Southern Gospel Music Association - SGMA

09/03/2026

GCMA Concerts

🎵JOIN US FOR A WONDERFUL DAY OF MUSIC 🎵
In the beautiful Pigeon Forge, TN.
And the best part is, it’s the perfect time of year to visit the Great Smoky Mountains ~
🍁leaves are changing 🍁
🌤️Weather is cooler 🌤️
👫🏻Crowds are fewer 👫
🛍️Plenty of shopping for the holiday season 🛍️
🕑Early 2:00pm show to have plenty of time for fun🕑

💰 ALL PROCEEDS GO TO Southern Gospel Music Association - SGMA to help preserve & protect this beautiful genre of music 💰

And what could make that better????
🎶 Some wonderful Southern Gospel Music 🎶 with these amazing artist!
Heart 2 Heart
Sound Street
Ivan Parker
With EMCEE- Arthur Rice

So, join us OCTOBER 24th at Biblical Times Theater 2pm for this special concert. MARK YOUR CALENDARS & go to WWW.GCMACONCERTS.COM or call 1-844-900-GCMA(4262) to get your tickets 🎟️

09/02/2026

We honor the lives of two of our SGMA Hall of Fame inductees who share the same birthday today. Both were posthumously inducted in the original class of 1997:

(1) Charles F. “Rusty” Goodman was born in 1933 in Cullman, Alabama. For 41 years, "Rusty" Goodman wrote and performed songs that touched the lives of millions.

Rusty began singing with his family at age 16 before serving in the United States Army Signal Corps during the Korean War. Upon his return, he worked with country-gospel singer Martha Carson and then served for several years as bass singer for the Plainsmen Quartet.

By the early 1960s, Rusty had returned to sing again as a member of the Happy Goodman Family and, alongside his brothers Howard and Sam and Howard’s wife, Vestal, rose to the top of the gospel music industry. Many of the group’s best-known hits were Rusty Goodman compositions, including “Had It Not Been,” “Who Am I,” and “I’ve Got Leavin’ On My Mind”. He passed away on November 11, 1990;

(2) John Tyra Daniel was born in 1906. As a boy, John Daniel absorbed the rich singing tradition of the Sand Mountain region of north-central Alabama.

By the early 1920s, he and his brothers and sisters had formed a family group, performing locally as the Daniel Family Quartet. In the mid-1930s, John and his brother, Troy, reorganized the quartet into an all-male group and determined to make a living singing gospel music.

Over the next decade, the John Daniel Quartet represented all three of the major shape-note publishing companies in the South-A. J. Showalter, James D. Vaughan, and Stamps-Baxter. John’s leadership ability, however, led the group away from a formal connection with the powerful publishing companies, securing a spot on the prestigious Grand Ole Opry where the group’s music was beamed to a massive audience over WSM’s powerful 50,000-watt clear channel station. As a result, the quartet became one of the most popular Southern Gospel groups of the 1940's and 1950's. He passed away on October 3, 1961.

08/30/2026

James Lewis "Big Lew" Garrison was born on this day in 1933 in Carter County, Tennessee. “Big Lew,” as he was affectionately known, sang tenor with The Prophets Quartet from 1959 to 1971. He was known for his powerful falsetto voice, and how he closed each program with “Just A Rose Will Do.” He retired in 1971 to his hometown of Elizabethton, Tennessee. He suffered a stroke on August 28, 1994, and passed away one day after his 61st birthday on August 31, 1994. He was inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame in 2015.

See his induction video at this link

James Lewis "Big Lew" Garrison was inducted into the Southern Gospe...

08/29/2026

Two of our SGMA Hall of Fame inductees share the same birthday today. They represent the spectrum of a Southern Gospel quartet: one was a legendary tenor, and the other is a "living legend" bass:

(1) Roland Dwayne “Rosie” Rozell was born August 29, 1928 in Hardy, Oklahoma, Rosie Rozell became one of the premier tenors in the Southern Gospel Music industry.

After a brief tenure with the Tulsa Trumpeteers in the mid-1950's, he was hired by the Statesmen Quartet in 1958. He quickly emerged as a unique stylist, thrilling audiences with unforgettable performances on song like “Hide Thou Me,” “Leave It There,” and “Oh What a Savior.” Over the next decade and a half, he anchored the tenor position and helped keep the quartet at the top of the Southern Gospel Music profession.

In January 1970, Rosie left the Statesmen to form a successful family group–Rosie Rozell and the Searchers. Over the next two decades, he remained one of the most popular personalities in the gospel music industry and, despite poor health, continued to perform with amazing quality and consistency.

He returned briefly to the Statesmen in the mid-1970s and then sang as one of the founding members of the legendary Masters V in the early 1980's. He passed away on February 28, 1995 and was posthumously inducted in 1999;

(2) Tim Riley. Gadsden, Alabama, gave Southern Gospel one of its most distinctive bass singers and a man whose leadership produced one of the premier quartets within the Southern Gospel Music family. Born August 29, 1945, Tim Riley grew up in a church where his father served as choir director. Like many other Southern Gospel singers, he was also influenced by the Gospel strains he heard on the radio and the performances every Sunday morning on shows like the “Gospel Singing Jubilee” and the “Gospel Caravan.”

