thinking of nqc

In 1957 my mom was only nine years old. My dad was thirteen. It was the year that J.D Sumner and a couple of the Blackwood Brothers got together and started the National Quartet Convention. The first couple of years Memphis played host to the then three day event. But over the years it would move around the south, first to Birmingham then Atlanta, back to Memphis and eventually to Nashville. For about the last fifteen years the now week long Southern Gospel Music event has been living in Louisville, Kentucky.

This is NQC week. As close as it is to where I live I've not had a chance to get over and enjoy it. And when I go I do enjoy it. The concerts are always good. I love the variety of music and styles that comes across the stage. I enjoy some more than others, but even the ones that aren't favorites are still appreciated and respected. They deserve at least that much.

My first NQC experience was in Nashville a little over 25 years ago. I didn't know anyone. No one knew me. I mean, I knew who most of the big names and personalities were, and was absolutely mesmerized when I saw them standing in line at the concession stand or walking through the exhibit hall. These were my heroes. They were the people I'd seen on television and heard on the radio and wanted to be like. And here they were right in front of me - and not on a stage. They seemed awfully normal to be such, such stars.

My first trip to the Convention was a fact finding mission. Our group had just made the decision to record for the Eddie Crook Company, and Dave Wilcox, the A&R guy, said we should think about setting up a booth there to let folks know who we were. So, I decided to at least go down to learn a bit about the set up. I don't remember seeing the part time and regional groups that you see in the exhibit hall these days. Maybe they were there, but they didn't get my attention.

My second trip to the big show was with the rest of my group. We knew so little about anything. We'd been told there was a booth contest. The most creative one won something. We rolled into the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Nashville with enough lumber to build a barn (exaggeration). I remember my brother Mark nearly running over Wendy Bagwell with a load of one-by-sixes. It's a wonder he didn't turn it into a neat story to tell. (We got really close to Wendy later in our career.) I walked around that hall the whole week introducing myself to people I recognized as professional singers, knowing they'd never remember me, but hoping they might. Connie Hopper tells me she actually remembers when I walked up to her, stuck my hand out and said, "Hi, I'm Kenny Bishop."

That first year as an artist at the Convention was exciting. We weren't on the big stage, and there were no matinees in those days, except for the morning chapel service that the owner groups sang on. But it didn't matter. We were a part of that first group of artists that would eventually signal tremendous change in the genre. We came into the industry alongside some of today's real success stories. It was a neat little club; the Greenes, the McKameys, the Perrys, Jeff & Sheri Easter, the Martins and several others. We all took our first bows about the same time. Just ahead of us was Gold City, Heavenbound and the Paynes.

Our first opportunity to take a mic in the big room was in 1988 I believe. Maybe '89. What I do remember was how incredibly nervous we were. I was about to hold the mic that Ben Speer had just used. Probably Glen Payne, Glen Allred or an Echo of some sort before that. Every group but the Inspirations had big, full bands back then. So the stage was large, bigger than any we'd ever stood on. How would we fill it? But it was the anxiety leading up to hearing our name that was the worst part. Once we got out there it worked out ok. I don't think we'd ever sung to so many human backsides in all our lives.

Our ten or twelve minutes on America's biggest Gospel music stage seemed to last for hours. I don't think we said a word. We just sang - kinda like in a fog. When the yellow light came on, telling us we had about three minutes to wrap 'er up and move along, I was ready to stop mid-song and take a bow. We finished though and enjoyed much more applause than we were prepared for. Our first appearance on the NQC stage turned out to be a success after all.