What's Up with The Churchmen

Lance LeRoy has agreed to represent Bluegrass Gospel band, The Churchmen. Lance LeRoy and his legendary Lancer Agency has been a mainstay in Bluegrass Music for four decades. Lance's successes as an agent and manager, journalist, photographer, historian and industry organizer have been well documented and he is still going strong. Lance is a member of the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of fame, inducted in the year 2000. This was a well deserved honor considering Mr. LeRoy's influence on the bluegrass world. Not only did he work with Lester Flatt, the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Johnson Mountain Boys, Del McCoury and Jimmy Martin for significant portions of their careers, he also initiated and organized meetings of industry leaders in 1985, resulting in the establishment of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Mr. LeRoy adds "I feel very honored that the members of The Churchmen have chosen to work with The Lancer Agency in booking the band's festival and concert dates. Any appearance by The Churchmen is inspiring and energetic with vocal harmony and instrumental passages that are among the best in the business. As an all-gospel group the members fill an important role in the bluegrass industry and fill it well. The members would be a credit to any musical organization and especially to The Lancer Agency. I hope that I can measure up to their standards."

The Churchmen have been blessed with a great pedigree of successes. Since their inception in 1989 they have traveled the country and abroad performing their distinctive Bluegrass sound. The band has twice garnered Dove Award nominations, Gospel Music's most prestigious award, for Bluegrass Gospel album of the Year, and Bluegrass Song of the Year. They have also received over twenty nominations in different categories from The Society of Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA). They have performed on the Ryman Theater stage, International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA)show cases, and the IBMA Bluegrass Fan Fest. The Churchmen song "Get Onboard" was #1 on Bluegrass Now Magazine's Gospel Truths chart and remained on the top 20 chart for 3 ½ years. The Churchmen record with Pinecastle Records and maintain a great relationship with Tom Riggs, founder and president of Pinecastle. The addition of David Guthrie and Rick Keen to the band has bolstered the Churchmen sound to new heights. David is one of the most talented singers, songwriters, and guitar players in Bluegrass today. David has also been nominated by SPBGMA as "Male Vocalist of the Year". Rick is a greatly talented Dobro player and has quickly developed into one of the best in the business. Along with all of the talent, Rick has a great personality and has been a hit with all of The Churchmen fans and friends everywhere. The band is also incredibly blessed to have such a solid foundation. The three founding members make up the core of the band are very talented in their own right, and have established the standard for the band's message, signature harmonies, and hard driving music. They are Freddy Rakes on banjo, Gerald Harbour on mandolin, and Keith Clark on Bass Fiddle. Jerry Haga handles the sound duties for the band and he has been another real difference maker for the group.

Please look for The Churchmen in your area and please check out a performance schedule, bios, and more information on the band's website at www.TheChurchmen.com or at Pinecastle Records' website www.Pinecastle.com. Please contact Lance LeRoy at the Lancer Agency at 615-822-0222.

Band Update and News  -  Fall 2009

Well we did a little write up about Summer and since its fall now, and everything weather wise is certainly changing, I thought it was time for another update on the band. I love this time of year, the fall colors and cool weather, and its great when you have a chance to be outdoors and enjoy God’s great creation. Its great to serve The Lord of all who made it all!

I want to talk about some of the cool places we’ve been in the past few months and sprinkle in some band news. We enjoyed spending time in the hometown of our record company, Pinecastle Records. We did a show in one of the local parks in the beautiful town of Columbus, NC and really enjoyed eating dinner and spending time with Col. Tom Riggs. We are also pleased to announce a contract extension with Pinecastle and look forward to another 3 CD’s. Pinecastle is a top notch record label and we are very pleased with our association with them. We have really enjoyed some of the other great places that we’ve been. A few trips to the great state of Pennsylvania – people who really love music and are great friends. Again to Indiana for a couple of programs. Its always a thrill to be in the Midwest part of the country and see all of the beautiful flat land. I also want to brag a little about a park that’s close to us – Dominion Valley Park in Stuart, VA. We always enjoy being with Cecil and Barbara Hall and they have one of the nicest parks that you’ll ever see. Patrick County VA is beautiful and its where Gerald, Freddy, and myself get a lot of our heritage. Freddy and my families are from there, and Gerald grew up there with his family. A lot of our people still live in the Stuart / Woolwine area. It’s a great place. Another beautiful park is Denton Farmpark. If you’ve never been there you need to check it out and if you have been there then I know you’re going back. What a facility! Such a nice covered pavilion and all of the displays from yesteryear. Thanks to The Loflin Family for their hospitality and for having such a nice place for Bluegrass Music. Lastly for now it was really nice to play another show in the great state of Kentucky. Its been a little while since we’ve played in the home state of Bluegrass. We played at a wild game dinner to a nice crowd of about 1300. Grace Baptist Church in Winchester hosted the event and they had great speakers, great food and wonderful outreach to the men (and some women) of the community. Hope we get to go back and do it again.

