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“Believers Quartet joins Southern Gospel Explosion”- By Eddie Litaker- Item Staff Writer- Sunday, October 12, 2003, Sunday Panorama- page 1B- ¶ Members of the Sumter-based Southern Gospel group The Believers Quartet can say their group was literally born on the 4th of July during a chance musical grouping four years ago at Sumter’s Crosswell Baptist Church. ¶ “We got together and the first time we sang was the 4th of July, 1999, at Crosswell,” quartet member Larry Reynolds said. “They asked us to do a song - first time we’d ever sung together - and we put together a song and did it for the morning service on the 4th of July. Then we said, ‘Let’s try a few more songs,’ and we started putting together some songs, and four and a half years later, here we are.” ¶ Reynolds, a baritone, is joined in The Believers Quartet by bass singer Kenny Brice and brothers Mike Ardis, the group’s lead singer, and Stan Ardis, who sings what Reynolds jokingly called “the girl’s part,” first tenor. The four also share lead parts on different songs. ¶ Reynolds had been singing with another local group for about 10 years when the quartet came together, but he decided it would probably be best to stick with The Believers since he is “Uncle Larry” to Mike and Stan Ardis. ¶ “The three of us sang in a group together back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but that (group) disbanded because Mike moved away and we lost a piano player, so we kind of stopped for a while, and I started singing with another group,” Reynolds said. “When these guys came along, I was singing with two groups and it got to be too much. I decided to get committed to one or the other, and since we had family involved (he chuckled) ... no, I like this group a whole lot better, what they were doing and where they were going, so I decided I’d devote all of my time to these guys.” ¶ Stan Ardis said, “that the group is truly an example of the sum being greater than all of the parts.” ¶ “We really enjoy what we do, and it’s a situation of where we don’t do it just because of any big talent,” he said. “Each of us, individually, are not that great voice-wise, but together we really blend (well), and it makes a difference.” ¶ Reynolds said that none of the group members have any formal training in music and none play any instruments. Brice is “starting to learn a little piano,” but Reynolds said he “can’t read a note,” although the group can sight read music. ¶ Brice has the most musical background of any of the group’s members because “my sister-in-law was music director at Eastside (Baptist Church) for years and years, and that’s where I started ... singing bass in the choir.” ¶ Brice also is the “captain of the bus,” a 1985 Silver Eagle entertainer coach that he purchased and has converted to a tour bus for the group, with some help from his quartet mates. ¶ “I guess it’s a dream of every group to someday have a bus that they go out and travel on,” he said. “We’ve always dreamed about it, and we found this bus at Second Baptist Church out of Belton. It was traded in and it was an Eagle, which wad exactly what we were looking for because of the (smooth) ride.” ¶ Once the bus was purchased, Brice and the group went to work converting it to meet their needs. ¶ “We got the bus on April 18th of this year,” he said. “That was a Friday, I think, and when I got it back here to the shop, before 9 o’clock that night all the seats were gone. It was a 46-passenger bus, and that’s how anxious we were to work on the bus. The next day, we took all of the overhead compartments out, and then we started drawing on the floor, seeing how we wanted to lay the bus out.” ¶ Brice said the group took the top off the bus and raised it eight inches, which gave them an additional five inches of ceiling space and six inches of insulation. ¶ “I’m an electrician by trade, and I’ve wired it,” he said. “Mike and Stan and Larry have done carpenter work, and it’s a group effort. Not one person had done it, and what has amazed me is through this five-month period I don’t believe that there’s been a cross word about anything that’s been going on in this bus.” ¶ “It’s been an experience,” Reynolds said. “Mike and Stan’s dad has been a carpenter all of his life and he helped out a lot, giving us some guidance and giving us some little tricks of the trade.” ¶ The group also received assistance on the bus conversion from Brice’s two brothers, who helped with the welding during the roof raising, and Cameron Hodge built the cabinets while Reynolds served as “the stainer.” ¶ “I’ve learned a lot doing it, but the big thing, like Kenny said, was we got through it with no hard feelings from anybody,” Reynolds said. “I guess it’s because we love each other and it’s a group project, so it’s worked out real good.” ¶ Reynolds said the group’s longest trip, to Ohio on Memorial Day weekend, came before they purchased the bus, and came about “accidentally.” ¶ “We have a Web site, and there’s another group (based out of Mississippi) called The Believers Quartet,” Reynolds said. “A church in Ohio had them booked to come sing. The preacher went on the Internet and was trying to contact the group and got our Web site. Kenny got an e-mail and the guy said, ‘Hey, we’re looking forward to seeing you,’ and Kenny e-mailed him back and said, ‘You’ve got the wrong group. We’re not scheduled to come.’” ¶ Reynolds said the Web site had portions of some of the group’s songs on the site, and the pastor said, “I like what I’m hearing. Can y’all come?” After the church agreed to assist in travel expenses, the group hit the road. ¶ Other road trips have taken the group to Alabama, Atlanta, and a special revival just outside of Atlanta, in Hiram, that came about because of a connection from their trip to Ohio. Reynolds said the high-light of that trip was having the group listed on a marquee with such well known groups as The Gold City Quartet, the Galloways and Ivan Parker. ¶ “We felt like we were in high cotton on the billboard with three of the professional groups,” Reynolds said. “We got a picture of that!” ¶ The group has also been to Myrtle Beach a number of times as well as other local performing stops in Manning, Bishopville and Sumter, including a special program every third Saturday of each month at Eastside Baptist. Brice said this program has been going on since January of this year, with The Believers Quartet performing and sharing the stage with other local groups. ¶ While the group has been pleased with the success of the monthly Eastside programs, Reynolds said, “There are a bunch of churches in Sumter that we haven’t sung at, and we’d love the opportunity to sing at more of the local churches but we’ll go wherever...” ¶ “Wherever the Lord opens the door, that’s where we’re going,” Brice said, completing Reynold’s sentence with him. ¶ The Believers Quartet, which was known as The Glory Road Quartet for six months until discovering a group in Little River that has been using that name for many years, has released two tapes, “The Believers Quartet,” done at Frank Fickling’s studio in Sumter, and “Getting Carried Away with The Believers,” done with Vance Sharpe out of Blythewood. A third project is in the works, using GAT3 Productions, a studio located in Charlotte. ON THE NET The Believers Quartet www.believersquartet.com [3] |
1951 - 2003 (52 years)