As early as 14, he was performing in a local quartet sponsored by his school’s FFA program. Upon graduation from high school, Tim became part of The Gadsden Harmoneers with Wally Fowler. The following year, he became J. G. Whitfieldís replacement as bass singer for The Dixie Echoes. After a stint in the US Army serving in Vietnam, Tim returned home to marry his long-time sweetheart Barbara. As fate would have it, he was also able to regain his job with The Dixie Echoes, this time replacing another Southern Gospel legend, Ken Turner, who had recently moved to The Blackwood Brothers Quartet. From 1974 to 1979, Tim sang bass with The Southmen but it was his move in 1980 to the newly formed Gold City Quartet that would cement his place in Southern Gospel history.

For the next three decades, Tim would anchor the bass position and manage one of Southern Gospel’s best quartets. In the decades of the 1980's and 90's, the group rose to become recognized as among the industry’s elite quartets receiving numerous awards and headlining concerts across the nation. During a particularly successful stretch in the late 80's and early 90's, the group took the Singing News Fan Award for the overall Favorite Group for six consecutive years. A fan favorite (having personally collected five Fan Awards for Favorite Bass Singer) and an acknowledged industry leader, Tim Riley takes a deserved place on the wall of honor as a member of Southern Gospel’s best, and was inducted in 2013.

08/29/2026

Gold City💫🎵❤️..!! Sept. 11th in Arab, Alabama. Don’t miss it…!!🙌

No Ticket Required for concert🎉..
Doors open at 5:30pm.
Concert starts at 6:30pm.

🎟️ Ticket required for “Meet and Greet” at 4:30pm 👉 https://sgma.org/product/1207220-backstage-meet-and-greet-pass-for-gold-city-sgma-benefit-concert-arab-al

08/28/2026

We honor the memory of David Reece, who was born on this day in 1928. David Reece was a native of Jonesville, NC. A multi-talented individual, he had a lovely baritone voice, was an excellent pianist, an exceptional arranger, a gifted songwriter, and one of the funniest men in gospel music.

Reece played for many of the major quartets in Southern Gospel Music including the Blue Ridge Quartet, the Rangers Quartet, the Imperial Sugar Quartet, the Harvesters Quartet, Stamps Ozark Quartet and the Deep South Quartet. In the late 1950s, Reece formed the supreme male trio, the Rangers Trio. Their exceptionally smooth sound was built around David’s rich baritone voice and his understated piano technique, and many of the group’s performances were Reece’s compositions.

His recording, “Musical Meditations” was one of the first instrumental albums to be released by a gospel music artist. Using all of David’s skills to perfection, the Rangers Trio became the standard by which other trios were judged. In addition to the popular gospel songs of the day, the Rangers Trio also performed some novelty songs that became standards for the group. One such song was “The Mockingbird,” a crowd favorite for as long as the Rangers performed. David co-authored the well-known Jimmie Davis song, “So Many Reasons.”

After a long career in gospel music, Reece worked in the secular entertainment field both as a musician with Mel Tillis and writer of comedy for artists including the beloved Minnie Pearl. His alter ego, Uncle Willie Potts, kept people laughing through the good times and bad. David even did some comedy as an alter ego "Unkle Willie Potts".

He passed away on March 17, 1999 and was posthumously inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame in 2007.

08/27/2026

https://sgma.org/product/179457-purchase-a-personalized-brick

08/27/2026

Join our SGMA “Walk of Fame” order by September 14th & your brick 🧱 will be engraved & installed before the National Quartet Convention.

In 1996, the Southern Gospel Music Association accepted an offer from “Etch-A-Stone” of Philadelphia, Mississippi to start a commemorative brick program as a fundraiser for the SGMA Hall of Fame Museum. The bricks were sold for $100 (same price today) & engraved with the name of groups or individuals as a lasting memorial. “Pave Your Way into Southern Gospel History” was our promotional slogan, and they were called “Walk of Fame” bricks. The first year 155 bricks were sold.

When the museum opened in 1999 at Dollywood Theme Park, all the bricks purchased were inlaid in the walkway plaza as a permanent tribute to those who helped lay our foundation.

Today, we have over 2,100 engraved bricks. Those bricks from the Dollywood location were carefully packed into storage until they were moved to the new location at the Biblical Times Dinner Theater, where they now reside, as you see in the pictures attached.

Many friends of Gospel music helped finance the first museum. Now you have the same opportunity to “Pave Your Way into Southern Gospel History” contributing to the preservation of the Southern Gospel legacy.

Place your order online & your information to engrave on the brick. (Brick format = 3 Lines, 14 characters per line including spaces)

08/27/2026

We honor the memory of Jack Pittman, who was born on this day in 1926 in Greenville, South Carolina. Jack Pittman’s musical career started as a young teenager singing with the Little Four Quartet. In 1942, he attended the Vaughn School of Music and in 1944, Frank Stamps hired him. While with the Stamps organization, Jack sang with the Stamps Great Plains Quartet, the Carl Raines Stamps Quartet, the Stamps Melody Boys, and the Stamps-Baxter All-Stars. Jack Pittman joined the Palmetto State Quartet in the early 1950s.

Pittman sang with the Palmetto State Quartet for more than forty years. During his time of service with the Palmetto State Quartet, they were known for their excellent presentation of southern gospel quartet music. They appeared as regulars on Bob Poole’s Gospel Favorites TV Show which aired nationally on over a hundred and twenty stations with Pittman selling the advertising for the program locally. He retired from the quartet in 1997.

Jack’s reputation in gospel music stretches far beyond the performing stage. He was an astute businessman who never forgot his friends in gospel music. Pittman was instrumental in forming the Grand Ole Gospel Reunion in 1988. Jack was also awarded the Marvin Norcross Award in 1988. He passed away on December 29, 2013, and was inducted into the SGMA Hall of Fame in 2006.