One last piece of band news to share is to say welcome back to Rick Keen on the Dobro. We are really excited to have Rick back. He is a very talented young man and a lot of fun to be around. Hanging around young people helps keep the older ones of us young! If you have been keeping up with The Churchmen for long, you know this is Rick’s second tenure with the band. Rick is a crowd favorite and he is certainly one of the most exciting guys you’ll ever see at a Bluegrass concert.

Thanks for keeping up with us and please feel free to contact us if you need any additional information on The Churchmen. We hope to be in your area in 2010! God Bless.

                                                            Keith Clark and the Churchmen

 

Summer 2009 - "It's a great year"!

Well summer is definitely upon us and although its been really rainy in VA now its really hot! We are having a great year and we have really been enjoying the last few weeks. We were really glad to be a part of the fund raising concert for Larry Dean of the Dean Family. They are one of our favorite groups, and people in Central VA and all over really love them. The last that I heard they had raised more then $50,000 to help him with his battle with Spinal Cancer. Other than struggling with his walking, Larry was looking good and upbeat as always! We are looking for God to do great things and to bring Larry through this. Another highlight of that day certainly was having the opportunity to spend some time with one of our heroes - Jimmy Fortune. Jimmy is a great talent and we have always loved his singing. The songs that he has written and sang have been a great blessing. It was really cool when we had the opportunity to sing "Elizabeth" with the person who wrote and made that song famous! It was also nice to share some time with Jimmy while visiting on our bus. He said that it brought back a lot of memories to be back on the bus where he spent so much time while traveling with The Statler Brothers.

We have also played a lot of great places this year so far. We really enjoyed the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. It was our first time there, - it's a top notch venue and a great crowd. The Festival in The Pines, Pungo Strawberry Festival, The Rex Theater. Shenandoah Valley Sing, and our recent tour of Illinois and Indiana (just to mention a few) were all great and lots of fun. I got a tour of the lake front in Chicago and that was a blast. The Lord certainly has blessed us. The guys are really playing great. Tim and David are really fitting in with us very well and they are certainly a couple of the best players that we have had the privilege to be around. Jerry Haga is one of the best sound men in the business and its unbelievable the difference he has made in our sound.

A couple more things that I want to mention. We want to say congratulations again to David and his lovely wife Angela on the newest addition to their family. Eric Sheldon Guthrie was born on April 19, weighing 8 pounds, 9 ounces. David has a beautiful family and is a great guy.

The other thing is I want to say thanks so much to Tina Hogan for creating our my space page and maintaining it for us. Tina loves The Lord and loves Bluegrass and Gospel music, and wants to promote it and promote The Churchmen. Tina is a great friend to have and again many thanks go out to her. This site is really taking off and we are adding new friends daily. It's exciting! Well that does it for right now except for saying hope to see all of you soon. Please come out and see us if we're in your area. We look forward to talking to you all. This is our 20th (yeah I said 20th) year in Bluegrass Gospel and we want to keep on keeping on. With your help we can do that.
www.myspace.com/thechurchmen

Congratulations to David and Angela Again!

We want to congratulate David and his lovely wife Angela on the newest addition to their family! Eric Sheldon Guthrie was born on April 19, weighing 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Both Mom and Son are doing well. David says they are "happy and healthy". We have been praying for a safe birth with no complications and The Lord has certainly answered. David and Angela have another son, David Andrew Guthrie, Jr. "Andy", and 2 beautiful daughters Briana and Alayna. The Guthrie Family lives in Parkton N.C. The entire family are truly a blessing to us and we are so proud of them.

Press Release

Churchmen Win Honors from Powergrass Radio

Bluegrass Gospel group "The Churchmen" has been recognized by the popular web based radio dedicated to Bluegrass Gospel Music 24 hours a day. The web site named them as the 2008 Bluegrass Gospel Group of the Year and their latest release "I'll be Long Gone" as Album of the Year. The Churchmen record for Pinecastle records and their latest release is the 3rd project since joining with Pinecastle. The CD was released in mid-summer to radio with the retail release on November 4, 2008. Highlighted on the album is the song writing talents and voice of David Guthrie who joined the group January of 2007 and fiddle veteran Tim Smith joining September 2007.

