Saturday, April 5th

This was Garry and Larry’s birthday. A couple of weeks before, Revival Tabernacle asked us to sing on this date because the singers they had scheduled had cancelled. We gladly accepted the invitation. This is the church where Larry and Cheryl attend and Larry teaches a Sunday School Class. The pastor of this church is Bro Byron Jessup who established the church nearly 50 years ago. His oldest son Byron Lee Jessup, was born on the same day as Garry and Larry, so we celebrated all three birthdays together.

The church group, Tabernacle Quartet, sang first. This group originally started as a trio of John Jessup, (Bro Jessup’s youngest son)  Mike Moberly and Larry Polston. John and Mike are still with the group;  Byron Lee now sings baritone and Wayne Stephenson sings bass. Debbie Ward, (Bro Jessup’s daughter) also sang a couple of songs with the group.

The Garry Polston Family then sang and we were having such a good time that we forgot to take a break for the offering. Bro Jessup came up the aisle in his “power chair” and stopped us to receive an offering. Laura Polston was there and sang a few songs with us including “Long As I Got King Jesus”, which was a crowd favorite. After the concert we had birthday cake to celebrate the triple (not triplets) birthday.

Sunday night, April 6

This was a re-scheduled concert from March 9th at Milton United Methodist Church. We had been snowed out on the previously scheduled date. We got set up and went to the beautiful new kitchen/fellowship hall for supper. We had a fantastic supper, including grilled chicken, pinto beans, homemade bread, iced tea and a variety of other delicacies. The homemade bread had been greatly anticipated because The Garry Polston Family had been there previously.

The Praise Band from the church opened the concert and then three young girls from the church sang.

The Garry Polston Family then sang and we received a backwards standing ovation for the song “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder”. Denise Watts-Wilson was there with her Dad, James Watts. We invited Denise to sang and she did. This was a good opportunity to mention that both Denise and The Garry Polston Family would be making a live recording in a couple of weeks at Clayvillage Baptist Church.

There were some of the nicest people in this church and when we finished and broke down the equipment we had some great help. I believe we have a couple of extra bunks on the bus that will fit you all if you are interested.

Friday, April 11th

We sang with Family Legacy at Hardinsburg United Methodist Church where Rev. Ken Jesse is the pastor. This was a recent addition to the schedule because it was on our way to Evansville, Indiana. We had sung there last fall and Garry preached a revival for them.

There wasn’t a large crowd because it was on a Friday night and the newspaper reported that the concert would be on Sunday night. It was a “good” crowd to sing to though and we enjoyed the concert. Family Legacy did an outstanding job as they always do. Eric Vertres also played the bass guitar with Garry and David when they did their “picking and grinning” segment.

After the concert we went on to Henderson (actually the Cairo community) and parked the bus beside the Cairo United Methodist Church where Garry pastured for 10 years. We spent the night there and used their facilities on Saturday morning to shower and shave.

Saturday,  April 12^th

Beryl Thompson loaned us her car and Garry, David and Larry went to Abba's Music in Henderson and bought some cords, microphones and a used Hotspot monitor before heading back to the bus. We went by a farm supply store and bought some light bulbs to replace some that weren’t working in the bins under the bus. We stopped by Farm Bureau Tire Center to visit  Bub and Joretta Agnew who attend Cairo UMC. It just happened that Lyndle Riggs, who sings with the Vocalystics (and formerly tenor for The Southlanders) was there and we got to sing a little with him. We then went to Jack and Beryl Thompson’s for lunch. We had soup beans and fried corn bread as well as roast beef and other good stuff. That was great.

While Lula and Cheryl went with Beryl to the Purse Outlet to shop, David, Garry and Larry went back to Abba's Music to pick up something that one of Garry’s member’s had ordered. Chris Kroger, the owner that Garry has been dealing with for many years, brought it out to the bus and we took him a ride around the block on the bus. He told us that if his wife didn’t have something else planned, they would come to our concert in Evansville that night.

