David Liverett - This Is My Story: 146 of the Worlds Greatest Gospel Singers

Copyright 2005 by David Liverett.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, King James Version.

Scripture quotations noted THE MESSAGE are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations noted NIV are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc., P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data is available.

ISBN: 1-4185-0607-9

ISBN: 978-0-5291-1032-9 (eBook)

Printed in Canada

1 2 3 4 5 09 08 07 06 05

Dedicated to the memory of Joel Hull and Zella Hull Warren, from whom I learned much about Gods love and who encouraged me to sing bass in the choir at the Austinville Church of God in Decatur, Alabama.

Old Friends

CHORUS:

Old friendsafter all of these years, just

Old friendsthrough the laughter and tears

Old friendsWhat a find! What a priceless treasure!

Old friendslike a rare piece of gold

Old friendsmake it great to grow old

(brought me in from the cold; Christmas version)

Oh, God must have known

That some days on our own

We would lose our will to go on

Thats why He sent friends like you along.

Old friendsyes, youve always been there,

My old friendsweve had more than our share

Old friendsIm a rich millionaire in old friends.

VERSE

A phone call, a letter, a pat on the back, or a Hey, I just dropped by to say...

A hand when were down, a loan when we just couldnt pay

A song or a story, a rose from the florist, a note that you happened to send

Out of the blue just to tell us that youre still our friend

REPEAT CHORUS

Words by Gloria Gaither. Music by William J. Gaither and J. D. Miller. Copyright 1993 Gaither Music Company, Lojon Music, Life Gate Music. All rights controlled by Gaither Copyright Management. Used by permission.

Table of Contents

M y dad always loved good music. Recently one of my cousins was showing me where my dad grew up. Along with my maternal cousin, Joyce, my brother, Edwin, and my wife, Avis, we were traveling the back roads of north Alabama near the village of Anderson. Edwin was making a map locating all the houses that my folks had called home. At one place Joyce said Here is the place that Uncle Monroe and Mother used to hike through the woods to hear the Grand Ole Opry. They would hurry home and try to imitate the sound. I have an old photo of my dads family standing out in front of the homeplace; it shows some of dads fifteen siblings holding musical instruments.

I grew up in Decatur, Alabama, in the 1940s and 1950s, I still remember dad, Buford Brewer, and O. T. Terry making music on our front porch. One of the songs they would play was Im Using My Bible for a Roadmap. Dad even rigged up a holder for his harmonica so he could play it while he played the guitar. He and mom bought my brother and sister, Aldena, a Silvertone guitar and a mandolin for Christmas one year. I think it was the same Christmas I received a hand-me-down bike that Dad repainted red. As it turned out, Dads musical talent died with him. My brother ended up in the space industry and my sister worked in insurance. I am the youngest child, and I leaned toward the visual arts.

When all-night singings were nearby, our family would attend. The singings were usually held at the high school. I dont remember if the concerts really went on all night, but they did leave a lasting impression. My recollection of the singers is that they wore matching suits and had slicked-back hair and pencil-thin mustaches. We would stay to listen through encore after encore. In 1952 we went to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. We sat under the balcony and someone spilt a Coca-Cola down onto our pew.

After graduating from Anderson College in Indiana with a major in art, I was hired to create the printed materials for the college and to teach the visual arts class. Not long after that, a college friend of mine introduced me to Bill Gaither just a few years after Bills groundbreaking song He Touched Me. Pinebrook Recording Studio, now Gaither Studios, was ready to open for business and someone was needed to design record jackets for custom projects. For the next few years I designed songbook covers, press kits, and concert information for the Bill Gaither Trio and other groups.

By the time the Homecoming video series began, I had my own graphic arts business and had been away from gospel music for years. I was publishing books and freelancing for a large publishing house. My company had published books on lighthouses, little country churches, and bridgeseach with an inspirational theme.

Drawing faces had always been an interest of mine and it was time for a change. On August 1, 2003, I approached Bill Gaither about the possibility of drawing maybe seventy-five singers who had been featured on the video series. My idea was to have a short biographical sketch of each individual across the page from a pen-and-ink drawing. As it turned out, the book has almost doubled in size, and I still wasnt able to include all the singers who have been featured on the videos. It was hard to leave anyone out, but an effort was made to include the original singers that my dad loved so much.

My father, Monroe William Liverett, had a beautiful tenor voice and sang in the choir of the Austinville Church of God in Decatur, Alabama. He died two months before the first Homecoming video was recorded in 1991. Daddy would have loved watching every one. My mother, Elna McConnell Liverett, was also a member of the choir at the Austinville church. She loved singing the hymns of the church. She died in February 1993. Whenever I hear Fanny Crosbys great hymn, Blessed Assurance, I think of her.

She knew in whom she had believed and upon whose everlasting arms she leaned with such blessed assurance. She was one of the women who had seen the risen Lord and who came to tell the Good News of hope and love. I can hear her beautiful soprano voice singing through time and eternity.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my Story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.

Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

David Liverett, July 14, 2005, Anderson, Indiana

January 17, 1945

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want....