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This month's article is about the latest "living legend" of gospel music, as recognized recently in Knoxville, TN at the Grand Ol' Gospel Reunion.

Don Baldwin, ca.1958

Donald Edward Baldwin was born Nov. 30, 1931 in Hamilton, Ohio, and grew up in the very non-southern gospel city of Chicago, IL. Like many future gospel singers, his boyhood was spent in church for the most part, and he first was attracted to gospel music as a result of the choral music he heard there in his teens.

Don's appetite for gospel music was further whetted when he entered the service during the Korean War. Spending a lot of time in Las Vegas, where he was stationed, he was able to hear the Blackwood Brothers on the radio on his frequent trips back to Chicago. He thus fell in love with gospel quartet music, and was determined to do something with his love for it.

By 1954, Don had enrolled at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO, ostensibly to study for the ministry. At that time, gospel quartet music was all the rage among young Christians, and CBC was known for the number of gospel quartets that were formed there.

One quartet that caught Don's ear was the Couriers Quartet. That name had been used by several quartets at CBC in the years prior to Don attending there, and the latest such incarnation had begun in 1953, and by 1954 had disbanded.

Don really got the bug to form a quartet of his own after an appearance by the Blackwood Brothers (his favorite group) at the Shrine Mosque Auditorium in Springfield in 1954. The concert, which also featured the Statesmen, was such a success that in the ensuing days, all the talk on campus was about forming gospel quartets.

Don saw this as his chance to finally form his own quartet, so he invited tenor Lem Boyles from the previous Couriers Quartet, and a tall young incoming student from Pennsylvania who had never really sung in his life, but was eager and determined to learn. Thus Dave Kyllonen became the bass singer for the new Couriers Quartet.

This edition of the Couriers Quartet was a long way from the polished sound of the group in subsequent years, but primarily due to Don's enthusiasm and drive, they practiced and sang, and steadily improved.

By 1956, the Couriers Quartet had acquired the services of an outstanding young tenor from Iowa via Oklahoma, Duane Nicholson, and a first rate pianist from Memphis who had been in the Songfellows Quartet that had Jim Hamill and Cecil Blackwood in it at one time, a young man named Eddie Reece.

By 1957, the Couriers had a new young lead singer from Illinois named Neil Enloe, and the group began to sing in the area around Springfield on weekends. Don's energetic leadership and drive enabled the Couriers reputation as singers to grow progressively.

Then, in 1958, again led by Don's ambitious leadership, the Couriers Quartet opted to leave the confines of CBC and enter the world of full-time gospel quartet singing. Although there were those at CBC who warned the young men that they were taking a fairly large risk in doing so, the determined youngsters set out to make their mark in gospel music as a traveling quartet.

cover of Don's 1965 solo album,
"More About Jesus"...

The place the Couriers settled on was Harrisburg, PA, an ideal location in the Northeast United States. It was close enough to major markets like New York, Philadelphia, Don's native Chicago, and Detroit as well as strategically close to Canada (which would figure in Don's vision), and not too overly far from the more traditional Southern markets that quartets had traditionally thrived in.

Don felt that the Northeast was ripe for gospel quartet music, and the Couriers quickly developed a loyal fan base in the region, as well as being the first group to make regular appearances in Canada. The combination of the new style of music and the evangelical approach of the Couriers in concert made the group a major player on the gospel quartet scene within the next five years.

As the Couriers' popularity grew, so did their musical abilities. By 1962, they had become regulars at the National Quartet Convention, and they had proved that there was a market for southern-style gospel in the Northeast. As a result, they were able to book the top southern groups in the Northeast, and get major dates in the South in exchange as well.

The Couriers acquired quite a reputation because of the talents of Nicholson on tenor, and Enloe as lead, arranger, and songwriter. Don himself had learned how to use his robust baritone voice as quite a musical instrument, and with all that and Kyllonen's messages at their concerts, the Couriers were near the top echelon of the industry as a group, particularly after the addition of "Little" David Young on piano by 1963. And in 1964, the Couriers became one of the charter groups on the new syndicated TV show, "The Gospel Singing Jubilee", and were a part of the show's cast in its' first year.