We headed toward Evansville and was looking for a Radio Shack. We spotted one in a strip mall and stopped to buy replacement leads for a multi-meter. The leads they had didn’t fit the older style meter so we bought a new multi-meter instead. Garry bought a TV antenna with the assurance that if it didn’t work he could return it if he kept the original carton and receipt. We installed it while parked in the parking lot and it made no difference in the TV reception so Garry took it back in and got his money back.

We left Radio Shack and headed to Fare’s Avenue Baptist Church in Evansville. We set up and discovered that the Hotspot monitor that we had bought at Abba's Music did not put out enough volume when hooked in series with the other monitors. Garry called Chris and he went back to the store and got a new floor monitor and brought it to us before church time. We hooked it up and it worked great. Chris and his wife left to go eat while we were eating at church and came back for the concert. The barbeque that we had for supper was great! When are we going back?

There was a good crowd for the concert and it was a good place to sing. The spot lights overhead made it a little difficult to take pictures, but we did the best we could.

Saturday, April 19th

This was the date for the live recording at Clayvillage Baptist Church where Denise Watts-Wilson is the Minister of Music. Bro Robert Eades, pastor of Eminence Pentecostal Church, was the master of ceremonies and did a fantastic job. Denise opened the concert. Becky Bales joined her on a couple of songs. This duo goes by the name Vanilla Fudge Swirl. Denise took a break and we sang the first half of our set. We got to sing some of our songs over to try to correct our mistakes because we wanted the recording to be as good as we could make it. There were still plenty of mistakes to correct in a re-dub session with the recording engineer, Andrew Dodson. We were surprised that we did as well as we did because some of the songs were “new” to us even though they are classics. The songs on this recording are:

1. My God is Real

2. The Joy of Heaven

3. Oh How I Love the Lord   

4. There's A Light

5. ‘Til The Storm Passes By

6. God Made a Way

7. The Joy of Knowing Jesus

8. Sinner Saved by Grace
   with What A Day, Amazing Grace, and O How I Love Jesus (a cappella)

9. God Walks the Dark Hills

10. We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder

11. Excuses

12. Goodbye World Goodbye (instrumental)

13. Everybody Ought to Know  (with the help of congregation)
    and

14. Oh My Lord What A Time

Friday, April 25th

We went to Charlottesville, Indiana to By His Grace Ministry, the church where Cheryl’s mother attends. Several of Cheryl’s family attended this concert including her parents, Herb and Emma Tompkins, her brother Mark and his wife Connie, her sister Diana and Diana’s daughter Julia and Julia’s son Jacob. Both of Cheryl’s aunts Doris and Louise and her husband Meryl were there as well as Doris’s daughter Stella and Louise’s daughters Leann and Marca with their families. Two of Garry and Larry’s sisters, Virginia Polston and Marie Roberts came from Indianapolis. This was like a family reunion. It was a fantastic place to sing. Many of the people were not familiar with Southern Gospel music but were very receptive and easy to sing to.

After the concert we went to the truck stop at the intersection of Interstate 70 and State Road 9 near Knightstown, Indiana for supper. The London Broil was fantastic! (This is a great place to eat anytime between 5:00 AM and 11:00 PM. Cheryl’s Dad goes there every morning for breakfast with some of the local farmers, truck drivers and buddies he worked with at Delco Remy for 40 years. They “solve” all of the world’s problems every morning.) After supper we had cake to celebrate the birthdays that week of Cheryl’s Dad, Herb and Mark’s daughter Abby who met us there.

Larry and Cheryl went home with her parents for the night and Garry, Lula and David went on to Indianapolis and parked the bus and spent the night in the church parking lot of Indianapolis Separate Baptist in Christ Church where Garry and Larry’s brother, Jimmy is the pastor.

Saturday, April 26th

Virginia Polston met us this afternoon at the church and took us to a buffet restaurant nearby and bought our lunch. We all overate but it was good.

