Kingsmen returning to Gadsden to mark 50th anniversary of iconic live album recorded here
Fifty years ago, the Kingsmen Quartet recorded a live album called “Big and Live” in Gadsden. Released on the Canaan label, it earned legendary status in the gospel music genre and received the Gospel Music Association’s 1974 Dove Award for Album of the Year.
The Kingsmen, members of the Gospel Music (2000) and Christian Music (2008) Halls of Fame, are returning to Gadsden this weekend to commemorate the golden anniversary of that recording with a two-day concert event at The Venue at Coosa Landing.
Music begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday; set to perform are the Kingsmen, based in Asheville, North Carolina, who are hosting the event, Gold City, Gadsden natives Gordon Mote and Jonathan Wilburn, and the Big and Live Quartet.
Performances resume at 5 p.m. Saturday; the lineup again includes the Kingsmen (who plan to perform some of their top selections from the 1970s) and Wilburn, joined by Dennis Swanberg, the Dixie Echoes and Endless Highway.
Looking back at that 1973 performance and recording, Ray Deen Reese, the Kingsmen’s bass singer for 55 years and now the group’s owner and manager, said, “It was one of the first of its kind that elicited live audience participation in an atmosphere that was spiritually charged, and that is what made it so special.
“The audience was involved from beginning to end," Reese said in a news release about the concert, “unlike anything I had ever seen before. I felt like it was one of the greatest recordings of our time.”
The album saw the debuts of Kingsmen favorites like “The Glory Road”, “Look for Me at Jesus’ Feet”, “Love Will Roll the Clouds Away” and “When I Wake Up to Sleep No More,” and the group’s first of 75 top-10 hits “The Apple Tree Story.”
A special event is planned at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at The Venue, with Reese and former Kingsmen members Nick Bruno and Johnny Parrack, who sang on the 1973 live album, sharing memories and performing selections from “Big and Live.”
Danny Jones, vice president of Singing News Magazine, will serve as master of ceremonies for all the events.
General admission tickets are $25 for Friday and Saturday evenings, and $20 for the Saturday morning event. They are available at https://www.gcmaconcerts.com or by calling 800-965-9324.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Kingsmen returning to Gadsden for concert
