The Blackwood Brothers' First LP

I've featured the Blackwood Brothers Quartet a few times on this blog and its companion, but have never offered a full album by the group. So here is the group's first LP, a 10-incher from 1952. And as a bonus, I have included the four songs added in 1956 to fill out a 12-inch version of the same album.

The Blackwoods were and are arguably the most important and popular southern gospel group of all time, sharing that status with the Statesmen and Hovie Lister.

Before and for some time after signing an RCA Victor contract, the Blackwoods put out records on their own label, a few of which you can find in the post on my singles blog. But greater prestige and better distribution were to be had with the RCA affiliation.

The eight songs on the 10-inch LP were recorded by the personnel on the cover above: (top) bass Bill Lyles and tenor Dan Huskey, (middle) lead James Blackwood and baritone R.W. Blackwood, and (bottom) pianist Jack Marshall. These date from January and May 1952.

The songs added to the 12-inch LP are "The Love of God" and "Everywhere He Went" from January 1952, and "Oh, What a Time" and "The Hand of God" from October 1952. On the latter two songs, tenor Bill Shaw replaced Dan Huskey. (This group is depicted at right, in an image from now-vanished Grand Old Gospel Reunion site.)

That group, which would remain intact for a few years, was widely admired. The Southern Gospel History site terms them, "Four outstanding, versatile vocalists accompanied by arguably the finest quartet pianist of the day. This was as close to a perfect quartet as the world of gospel music had experienced thus far."

In June 1954, the group won Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts competition, but just two weeks later a plane crash claimed the lives of R.W. Blackwood and Bill Lyles. After the tragedy, James Blackwood's first impulse was to disband, but he ultimately reformed the group with Cecil Blackwood replacing his brother R.W., and J.D. Sumner replacing Bill Lyles. This version of the quartet would remain together for 11 years, achieving tremendous success. I believe the 12-inch LP cover below depicts that quartet, although the earlier configurations are heard on the record.

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(From left) Bill Shaw, James Blackwood, Cecil Blackwood and J.D. Sumner