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I cannot let this opportunity go by to write some of my remembrances of one of the all time greats of Gospel Music that went home to be with the Lord this month, Dottie Rambo. I want to dedicate the column this month to some of the memories that I have of this great lady of Gospel Music.

My memories begin back in the early 1960's in Evansville, Indiana. That is the city that I was born and raised in. I was singing with a local group, out of my home church, called “The Trailsmen Quartet”. We sang all around Southern Indiana, Southern Illinois, and Northern Kentucky. Which was the same area that the original group of the Rambos were singing in. Our groups sang in a lot of the same churches. I will never forget, our lead singer Ron Vibbert, coming to one of our practices and playing a new album that had come out by this great trio. The songs were great, the harmony was great, and the spirit was definitely on the music. In a short while this trio started branching out past our tri-state area. They were signed by Heart Warming Records. Near that time our group, “The Trailsmen” was signed by Zondervan records. Then Smitty Gatlin called me when he left the “Oak Ridge Boys” and asked me to sing with his new group “The Smitty Gatlin Trio”. In order to do that I had to move to Ft. Worth, Texas. . At this time the Rambos were branching out farther and farther, and their name was getting bigger and bigger in Gospel Music.

I remember traveling across Louisiana late one night with Smitty Gatlin, and Bill Monroe (the other two guys in The Smitty Gatlin Trio). We saw the Rambo’s Bus at a truck stop. We needed fuel for our station wagon, so we stopped. We went inside to get a bite and there was Buck. He was very excited to see us and invited us to come on the bus for a few minutes to chat. Well we sat down in the front seats of the bus. (Which by the way was the old model of the Flexible with the rounded back on it) . I am sure some of the fans of “The Rambos” will remember the bus. We had only been there about a minute when Dottie came out of the back of the bus with her guitar. She had just written a new song, and wanted us to hear it. She sat down and began to play and sing “He Looked Beyond My Fault”. None of us said anything much about the song other than that is really nice. I remember when we drove away, we talked about how great the lyrics were, but wondered if ,since she was such a great melody writer, she shouldn’t have written the melody also. Little did we know what a classic this song would become. It wasn’t long before the Rambos had recorded the song, and now hundreds of singers have recorded it. It has become an all time classic in Southern Gospel Music. I myself have recorded it and have sung it for years. Dottie Rambo had a magnificent talent for , knowing what to write, how to write it , and how to sing it. She was one of a kind and there will never be another quite like her. Living in Ft. Worth, TX (the home base of “The Smitty Gatlin Trio”) would allow us to cross paths with The Rambos on several occasions, because both of these groups worked a lot in Louisiana and Texas at the time.

In 1967 I moved to Nashville from Ft. Worth. Over the years, I had, had the chance to sing on programs where The Rambos were singing, and had always enjoyed being around them very much. The reason I enjoyed them so much was the spirit of God that rested on them and their lives. I had come to Nashville to work with The Hal Kennedy Trio. By winter, Hal had felt called of God to move back to Florida to pastor a church. My wife and I talked about what we should do then. We decided that I should go to college and get a degree. I had the GI bill available to me from my prior years spent in the US Navy, so I enrolled in college in January of 1968. I would go on to complete my degree by June of 1971. I went to school , year round, to complete my degree in three years.

I said that to set up my next encounter with The Rambos. In 1970, Buck became ill and could not travel for a few weeks, Dottie decided to stay home with him. The Rambos had several dates in Tennessee, North, Carolina and a very big one in Harrisburg, PA. at The Farm Show Arena. I was in the Library in downtown Nashville, doing research for a paper I had write for one of my classes and in walked Kenny, Parker. He told me about Buck and Dottie not being able to travel for a few weeks and said they wanted to talk to me. I went to their house, in the Inglewood area of Nashville,with Kenny They asked me to go along with Kenny and Reba and fill the dates that they had. I had to skip some classes, but felt that I should help them. Kenny, Reba and I went to fulfill the Rambos dates. I was so honored that Dottie and the Rambos would ask me to fill in for them. We filled the dates. I can not remember exactly where most of them were, but I remember one specifically. The Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg, PA. This was a huge date for that day in time. It was a promotion that “The Couriers “ did every year. The building seated over 10,000 people and was full for every concert. Reba, Kenny Parker and I went out to sing before this large crowd. When we did, another good friend of mine ,Rusty Goodman who had lived in Evansville and had become friends with The Trailsmen earlier in my life, asked JD Sumner to come and listen to me sing. That night I sang one of Rusty’s great songs, ‘Until You’ve Known The Love of God” as a solo. It happen to go over very well with the crowd, and not too long after that, JD contacted me through Kenny Parker to see if I would audition for the tenor spot with the Stamps Quartet. Therefore, the results, of the faith that Dottie and Buck had in my ability to fill in for The Rambos, and the faith that Rusty Goodman had in my ability to sing his song, resulted in my getting a full time job with “ JD Sumner and The Stamps Quartet”. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Dottie Rambo, Buck Rambo, and Reba Rambo for having the faith in me to ask me to help them out. I also owe a huge debt of gratitude to Rusty Goodman. I have expressed my gratitude to Rusty’s family before verbally. I want to take this opportunity to say it here. Thanks Rusty, because of your faith in me, I have had a wonderful career in Gospel Music. And thank you Dottie, Reba, and Buck, because of your faith in me, I have had a wonderful career in Gospel Music. I will forever be grateful to Dottie, Reba and Buck Rambo, and Rusty Goodman.

After I started working with “The Stamps Quartet”, we toured with “The Rambos” and “The Oak Ridge Boys” doing “The Three Nails Play”. Every night , each group would all sing a separate set of songs during the first half of the program, then during the second half of the program we would present the play, “The Three Nails”. It was a lot of work carrying in and out the sound system and all the props for the play every night, but I would do it all again. Those were wonderful times to me. I got to listen to Dottie’s wonderful songs and singing every night. She wrote so many good songs, that everybody had some to sing. The Stamps sang several of her songs in every program. The Oak Ridge Boys also sang some of her songs. She still always had plenty new ones for The Rambos to sing. She wrote 1,000's of songs. I never heard a bad one come from her pen. I loved every song that I ever heard that Dottie wrote, my very, very favorites are: “He Looked Beyond My Fault” ; “I Call Him Lord”; “Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome in This Place” . These each have special meaning in my life. I could go on and on with remembrances of this wonderfully , gifted, and talented gospel music icon. I must close with these words. In my books, Dottie Rambo is the greatest gospel songwriter of my time. The reason I say that is because every song that I ever heard that she wrote was a SINGABLE song.

There have been songs written by others that have even become popular, but they don’t have the spirit in them that make them SINGABLE. Dottie’s songs all had that spirit in them. To Reba and her family, I will continue praying for God’s richest blessings for all of you. I am so blessed, that in my lifetime I have been able to have known, as friends, all of “The Singing Rambos”

Now Dottie is “Teaching Angels How To Sing.” Dorcas (my wife) and I will always love your music.

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