Crisp, cold air blew in my face as I emerged from the elevator into the cool morning breeze.  It was Tuesday morning, and we were up early and ready for the second session of the Great Smokies Praisefest!  While driving down the street toward New Hope, I couldn’t help but notice the majestic Smoky Mountains in my rear view mirror.  (You don’t find that kind of view on your way to a Gospel Sing very often!)  Just as my mind settled on how blessed we were to be there, we came upon the traffic directors at New Hope who, well, sounded a little grumpy about being out in the cold so early!  LOL  Can’t say I blamed them…

Geraldine and Ricky were the first act on stage that morning.  Kicking off the day with a good laugh or two never hurt anyone!  That was my first time to see these two, so I was excited because I’ve heard such good things!  The gentleman sitting beside me from South Carolina told me about the time that they saw Geraldine and Ricky at one of their children’s church.  Geraldine carried Ricky out on stage and settled into a chair.  The chair facing them sat empty for a moment, and then Ricky exclaimed, “Here comes another dummy!” as Dennis Swanburg was requested to join them  on stage.  The program continued with Geraldine talking to Dennis, and Ricky adding comments and stories here and there.  One that I found quite cute was when Ricky was “telling” the story of how in 2rd grade he had to write a sentence with the word “fascinate” in it.  His sentence went like this, “Geraldine bought a new jacket and it had ten buttons on it, but she could not ‘fasten eight’.”  LOL!!!

As Greater Vision came on stage, Gerald announced, “Well, the program says it is time for us to sing.”  They opened with I Could Never Praise Him Enough and the Redeemed Medley.  “I see several of you haven’t finished sleeping yet,” Gerald teased, “and that’s okay, go ahead and doze off, I won’t embarrass you…but I will point you out if I see you!”  LOL  Switching to a serious topic, he thanked us for listening to the lyrics of the songs that they sing and beckoned us to pay close attention to their next song also, No Longer Chained.  “Great song,” Gerald said as Stan Whitmire played the intro to When They Ring The Bells of Heaven.  Energized by the quick beat of the tune, the audience clapped along.  This show of being “awake” pleased Mr. Wolfe greatly.  “Yeah!” Gerald shouted, “That’s the kind of songs we sang in the church I grew up in!”  Then he told the story of how they came to sing this next song.  It all began with Tony Greene requesting a song they had never done before on Chris Allman’s first night back with GV.  Gerald giggled as he recalled how Tony reminded him that he (Tony) had GV’s check in his pocket and how that “lead” Gerald to sing the requested song.  “And we sang Hallelu-er-Squire,” explained Gerald.  That morning, Chris sang it for us – Hallelujah Square.

“The group I get to introduce to you – we’ve had them at Praisefeest since we were out in the field,” Gerald explained, “it would not be the Great Smokies Praisefest if we didn’t have the Kingdom Heirs!”  This quartet kicked off their set with I’m Not Worried ‘Bout Forever and Anchored In The Rock Of Ages.  Half way through that last one, Arthor Rice asked the crowd, “If you are anchored in that Rock this morning, let me hear you say amen!”  Well, the response was very quiet.  As Gerald mentioned during their set…some of us were still asleep!  LOL  Anyway, they encored that number and then Steve shared how special Praisefest is to them and that their year wouldn’t be complete without singing here.  “We get to sing the greatest music in the world,” said Steve, “and that’s Southern Gospel Music.”  As they were singing Heaven Is My Home, I couldn’t help but notice Gus (Legacy Five’s tenor) and Chris (Greater Vision’s tenor) peeking around the corner on the right side of the curtain, backstage, watching the Kingdom Heirs sing.  J  When Heaven’s Gates Swing Open Wide came back to back.  This one featured their tenor, Jerry, and Steve tried to get the audience to clap along by saying, “Ah!  Everybody in the house!” – but, few followed his example.  Afterwards, Steve announced that they had a lot of requests for their pianist, Andy, to sing.  So Steve sat out on the next number and let Andy sing his part as they turned to page 70 in the “red hymnal” and sang Well Done My Child.  “Do you like that?” Steve asked before they went into He Locked The Gates.  This one was encored and Arthur asked us to clap along with him and help ‘em out.  After the number, Steve shared, “That’s a great Rodney Griffin song.”  Jerry was featured next on a ballad that he sang with the Kingsmen – Look For Me At Jesus Feet.  Once again, Steve slipped backstage while Andy sang his part.  The ballad began with just the piano, but about half way through the track kicked in.  (I thought it sounded a little strange to do it like that – sure didn’t blend very well.)  We Will Stand Our Ground ended their set and they received a standing ovation.

