Under the banner of “History In The Making” some of the top quartet artists met at the Earthlink “Live” theatre in downtown Atlanta Georgia on December 4^th 2003.  This invitation only gathering turned out to be a marathon recording session lasting almost 6 hours!!  In the hours leading up to the event the building was a buzz with industry personalities arriving from all over the country. The artists enjoyed themselves thoroughly as they put the finishing touches on what would turn out to be a first in quartet history. 

 This event literally bridged the gap between races and even musical genres.  Before the night was over the audience would be treated to some of the greatest songs in music history sung by some of the top quartet artists of today.  The taping began promptly at 7 PM with the always comical host and M.C. for the evening Mr. Rick Joyner from the LIGHT Radio Network.  Spending a great deal of time behind the curtain Brother Joyner and the packed house had a ball hearing his “Mother” impressions of an elderly African-American mother from the south.  His Mother character sang in the old time way and always had interesting commentaries about each performance. 

 The actual singing began with Paul Porter & The Christianaires.  The fellas came out with a groovin' sound on their latest hit song “Stand Up”.  Just as the crowd was really feeling the group’s set the Christianaires slowed down the pace with Paul’s heart wrenching testimonial song “You’ve Been So Good”.  Tears were flowing and people were praising God for God’s never ending supplies of mercy and grace. When Paul was finally able to leave that song alone the guys closed their set on the contemporary number “No, No, No”. 

Recently Word has began to get out about a new addition to the gospel field.  While the Louisana based group Hip Boot Joe is really known as a Rock/Country party band they have recently been teaming up with the Williams Brothers and currently have a hot song with Doug & Melvin called “Get Saved”. Well, after the Christianaires it was time for Hip Boot Joe. After the normal rustling and audience whispers these guys really showed out.  They put together an amazing medley of Williams Brothers classics with their own flavor added and boy was it awesome.  Song like “Straighten It Out, How I Depend On You, and of course Get Saved were given new feel by this great band.  We applaud the Williams Brothers and Hip Boot Joe for showing that it’s time for the barriers of race to come down in the gospel industry. 

 While the audience was still a buzz after the performance of Hip Boot Joe a series of screams began to echo through the place as the Supreme Angels began to get ready for their set.  Clad in their hats and pin-stripped suits as seen on the cover of their latest release “Have You Heard The News” the Supreme Angel musicians made an impact just by walking on the stage.  Much to the audiences delight Slim and the fellas sang  songs from their latest Hit recording.  As Slim and Little Mike came on stage the musicians began to play the familiar licks of “Over Yonder”.  After getting things warmed up Slim slowed things down with the powerful story in song “I’m Not Ashamed”.  Other songs in their set included the ever popular “Stay Under The Blood”, “Somebody Needs A Miracle” and their rockin’ new drive “Have You Heard The News”.  People all over the building were "Pickin' Um Up & Puttin' Um Down" as Slim said.

It was then time for the Williams Brothers. Before the Brothers even hit the stage everyone knew they were going to be tight.  The Brothers came out on a funky arrangement of “I Feel Good” that had people up clapping in no time.  Always brining a variety to their performances the fellas then borrowed a number from Doug’s new CD called “Mary Did You Know”.  This song has continued to be a radio favorite and definitely was a crowd favorite this night.  After giving us something new the Williams Brothers then went back a few years to their Savoy days with the song “If You Move I’ll Fall”.  While many associate this song with the Bolton Brothers it was actually written and recorded by the Williams Brothers first.  The Spirit really moved on this song causing Melvin to have an extremely hard time moving to the next number.  For their closing song the Brothers went to an old time drive number which will be featured on the next installment of Blackberry’s “Song’s Mamma Used To Sing” series called “Send It Down”. 

 With two more full sets to go the audience was beginning to show signs of weariness but that was quickly done away with when the Canton Spirituals band began setting up on the stage.  Unlike some group’s that mixed old and new songs for their set, Harvey Jr. went back to the group’s staple songs.  In fact, they came out on the always smooth “Morning Dove” which inevitably had people flapping their arms with each verse of “Fly Away”.  It was then time for “Mississippi Po Boy” and the group gave the audience a little taste of the new slower opening before exploding into foot stompin’ pandemonium.  If this song didn’t get us going we just didn’t know what to do when the familiar guitar strum of “I’m In Your Care” echoed in the room.  In a matter of moments the entire auditorium was praising God for God’s continues care in our lives.  Staying with the Live In Memphis I recording Harvey grabbed the classic Cantons drive “Fix It Jesus” to close their set.

 Then it was time for the last of the full 30 minute sets as Lee Williams & those Spiritual QC’s hit the stage.  Lee came out with one of their least recorded but favorite songs “Jesus Is Coming Again”.  The music was barely loud enough to hear as Lee worked his way through this song of expectation.  With very little in the way of talk the Spiritual QC’s shifted ever so quickly through “Bless Me” and “Good Time” before really getting things stirred up with the new quartet classic “I Can’t Give Up”.  Having sang us all into tears the QC’s closed their set with the groovin' song “Have Your Way”. 

 Having enjoyed a great night of gospel many audience members were awaiting the grand finale which would indicate the end of the recording.  Little did many know the night was really just getting started.  Just as each group graced us with their own separate sets of music, they were getting ready to come out again.  The only difference was the group’s were not going to be singing gospel songs but some of the most well known songs of our time.  You will find a complete listing of the songs below but there were a few highlights. The major highlight of the night was the two quartet giants Harvey Watkins Jr. and Lee Williams sitting together in the middle of the stage trading verses on the classic “What A Wonderful World”.  Other highlights were Harvey Jr.’s tribute to his father on “Wind Beneath My Wings” and Patrick Hollis and Tommie Harris on “Lean on Me” and “Heaven Help Us All”. 

 The grand finale which included all the group’s on stage together was a very interesting experience. For any fan of traditional quartet it was rather strange seeing these group’s singing Michael Jackson’s “Man in The Mirror” and closing on “Love Train” but they enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  In closing, special thanks to Dwight Gordon of the Williams Brothers, the event staff, and Sandra Graham of Blackberry Records for their kindness.

The Christianaires-  “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

Hip Boot Joe w/ Melvin & Doug Williams-  “You’ve Got A Friend

Harvey Watkins Jr. & Lee Williams-  “What A Wonderful World”

Slim & The Supreme Angels-  “Blowin’ In The Wind” & “My Sweet Lord”

The Williams Brothers-  “Time After Time” & “Up Where We Belong”

Lee Williams & The Spiritual QC’s-  “Heaven Help Us All” & “Lean On Me”  

Grand Finale w/ all the artists-  “Man In The Mirror” & “Love Train”