Brother Jimmy didn’t get to attend the concert this night because he was preaching a revival. However, Garry and Larry’s Mom, Eva Polston and their sisters, Virginia Polston, Marie Roberts, Margaret Wiggington with her husband Lonzo Wiggington and Phyllis Wiggington with her husband Donald Wiggington were there. Chuck Roberts, Kenny Roberts, and Denise Wilson, all children of Marie; Randy Polston, Jimmy’s son; Allen Wiggington and Stacy Wiggington, sons of Phyllis were there also. This was another family reunion. Laura and Alexis drove up from Kentucky to be with us at this concert and Laura sang two or three songs with us. Someone requested that Alexis sing “The Books of the Bible”, a song written by Beryl Thompson. Garry was reluctant to let her sing at first because he said “It costs me money when she sings”. He didn’t have to pay this time because she received enough from the audience to make up for what he would have given her. She offered it to him after the concert but he told her to keep it, it was hers.

We got to sing “Well Glory” with Mom, Eva Polston. This is her signature song. Mom is 93 years old and still goes to church every time she gets a chance and still sings every time she is asked.

Larry and Cheryl went to his Mom’s house to spend the night and Garry, Lula and David went to Phyllis’s house.

Sunday morning, April 27th

Sunday morning we sang at Franklin Separate Baptist Church in Franklin, Indiana for their morning worship service. Our nephew, Allen Wiggington taught one of the adult Sunday School classes and his brother Stacy taught another. We split up again and found that both young men are great teachers as well as singers. After we sang, Garry preached on Daniel. I guess it is only a coincidence that the Sunday School lesson was also in the book of Daniel.

After church we went to the basement where our family had prepared another great lunch.

Sunday night, April 27th

This was the beginning of a revival that Garry was preaching at Victory Baptist Church in Shelbyville Kentucky. We got there early and waited in a nearby parking lot until the door was opened. Tracy Bertram was there and Garry invited him to sing a song with us. Larry took off the next three nights because it was so far to drive during the week when he had to work. He also had to move his son, Daniel home from college, attend orientation for jury duty and get ready for a trip to Cancun, Mexico to receive an award from his employer, Schneider Electric (aka Square D Company). Laura was scheduled to sing in Larry’s place but got sick so Tracy filled in. Thanks, Tracy.

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On Sunday night, March 30 we were at Masonic Home of Kentucky in Shelbyville to sing for the chapel service that night. We got set up and the residents started coming in for the singing. We had a good crowd including some from the community. We sang just like we would at a Church Concert or a Community Gospel Singing or State Convention except that Garry went to the piano and played several old songs that we had not practiced but had sung all our life. We also took a request from the audience, well at least it appeared to be a request from the audience. This was the first time we sang “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder”. Garry produced some sheets of paper with the words typed out large enough for us to read. David played the guitar and at first you would have thought you were about to hear the world famous Chuck Wagon Gang. After singing through the song once somebody made the smart aleck remark that he could sing the song backwards. Garry said we would just sing it backwards. It was a little humorous, I guess.

We sang for a short hour and had to close because that was all the time available. In fact some didn’t get finished eating supper in time to get there by starting time so it was a “short” hour service. We enjoyed the concert though.

On Friday night, March 28th we were at Larue Baptist Church in Hodgenville for a concert with The Milby Family. We had been anticipating this event ever since it was scheduled. Then when Robin Milby told Garry his family planned to come hear us at Larue Baptist Church, Garry contacted the promoter, Lee Roark and arranged to get them on the program. At the Somerset Community Gospel Singing on March 15th, Garry and Robin discussed the program and decided we would sing the notes with Robin’s oldest daughter Tess because she had been going to singing schools and had learned to read the shaped notes. Larry volunteered to bring his oldest daughter Amanda to sing soprano so we could have an SATB quartet. The plan was to sing “He Bore It All”. When Garry, Lula, Larry and David practiced the song at the next rehearsal, we discovered that the tenor part was too high for Garry or Larry to sing in the key in which it was written. When we lowered the key so either one could sing the tenor, it was too low for Larry to sing bass. Then Larry and Amanda rehearsed it again at home and decided that was not a good choice and recommended that we sing “Home Of The Soul” instead. Garry agreed that it would be easier for him, and Robin said that would be OK for Tess also.

