollar
quartet" here in 1952 with Ray Walker and Pat Boone on hand!
After a stint building a radio station and working with local churches
and becoming the youngest school principal in Tennessee's history, Ray
graduated college in 1957 with a BA degree in Speech, Music, Bible and
Education.
In the
not-too-distant future would come to Ray Walker a phone call from
Gordon Stoker which was about to change forever the world of recorded
music and perhaps make the bass vocals of Ray Walker the most recorded
and award-winning in history.
Stay tuned for PART 2 of THE GOSPEL MUSIC OF RAY WALKER in a future
issue of USGN.
Art Greenhaw
Musician-producer-member, The Light Crust Doughboys; www.thelightcrustdoughboys.com
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