The Churchmen are closing in on twenty years of performing and recording bluegrass gospel music.

New CD Getting Airplay

We are really thrilled about the airplay and attention that the new CD, "I'LL Be Long Gone", is getting. Several cuts from the project are showing up on playlists across the country. The CD has also showed up in the top 50 on the Roots Music Report for Bluegrass! Thanks to all of the DJ's and friends who are playing the songs and requesting them! Please call or e-mail your local DJ, XM, and Sirius to request Churchmen tunes. Thanks again!

"I'll Be Long Gone" in Stores!

We stated already we are really excited about our new CD, "I'LL Be Long Gone" that was released to retail on November 4th and seems to be doing really great. The project features 7 original tunes written by our own David Guthrie, along with Jason Barie, Rick Pardue, and Josh Manning. David penned 4 of the originals with Jason, Rick, and Josh each contributing one song each. The remaining songs are Bluegrass Gospel standards or re-makes with a new twist. We are truly thrilled to get the new band configuration recorded. David's lead vocals and Tim's fiddle playing certainly blended well with the Churchmen sound. This project features some contemporary tunes combined with the straight ahead Bluegrass that is a Churchmen trademark .We recorded the project again with Dale Perry producing at Lakeside studios and we believe is definitely our best effort to date. The CD is available now at Churchmen shows, on this website, The Music Shed, County Sales and in your favorite retail outlets.

Here are a couple of early quotes from DJ’s.

I got the new CD last week and played it Saturday and Sunday and the NUMBER ONE FAVORITE down here is "Rocked On The Deep" - that is some great stuff. The whole CD is GREAT. Keep ‘em coming. – Jimmy Strange WJFC FM Jefferson, TN & WMTN AM Morristown, TN

Whoa! Real Bluegrass Gospel ... old time, new time, anytime. Soul-stirring vocals and ultimate instrumentation. No doubt, many of these powerful songs will be chart-toppers. Bluegrass gospel at its best! - David M. Bissell www.PowerGrassRadio.com Salem, WV

This is our third project with Pinecastle Records and we want to thank Col. Riggs and his staff for their continued support. Please call or e-mail your local DJ’s, Sirius Radio, and XM Radio to request songs off of the new project.

SPBGMA Nomination for 2009

We are thrilled to report that The Churchmen have again been nominated by the SPBGMA organization for Bluegrass Gospel Group of the Year / Traditional for 2009. We are truly honored to be nominated for this award. We want to take this time to thank the fans and friends for nominating The Churchmen. We want to also ask for all of the attendees at the SPBGMA convention in February to consider voting for The Churchmen!

Thanks again to everyone who has voted for us in the past, and a big vote of appreciation to Chuck Stearman and his staff for the first class operation of SPBGMA and all of their events. We have been nominated for 16 years in at least one of the Gospel categories and that's very flattering and encouraging to us. Please visit the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America website at www.spbgma.com.

Spotlight on Jerry Haga - Sound Technician

The Churchmen have had a band for 19 years. Boy that’s a long time isn’t it? During those years we have ran our own sound or depended on the sound-men and sound-women at the concerts. Although that has worked out ok we are proud, and very excited to say that finally in 2008 those days are over! We have been greatly blessed with the addition of sound technician Jerry Haga. Jerry hails from the community of Horsepasture, VA. Jerry is a fellow member with band mate Gerald Harbour at Horsepasture Christian Church. He has been a great friend to the band for several years and the time was right for Jerry to join the band. Thanks to The Lord for bringing such great people our way! Jerry’s addition has allowed us to go back to using individual mics and this has been a real help to The Churchmen sound. Here is a biography on Jerry.

Jerry was born on May 08, 1951 in Clintwood, VA. He is an excellent musician in his own right and plays all woodwind instruments, specializing on the Saxophone. He started playing professionally in 1970 and took on a dual roll in 1973 to become Sax player and sound technician. Jerry played full time from ’73 until ’77. Jerry re-dedicated his life to The Lord 17 years ago and now plays primarily in church and uses his talents with The Churchmen.

Jerry has been married to his lovely wife Glennette for 29 years. They are the proud parents of 2 sons - Johnathon and Andrew.

