When writing these history articles for Southern Gospel News, I seldom address topical issues of the day. I generally feel my place is more to look at gospel music’s past in order to teach us lessons about today’s gospel music from it. However, since this question comes up every so often in discourse among gospel music fans, and even appears now and then in forums about the music, I thought it might be instructive and helpful to review the historical facts concerning the question, so as to do away with any myth or misunderstandings, and possibly shed some light on those present-day discussions regarding the question.

So, what is the question, John?

Well, to put it simply, why are gospel quartets (by definiton, groups of four) so often pictured with five or more members? Isn’t this a mistake?

And the answer is, no…not really. This article will attempt to explain that conclusion.

This latest renewal of the question, “Whither a quartet?” was brought about due to a recent “Late Night with David Letterman” show, in which the famous comedian did a bit on “Small Town Life”(or something similarly worded)in which he unveiled a concert advertisement for the Dove Brothers Quartet, where he looked at the five people in the picture and wondered aloud, “How does a quartet consist of five people?”

Such a notion was undoubtedly amusing to much of Letterman’s audience, but soon after the program aired, many gospel music observers (who you think would know better) started to seriously wonder aloud the very same question. I have seen people on gospel music message boards who are otherwise very aware of the gospel music business wonder the same thing, which makes me wonder, don’t they know that it’s been that way through much of gospel music’s history? Did they never see pictures of Hovie Lister and the Statesmen (a group always invoked to demonstrate the legitimacy of anyone’s arguments or credibility regarding gospel music)? There were always five men in those pictures.

Furthermore, a simple perusal of pictures of most any professional gospel quartet from the 1940s onward shows that the prevailing unit in each quartet is five men. How can this be, some might say, when we were all taught that a quartet consists of four members?

A simple review of gospel music history will answer that question.

In the 1920s, when the gospel music industry was just beginning, many quartets sang unaccompanied, consisting of merely the four singers. Those that did use instruments usually had one of the singers playing the instrument used, be it a guitar, or piano, or whatever.

Quartets that were fortunate enough to have radio programs were fortunate to be able on occasion to appropriate the station’s musical staff (yes, radio stations had such things back then), which meant that all sorts of musical accompaniment was possible for the resident gospel quartet.

In time, though, instruments like the guitar and piano became the most common, because they were able to go with the quartets to their personal appearances. But still, such instruments were played by one of the singers in the quartet.

This all was to change suddenly however, in 1927 … when the Frank Stamps All-Stars (formerly just the Stamps Quartet) noticed an extraordinarily talented young pianist playing at a drugstore in Haleyville, AL. Odis (Pop) Echols immediately notified Stamps of this youngster, whose name was Dwight Brock, because he was so impressed by Brock’s innovative piano playing that he wanted to make Brock an official member of the quartet.

Upon hearing Brock for himself, Stamps agreed to hire Brock as a member of the quartet, even though Stamps already had his four singers (who were all among the tops in the business at the time, hence the designation “All-Stars”).  Evidently it never occurred to Stamps to suddenly change the group’s designation to a “quintet”, since it still was the four singers and their harmony which was the main selling point of the group. Brock’s abilities as an accompanist, his innovative piano playing, and his ability to creatively arrange the group’s music made him much more, though, than merely an “added attraction”. He was, indeed, an integral part of the group.

Thus, the five-man unit quickly became the definitive standard for the gospel quartet. Because, to coin a phrase, when one of the Stamps (Frank or his brother V.O.) sneezed, the entire fledgling gospel music industry caught cold. Brock was followed by such individuals as Marion Snider, Lee Roy Abernathy, Joe Roper, and others who made the same sort of impact on their quartets as Brock did with the Stamps All-Stars. The five-man quartet unit, therefore, was here to stay.

Not all the quartets had “fifth men”, especially when they started. The Blackwood Brothers began as many quartets did, with then-bass singer Doyle Blackwood accompanying the group on guitar. They didn’t acquire a piano player until they joined the Stamps organization in 1937. V.O. Stamps determined that if the Blackwood Brothers were going to be a big-time quartet, they needed that “fifth man” … so he dispatched Roper to join them as pianist and arranger, the first of a number of great pianists that illustrious group would have.

Some pianists were so colorful and creative, they themselves became stars and formed their own quartets. The aforementioned Abernathy was among the first of those, quickly followed by Hovie Lister, who began as an accompanist, but by the late 1940s, got the opportunity to form a quartet of his own, and through his boundless creative energy and considerable ability, took his Statesmen Quartet to the top of the industry.

If Brock’s success made the “fifth man” an integral part of a gospel quartet, Lister’s success sealed the deal for good, for virtually every quartet originating after the Statesmen had the four singers plus a pianist, who also was often the group’s musical arranger. Of course, there were exceptions. The Swanee River Boys had a smooth, mellow, guitar based sound … but even their guitarists were often extra men added to the quartet as accompanists, making them a quartet plus one or two members, all of which continued the historical tradition that Brock inaugurated back in 1927.

The five-man quartet remained the basis for all gospel quartets into the 1960s. From time to time, usually for economic reasons, a quartet would revert to being a four man unit with one singer doubling on piano …  examples of this were the Blue Ridge Quartet of the 1950s, the Rebels Quartet in the 1950s and 1960s, the Couriers Quartet in the early 1960s, and the Cathedral Quartet in the 1960s…but even those groups hired a “fifth man” as a pianist as soon as they were able. It was understood that the five-man unit was the standard lineup for a gospel quartet.

As times and styles changed, so did the size of the groups. By the late 1960s, the trend in gospel music was to hire additional musicians to make a fuller sound to appeal to younger audiences, so groups such as the Oak Ridge Boys, the Stamps, the Kingsmen, and even the Blackwood Brothers and the Rebels hired full bands to back up their singers. And even groups such as the Inspirations hired additional musicians for backup as well, even though they eschewed the contemporary sounds that their competitors were using. But through all of this, the five-man unit of the four singers and pianist remained the defining characteristic of a gospel quartet.

And today, style continue to change, and new ideas are being tried and experimented with. But the Dove Brothers still exemplify the standard model of a gospel quartet…”four guys and a piano”. Will that change? Perhaps … perhaps not. But looking back through gospel music history, there can be no doubt that the five-man unit has been the prevailing, defining characteristic of the gospel quartet.

So yes, David Letterman (and anyone else) … five men DO make up a gospel quartet!

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