On the way to the concert, we practiced singing the notes on the bus with Amanda singing soprano, Lula singing alto, Garry singing tenor and Larry singing bass. David was driving and Cheryl was taking pictures. Amanda then suggested that we could still sing “He Bore It All” in the key in which it was written if she switched parts with Garry; he would sing the lead and she would sing the tenor.

We arrived before 4:30 PM and were met by Lee Roark who helped us carry the equipment in to set up. The pastor, Donald Kennedy also showed up in time to help carry in equipment. We appreciated the help because one of the dollies had a flat tire and could not be used so we literally “carried in” some of the equipment. While we were setting up, Lee took the dolly with the flat tire and had air put in it so we could use it after the service. We set up and got a sound check before the Milby Family arrived. We got a brief sound check with them before we were called to the basement to eat supper provided by the church. We then practiced singing the notes to “Home Of The Soul” and “He Bore It All”. We decided that we could sing both songs.

There was a good crowd for the concert and they were easy to sing for. Some of the singers from the Community Gospel Singings drove several miles for the concert and to show their support, including Ronald and Ann Rexroat who drove 57 miles from Russell Springs, Buddy Lowe who drove 28 miles from Greensburg and Bill Twyman who drove 1.5 miles from Hodgenville!

After we had sung most of our first set, Garry asked Tess Milby to come up and help us sing “Home Of The Soul” and sing the shaped notes. Her Dad, Robin Milby played piano for us. It was actually very good. Robin is a great piano player and Tess did an outstanding job on the alto. She blended well as she always does with her family. She also had the lead on the chorus and sang like a pro. We then sang “He Bore It All” with Amanda and Garry switching parts. That also turned out better than expected. If we could have done anything differently, we should have had David Martin play lead guitar and Kathy Milby play the upright bass. We’ll try to remember that next time.

We then sang “Must I Empty Handed Go” which is Bill Twyman’s favorite song. After we finished our first set, The Milby Family came up and did their part of the program. They are so good! Not only are they talented, they have a very sweet spirit. We would like to take them with us everywhere we go.

We enjoyed the whole concert and hope we can go back again.

We are preparing for a live recording on April 19th at 5:00 PM at Clay Village Baptist Church on Highway 60, 5 miles east of Shelbyville. Denise Watts-Wilson will also be recording that night. We hope you all come and fill the house. For more information send an email toworshipsinger@bellsouth.net or gpolston@aol.com .

On Saturday, March 15, approximately 90 singers met at the Center For Rural Development in Somerset, KY for the first Community Gospel Singing of 2008 sponsored by The Heartland Quartet and The Kentucky State Gospel Singing Convention. This is only the second time the group has met in this venue. It will probably be one of the biggest events of the year for the Community Gospel Singers.

The facilities are great. However, I didn’t like the stage setup this year as much as last year. Some of the singers on the back rows on the right side were hidden from the audience. One improvement over last year is the stage lights were not too hot. Garry almost got his head blistered last year!

The fellowship of the singers was great as always. The singing was top notch. Some of my favorites were “I’m Winging My Way Back Home” by The Counselors, “When My Savior Reached Down For Me” by Jody Wheeler, “Miracles Will Happen On That Day”, by The McCubbins Family, “An Empty Mansion” by One Accorde and “When We All Get Together With The Lord” by The Milby Family. When Mark Rogers of Kindred Voice sang the first verse on “Where We’ll Never Grow Old”, I said to Leland Humphrey who was sitting by me, "He reminds me of Dad Speer". I didn't mean he sounded like an old man like the aged G. T. (Dad) Speer that we have heard on The Bill Gaither Homecoming Series. I knew Leland understood when he said, "He does! He has that Dad Speer tone to his voice". Haskell McCubbins’s testimony and performance of “I Know” was a highlight of the evening and was a great closing song!

King of Kings Radio Network and Dr. David Carr provided promotional advertisements for the event. Southern Petroleum (Jonathan Arnett), Superlex Batteries (Randy Hart) and Wal*Marts of South Central Kentucky provided financial contributions. Wal*Mart presented a check for $1,200 to Bill Twyman at intermission.

