The Dove Brothers Quartet - A Concert Review

Southern Gospel Music doesn’t normally come to my neck of the woods; usually I have to go to where IT is. This time it came to me in the form of the Dove Brothers Quartet about 15 minutes from the house. It was a private event for a local electric co-op annual business meeting. They have had Southern Gospel groups several times in the past to provide the entertainment such as the Kingsmen, Greenes, Lewis Family, Florida Boys, Dixie Melody Boys, etc. This year that brought in the Doves, and it was a great evening, to say the least. It was also great to see Eric back with the group, as this was his second week back.

Opening the evening was a local group I know very well called Master’s Image and they did a great job. They did about 4-5 songs and were very well received. After Master’s Image, the Dove Brothers hit the stage with the Mosie Lister classic, “Blow Your Trumpet, Gabriel”. During their roughly 30 minute set, they zipped through several songs including, “On Revival Day”, “Have a Nice Day”, “Anything But Ordinary, Everything But Typical”, “Gossip the Gospel”, “That’s Why I Love to Call His Name”, “Walk that Lonesome Road” and of course, “Didn’t it Rain”. Before the set was done, pianist Jerry Kelso (can this guy be anymore enthusiastic on stage?) wowed the crowd with his rendition of “How Great Thou Art”.

The co-op had their annual business meeting, which lasted for about 40 minutes or so, then the Doves came back on and primarily stuck with just the piano and the four voices, and they sounded splendid. No tracks or stacks. Nothing wrong with that all, as I have no problem with either; it just really shows what a group is made of when they can more than adequately carry a program without using them. Before they could start, a lady on the front row called out “On the Wings of a Dove.” McCray said they recorded that on one of their first recordings, but they have never really sung it out…then he added the clincher, “You’d think we’d do it every night since we ARE the Dove Brothers!” Everyone laughed at the quip, before McCray led the group in a couple of choruses of the song before moving on to several other tunes including, “Known Only to Him”, “Beyond the Sunset” (Jerry Martin took the hide off that song! Wow…what a performance!), “Heavenly Love” and “The Fourth Man”. I have to mention that David Hester did an awesome job on “Thanks to Calvary”. I know George Younce would have been awfully proud. The Doves ended the evening with their sugar stick, “Get Away Jordan”, to a very enthusiastic crowd.

Many times these types of crowds are a hard sell because they are typically unfamiliar with Southern Gospel Music, but this crowd seemed to really enjoy the music of the Dove Brothers. The guys were at the top of their game this night, and really showed everyone how exciting traditional male quartet music can be. I enjoyed them immensely, and thoroughly enjoyed the conversations with them afterwards and I look forward to seeing them again soon!