Tuesday morning dawned in Louisville and as the sun rose, so did I, ready to meet the day.  Paging through the program book to the schedule page, I checked the time again on the showcase.  10:30-11:30 AM.  Chapel – Mark Trammell Qt. East Hall A-B.  It was going to be a good morning…

With a front row seat, I listened to the emcee talk about Mark’s stint with the Cathedrals.  “I fell in love with their baritone singer,” he said, “And he is here with us today…the Mark Trammell Quartet!”  As MTQ strolled on stage they encouraged the crowd to clap along to their first song, Leave Your Sorrows.  “How many enjoyed Dr. Goff this morning?” asked Mark.  (There was a Bible Study with Jerry Goff earlier.)  How Long Has It Been (a perfect ballad for the Chapel service) and Ransomed and Redeemed followed.  “What a joy it is to be at the National Quartet Convention, how many of you are already having fun?” Mark asked, taking his glasses off.  “Ya’ll were a blur…does anyone here have progressive tri-focals?”  A few raised their hands and Mark went on, “Don’t you hate them?”  The laugh from the crowd was a knowing one.  Handing his glasses to Nick he said, “Put those back there but don’t let me forget them, I’m prone to do that…anyone else know about forgetting things?”  The crowd applauded.  He introduced the quartet then, spending extra time with their newest member, Dustin Black.  “This is a request we had last night for this morning, I hope you’re here, it’s one of my favorite songs.” Said Mark.  That song was none other than Wedding Music and when Pat finished singing his verse the crowd applauded.  Afterwards, everyone began clapping along for Nick’s solo, Testimony.  “Thank you so much,” Mark said, going on to talk about the lyrics of that song, he said, “I love that song – turn every test in your life to a testimony of God’s faithfulness in this thing called life.”  Going on to introduce his solo, Mark went on, “God knows how much mercy we’ll need in our life.”  God Knows How Much Mercy I Need and Wonderful Time Up There followed.  “Boy! That will get you woke up!” Mark exclaimed.  Then took a moment to talk about their “Lifetime” project.  “This song is also on there,” he said, “When I was 13 years old I had been with my first quartet for two weeks.  I did not know the blessings of God there were ahead of me.  God has allowed me to be a part of Gospel Music for almost 40 years.”  Then introduced their current single, Too Much To Gain To Lose.  It may have been early, but the folks were on their feet without hesitation!  “Praise the Lord,” Mark murmured quietly.  After they sang the Sweetest Song I Know, he shared, “The first time I heard that song was by a group called the Happy Goodman Family – I was ten years old.”  Then Mark introduced a song that’s in his “top five,” one that George Younce sang, but now it features their bass singer Pat – I Thirst.  “I hate to ask you to do this,” Mark said to Pat afterwards, “But we have to do this song and it features you.”  Then he went on to tell of the phone call he received at the end of 2012, informing him that their song I Want To Know, collected the most “points” throughout the year.  Mark mentioned that it thrilled him that “old things still have great value.”  Pat’s excitement came from something else, “It thrills me ‘cause it took a bass singer to get a #1.”  Mark just shook his head as they began singing I Want To Know.  Standing ovation!  “Have you enjoyed them?” Mark asked the crowd.  The quartet stepped off stage while the emcee explained how they would handle checking tickets for the next showcase…but not before Mark slipped back on stage to get his glasses.  🙂