The industry was noticing Don's innovative managerial and MC work as well, and when the GMA was organized in 1964, Don became one of its' first officers. Don was recognized at the time as one of the leading figures in the gospel quartet industry.

Then, in 1965, Don decided that life on the road had gone on long enough. He had other dreams that he was set on achieving, so in June of that year, he left the Couriers for the world of business.

To backtrack a bit, Don formed Hymntone Records in 1958 to distribute the Couriers' records, as they were a new group for the most part, and obviously could not get a record contract of their own at that time. Hymntone grew steadily as the Couriers' popularity grew, and by 1965, it was starting to become a business venture that demanded more of Don's attention.

In the meantime, Don began doing solo concerts in the Harrisburg area. Then, Roger Kling (a member of the 1953 Couriers Quartet) became ill while singing with a PA trio the Couriers owned and began in 1965, the Vicounts, and Don filled in with them until they could hire a replacement. As with the Couriers, Don was their MC on stage while he filled in with them.

While Don was singing with the Vicounts, the group had no pianist. Therefore, to compensate, Don took the piano portions from their records and made instrumental tracks on tape from them, and the Vicounts sang with those soundtracks backing them from the stage, arguably the first gospel group to make regular use of backing soundtracks on stage. Don had to explain to the audiences each night what was going on, so amazed were audiences at this "new" breakthrough technology.

When the Vicounts finally got a replacement, Don continued to make personal appearances as a soloist, continuing to use the backing soundtracks to accompany him. Don's use of soundtracks undoubtedly helped them to become acceptable means of reproducing instrumental backup onstage, along with the Couriers' own use of them in subsequent years. Don also continued to produce the recordings of the Couriers through 1967 or so for Hymntone.

Also in 1966, another of Don's visions was coming to pass. He commissioned construction on an office complex in Harrisburg which housed not only his own offices, but those of the Couriers, Vicounts, Christian Troubadours, the Keystone Quartet, and other artists, along with Hymntone Records. In the same facility was a state of the art recording studio, as well as a printing plant and a section devoted to making record jackets and cassettes, whose labels (as well as those for 8-track tapes…remember them?) were also made on the premises.

Don hired a young man named Nick Bruno to supervise the activities in the recording studio. Nick produced and played on recordings as well as doing the arrangements for them, and occasionally would wander across the hallway to Don's music store, where he would demonstrate the Yamaha pianos sold there to the delight of the potential customers.

Bruno stayed with Don until the early 1970s, when he moved South to join the Kingsmen. As you might guess, Don was becoming quite the mentor for young and aspiring professionals. Groups like the Christian Troubadors, the Keystone Quartet, and the Jacobs Brothers all benefitted from Don's considerable experience and counsel. Eventually, Bruno's old job was taken over by another talented youngster from New Jersey, Cliff Cerce, and to this day, Cerce considers Don one of his key mentors and influences.

Not only Hymntone artists benefitted from Don's studio, artists such as the Four Freshmen, Thurlow Spurr and the Spurrlows, the Cathedral Quartet, and the Goss Brothers also recorded frequently in Don's Harrisburg studios. From the moment Don settled in the Harrisburg area with the Couriers, one of his dreams was to make Harrisburg a recording center, especially for gospel musicians, and to a large extent, Don's dream came true.

Don also entered the clothing business for a while.  His "Pacesetters" company made suits for gospel groups. This business, as you might imagine, did quite well in the style-conscious days of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Along the way, Don's MC talents were always sought after, he was an MC at the National Quartet Convention during the mid 1970's.

But Don wasn't done yet with making his dreams come true. By 1986, he sold the recording studio equipment and furnishings to the Assemblies of God to help that denomination establish its' new media center in Springfield, MO. He then sold the Harrisburg facility up for sale and relocated to Florida, where perhaps he made his finest contribution to the Kingdom of God yet.

Don and Roy Pauley in 2006

Don in 2006

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