Thanks again to Jerry and welcome on board to one of the finest guys that you would ever want to meet. Jerry is well known in the community for his charitable spirit and is a real team player for the band.

2010 Dates

God again blessed us with a busy year in 2009. We would like to thank our booking agents for their hard work! Keith Clark books the Bluegrass and Church venues, and Lisa Couch at Applause Central in Nashville, TN takes care of a lot of the other Gospel venues for us. We are booking for the 2010 seasons. We are looking forward to playing a lot of the shows that we do on an annual basis. Please contact Keith Clark at 276-340-5209 or e-mail dkeithclark@yahoo.com. or contact Lisa Couch at Applause Central at 931-487-9835 or applausecentral@charter.net.

We would like to mention again that although we enjoy playing festivals and other venues, that our hearts are still in ministering in churches. This has always been, and will continue to be, a priority for our group. If your church would like to have a Churchmen concert during a regular service or special event, please contact us! Thanks for your support.

Pinecastle Marketing and Tour Support

We have been in touch with the Marketing department at Pinecastle Records quite a bit lately and we are really pleased with some of the recent new touches. New marketing director Ethan Burkhart is doing a great job and we are enjoying working with him. Sara Bailey is handling the tour support duties now and Matt Hood is Radio Promotions director. Col. Riggs has assembled a great team and they are really working hard to support the Tours of all of the Pinecastle artists. We will be working on a promotional CD and they are sending out new posters to advertise events that we are involved in. They are also setting up a lot of nice promotional avenues for us to get the word out about The Churchmen, and about our personal appearances. Please contact them at www.pinecastle.com. or 1-828-894-0322. Great job folks!

Freddy and Glen Keep Coach Running Well

Well it's been almost seven years since we got our new coach and we want to thank God for the worry free travel that we have had with it! The bus has a great history as it was custom built for The Statler Brothers and it served them the last few years of their stellar career. This is the third bus that The Churchmen have owned and it's the first Eagle. We have always heard about that famous Eagle ride but now we have experienced it for ourselves, and it's true an Eagle does make it easier to sleep. It was a good time to upgrade our travel means since the years since we purchased it have been the busiest ever. As you know if you have been keeping up with the website for a while, that we have certainly covered a lot of ground. We have been able to see a lot of the country including Niagara Falls, the upper Mississippi River basin in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the Florida Everglades, the beautiful forests of Alabama and about everything in between, and we couldn't have made it without good transportation. We would also like to thank Easter's Coach Sales in Bassett, VA for helping us get our new bus. We have purchased all three coaches from Bobby and Karen and Junior Roberts and thank them for their help.

Thanks also to Freddy and Glen Clark (Keith's dad) for all of the great maintenance work that they do. They do a great job in keeping the coach maintained and on the road. Recently they installed a new radiator to keep the engine cool and running great! Thanks again guys and great work!

What people are saying.......

"The Churchmen are a fine group of entertainers, whose talents are indeed unique, whether in performance in ensemble or solo. It is always a pleasure to work with them."
The Lewis Family

"The Churchmen are a very talented group who play and sing with the kind of harmony that keeps you listening for more. I have known them since they started their group and I highly recommend them to anyone who loves good bluegrass gospel music."
Russell Easter, Sr.

"We have had the pleasure of performing with the Churchmen on several occasions, and it is always enjoyable. They have a fine group and are fine people."
Doyle Lawson

"The Churchmen are one of the fastest growing, hottest new sounds in Bluegrass Gospel Music today. We have worked with these guys a lot, and they really live what they sing. We highly recommend them to any- one for concerts."
Jeff and Sheri Easter

The Churchmen have been recognized with several honors over the years

1.        Multiple nominations for "Gospel Group of the Year" by The Society of Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA) spanning 15 years!

2.        Performance at the Ryman Theater for the Bluegrass Now Fan's Choice Awards

3.        Performance at multiple International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) show cases, and the IBMA Bluegrass Fan Fest

4.        Nominated for 2 Dove Awards, Gospel Music's most prestigious award, for Bluegrass Gospel album of the Year (2005) and Bluegrass Gospel Song of the Year (2007).

5.      Churchmen song "Get Onboard" was #1 on Bluegrass Now Magazine's Gospel Truths chart and remained on the chart for 3 ½ years.

About the Churchmen.......

 

 

Booking and Information
Keith Clark
172 Ferndale Court
Collinsville, VA 24078
(276)647-8518 or (276)340-5209
Click Here to Email The Churchmen Directly