The next Community Gospel Singing will be at Hodgenville First Baptist Church on April 26th. The Garry Polston Family can’t be there for that event because we already had a booking at First Separate Baptist Church in Indianapolis, Indiana (where our brother Jimmy Polston is the pastor) when the schedule for the Community Gospel Singings was announced. If you are in the central Kentucky area, please go and support The Community Gospel Singing at Hodgenville. We will keep you posted on the other Community Gospel Singings for this year. We do plan to be at the other three Community Gospel Singings; August 9th at Parkland Baptist Church in Louisville, October 25th at Severns Valley Baptist Church in Elizabethtown and November 8th at Henry Christian Church near New Castle.

Our next concert is at Larue Baptist Church in Hodgenville on Friday night, March 28th at 7:00 P.M. The Milby Family will be there and will sing also. Garry and Larry plan to sing the shaped notes to "Home Of The Soul" with the help of Amanda Polston, the oldest daughter of Larry and Cheryl Polston and Tess Milby, the oldest daughter of Robin and Kathy Milby. When we sang at Walnut Hill recently, someone requested that we sing the shaped notes. We couldn’t get any help that night so we sang a duet. We will have a complete SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) quartet next time. (Well maybe not a “real” bass, but I can assure you the soprano and alto will be great.)

We are preparing for a live recording on April 19th at 5:00 PM at Clayvillage Baptist Church on Highway 60, 5 miles east of Shelbyville. Denise Watts-Wilson will also be recording that night. We hope you all come and fill the house. For more information send an email to worshipsinger@bellsouth.net or gpolston@aol.com. 

We sang at Free Union Separate Baptist Church in Adair County Sunday night, March 2. Steve Foley met us at the church and let us in to set up the equipment. He and his wife, Juanita were the contacts for the concert. We remember Juanita when she was a little girl and came with her parents to Christian Home Church at Jabez. Her Dad, Henry Popplewell was our pastor. Steve told us a guy that he worked with, Johnnie Beaty said he was coming. Steve said he went to school with Garry and Larry. We didn’t remember the name. It turned out we went to Nancy High School with his wife, Maudena whose maiden name was Daulton.

Steve also told us they had been in revival all week. A revival had “broken out” the week before. We were already scheduled to come and sing. They decided to have a singing and a revival too. That worked out OK. We remembered when Jimmy had a revival there in the 60’s and it went for a month or longer. If more church leaders would get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit take over, we may see revivals break out elsewhere.

They had built a new church since the last time The Polston Family had sung there in the early 80’s. It was beautiful and had plenty of room. (The piano was also in tune.)  We met the pastor, Casey Davis. We didn’t get to hear him preach that night, though. (Before we left, Steve gave us 3 CDs of previous services. Bro. Davis is a fiery preacher.) Another young preacher, Rodney Smith was the evangelist. He is the son-in-law of Clifton and Vickie Cowan. Clifton pastors the Walnut Hill church where we sang the week before.

Arlo and LaVerne Polston got there early and we got to visit with them. LaVerne used to be our “next door” neighbor when we lived in the only house where we were born in Jabez. At least we could see their house (Veno and Lola Stephens) from our house.

We saw Dale Carey whose Dad, Bro. Earl Carey was a good friend of our Dad when he lived in Russell Springs. Dale was Daddy’s mechanic. A couple of the members of Southern Harmony were there. Cheryl got a good picture of Jeremy and Ashley Dickerson. Ronald Rexroat who also attends the Community Gospel Singings was there. He sang the shaped notes with Garry, Larry, Amanda and Jimmy Polston at Henry Christian Church in New Castle at the November Community Gospel Singing. Mary Roy of Heirs By Grace was there. We are looking forward to hearing them sing March 15 at The Center For Rural Development in Somerset. Hazel Kell was there and sang “Six Hours On The Cross”. The Polston Family and Dewey and Hazel Kell used to be together at revivals and singings. We have also been to their house for dinner. Kenneth and Joyce Reece were there. We went to church with Kenneth’s mother Jewell, his brothers A. G and David at Royville. Kenneth went to Free Union, I assume because that is where Joyce went to church. Joyce’s grandfather, John Oakes used to live across the road from us in Jabez. Joyce’s cousin, Dan Swanson sings with Witness in Indiana. Most of the members of Witness are a third generation of the Polston Family.