After intermission, Gerald came out and introduced the next group, “Hey!  Welcome our buddies, Legacy Five!”  Just then, Legacy Five came skipping out on stage to reach their mics in time for their first song, New Born Feeling.  “Hey!  Say hi to our tenor, Gus Gauches,” Scott introduced as Gus came to sing his solo, For What Earthly Reason.  “How many are so thankful for the gift of salvation this morning?” Gus asked before the second verse.  As the last few notes of the track faded, Scott and Gus shook hands.  Fowler took a moment and told about the first time he heard Danny sing that song.  He was either 14 or 15 years old when he saw the Cathedrals at the Meramec Caverns with the Talley’s and Lesters – Danny sang that song and in Scott’s words, “I’m just telling you man, it was just beautiful!!!”  He paused for a moment, and then asked, “Is anybody else cold?……Hey Gerald!  Can you afford to get some heat in this building?”  (Fowler directed those comments to a place behind the curtain.)  Then he asked the guys to huddle together and keep him warm – so, Gus and Howie proceeded to squish Fowler in between them!  LOL  The song they sang was Life Will Be Sweeter Someday, and they did it with just their vocals and the piano.  According to Trey Ivey, “That’s the way God intended it to be!”  LOL  The last song they did featured Matt – it was called, Somebody Sing.  I think the crowd “woke up” on this one, cause they were clapping along with every measure!

Well, if you’re familiar with GV’s Praisefest events, you’ll know that Gerald likes to surprise his attendee’s with a special guest, and that is exactly what he did!  So beginning with a mysterious introduction, he said, “You are about to hear what I think is the greatest female vocalist in Gospel Music…and her name is TaRanda Greene.”  Seconds later, TaRanda walked out on stage and sang a medium tempo song called The Cross.  Well, if you doubted the meaning of how Gerald introduced her, all uncertainties vanished when she began singing the Hallelujah Chorus!  Immediately, the crowd stood to their feet – not only in tradition for the classic, but for TaRanda’s outstanding performance as well.  Proud that his audience was pleased, Gerald trodded across the stage and thanked TaRanda for agreeing to be at Praisefest.  “Too bad you’re so rusty this early in the morning,” he teased – the audience laughed, cause if you could’ve heard her, she was anything but rusty!  Continuing, he mentioned to TaRanda that even though he didn’t know what she wanted to sing next, he knew what he wanted her to do.  So, TaRanda teased him back by saying, “Well, it’s your show…it’s all about you.”  In mock horror, Gerald replied, “No!  No!  No!”  Then they both laughed it off and Gerald introduced the ballad he would have her sing – I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked.  It may have been early and the audience half asleep, but it wasn’t too early to give another standing ovation!  TaRanda left the stage and Gerald shared with the audience what TaRanda has been up to with her solo work.  He was about half way through with what he was saying when TaRanda walked back out on stage – she just had to tell Gerald one more time how much it meant to her that he would invite her that morning to sing.  This time, before she left the stage, she gave him a big hug.

Dennis Swanburg was up on stage next, and I don’t know about you, but sometimes it’s hard to capture a comedian with pen and paper, so I’ll just say this – Dennis read a poem (which contained both serious and humorous qualities) and Stan Whitmire provided some background music.

Conclusion – I mentioned in my first post that Gerald said Praisefest has a family-like atmosphere, and Tuesday morning, I felt it again.  Families like to reminisce about days gone by and Gerald did that Tuesday morning when he brought up how Praisefest began in a field a few miles down the road.  When he said that, the couple sitting next to me from South Carolina (Jean and Don) became really excited because just the night before, when we met, they were telling me about that very same thing!  They had attended Praisefest when it was out in the field and shared some of those memories with me.  As for the concert itself, I will never forget the moment when Scott Fowler shared how he heard For What Earthly Reason for the first time (I don’t know, maybe it was because we were just at Meramec Caverns with the Lesters, but that really stood out to me!)  I could just picture the Cathedrals singing in that cave!  Geraldine and Ricky were so much fun!  She is a natural with that puppet!  And our surprise guest, TaRanda Greene, was amazing – I love watching her sing!  Tell you what; Greater Vision knows how to put on a great event!