It was good to see Denver and Claradon Wilson again. Claradon is a great quartet piano player. She played for The Coffey Family (her Dad, Mom, sister Wilma, an aunt and herself) when she was growing up and at one time played for the Polston Family when we went to Burkesville and Bobby Lee couldn’t go. She has also played for other gospel groups in Russell County. We saw Janice Popplewell, Marie Helm, Velda “Lorine” Brown, Jean Brown and other widows whose husbands were leaders in the churches when we were growing up. They are so sweet and it is always a thrill to see them when we are in the area.

We had a good concert. After we finished singing, Rodney preached on “tomorrow” and how we have no promise of tomorrow. We may have plans for the future but we need to be prepared in case today is our last day on earth. We had an altar service and it was good to see the church gather in to pray when someone went to the altar. We also had an “old fashioned hand shake” like Bro. Roger Popplewell used to have at the end of the service. It was like the old days when we were growing up and attending revivals and singing with the original Polston Family.

Our singing scheduled for this Sunday night at Milton United Methodist Church has been postponed until April 6.

Next weekend, Saturday, March 15 is the first Community Gospel Singing of the year. It is at The Center For Rural Development in Somerset. We plan to sing the great Neil Enloe song, “The Joy of Knowing Jesus” at that singing. Hope to see you there!

We sang at Walnut Hill Separate Baptist Church in Casey County Sunday night, February 24, 2008. We were looking forward to getting back out and singing again after having only one concert since the first of the year. It was a pleasure to see the pastor, Bro. Clifton Cowan again. He is such a humble man. His wife, Vickie didn’t get to come because she has shingles.

It was so good to see people we remembered seeing at Walnut Hill over 40 years ago.We saw Mildred Foster whose late husband Vernie was on the RECC board of directors with Lula’s dad, Ezra Caffee. We saw R C Weddle whose face I remembered but had forgotten his name. We got to meet Bro. Joey Murphy’s aunt, Helena. We learned that Rick Cooper and his wife, LaDonna attend Walnut Hill regularly. We used to attend Royville Friendship Church in Russell Springs with Rick and his family years ago. Rick and Larry were roommates for a little while in Lexington while Larry was attending UK. Rick sang “Consider The Lilies” and we also got to sing “I Was There When It Happened And I Guess I Ought To Know” with him. Rick’s sister, Debbie Conner was there and played the piano and sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and “From The Depths of My Heart”. She has such a great touch on the piano and is also a very good singer. We were so blessed to get to see their Dad, the great evangelist, Bro. Dewey Cooper. He enjoyed the singing almost as much as we enjoyed being with him again. We were also blessed to  see Bro. Jesse Long, his son Darrell and Bro. Long’s friend, Faye Terry. Bro. Long used to be Dad and Mom’s neighbor when they lived on Gentry Mill Road in Russell Springs. Bro. Long and Bro. Cooper both shouted a little just like the old days.

Two of the Brown Brothers Quartet, Lewis and Marvin (and Marvin’s wife Adele) were there. We remember seeing the Brown Brothers nearly 50 years ago. Marvin had suffered a stroke and was walking on a cane. We got to sing a song with him though. Lewis was scheduled for surgery for early the next morning. Since he was having a tonsillectomy, he chose not to sing.

We got to see one of our school mates from Jabez, Scott Coffey and his wife Katie. They stayed around and helped us start the bus. We tried to charge the batteries but that didn’t help. We tried to tighten the connections on the starter but they were already tight. Scott tried to get us to go home with him and stay all night, but instead helped push the bus until the starter got past the “flat spot” that prevented it from turning.

Even with the delay in leaving because of the stubbornness of the bus, we had a great time and hope to get to go back again.