I wanted to alert you folks that we have a brand new recording project available! It’s titled Classics Vol. 2 - In The Good Old Days. It’s our very first project to feature our newest member Insco “Sonny” Rue. He does a great job and I know you are going to appreciate his tenor voice. As you would suspect, it’s another compilation of some of our favorite older songs, like: Just a Little Talk with Jesus; City of Gold; The Eastern Gate; The Statute of Liberty, and of course the title song; In the Good Old Days, plus several more. The recording will be available to sample and/order very soon on our “Music” page, but if you want a copy immediately just send your order instructed for the other titles and ask for this project by name and we’ll send it right out.

PS: Remember, these recordings make great gifts for all occasions………

May 19, 2008

WOW! That’s my pastor’s greatest expression of wonder and awe. I’ve been sitting here on this Monday morning, as with most Mondays, allowing my (no longer young) body to recoup from another great weekend of singing and thinking about what to report to you guys. As I began to reflect on recent activities of the group and myself in particular, I was just overcome with grateful appreciation, wonder and awe at His goodness and the blessings He keeps pouring out. WOW!

Thanks to all of you who have hosted the Patriots since our last news post. We’ve managed to travel and meet our obligations even though the fuel prices are about $1.00 per mile in that old bus. I know the price of fuel is affecting every part of your lives, but please remember to pray for all gospel-singing troubadours as we try to fulfill God’s calling on our lives. Many groups have already found it necessary to quit or severely curtail travel. We are doing a lot of praying and searching for ways to continue the ministry. Please help us pray.

We began April with a fun time at Claylick Methodist on the 6^th. This is David and Marie’s home church and Joe’s former pastorate where the Patriot Quartet was born. Later that day we traveled over to Scott County and renewed acquaintances with Bro. John Cravens and the folks at the White Sulfur Baptist church. They are just a great bunch. We enjoyed our visit and look forward to coming back some time.

We were honored to be invited to be a part of the Joe Chioda’s Streets of Gold Live held at the Word of Life Ministries church in Greensburg, Pennsylvania the last weekend in April. It was a real pleasure to sing to and visit with all the fine folks attending, and renew friendships with the other groups taking part in the program. Our special thanks go to the members of the Faith Harmony Boys from Charleston, West Virginia who did a great job running sound, keeping the performers on track and the stage set for each upcoming group. Another big “thank you” to Mr. Garry Sheppard for doing his usual great job as MC and performer. Thanks again, Joe, for inviting us.

We continued travel with a visit to the First Nazarene Church of Murfreesboro, Tennessee for a fine service and general good time with Brother Sam Hughes and the folks there. Finally, we finished out the month of March with a concert at the Danville First Baptist, Danville, Ky. This is Ensco’s (Sonny) home church where he serves as Deacon. We tried to show them what he was doing when absent from the congregation. I think they approved. Thanks, guys, for letting us having him. He’s doing a great job as a vital member of the Patriot Quartet.

May began well with a guest appearance at our good friend Crystal Collins’ Homecoming sing in Salyersville, Ky. Thanks again, Crystal, for inviting us and for the great time we had with you and your folks. It’s always good to see you and hear you sing. We also enjoyed the other artists you had there, and especially good to see our friend, Cheryl Jackson, who as you know wrote the song “He Stood There” that we recorded on the Standing for God and Country project.

May 10^th we were honored to be part of a Gospel Singing Showcase in the “Big Barn” at Renfro Valley, Mt Vernon, Ky. We thoroughly enjoyed the day and all who participated. Our special thanks to Sharon Stevens and the rest of the Renfro Valley staff who did such a great job of making sure everyone sounded the best they could. I believe everyone was pleased with the results and hope this showcase will continue there.

This last weekend we just absolutely had ourselves “more fun than a human should be allowed.” (Where have I heard that phrase before?) We had three great concerts, close to home (lower fuel costs), and everyone was in good voice! We began Saturday with an afternoon of worship and revival at Friendship Valley Baptist Church, near Big Hill, Ky where we sang, ate barbeque, sang again and then heard a good revival sermon. Man do those folks know how to treat a group of old gospel singers! Thanks to our brother Emerson McAfee for the invitation and to all the folks we met and made friends with while there. From Big Hill we traveled up to Lewis County where we worshiped with the congregation of the Tollsboro Methodist Church on Sunday. We have become good friends with this group of folks over the past several years and always have a great time with them. As usual they nearly “sang us to death.” (That’s Kentucky talk for they really liked it and showed their enthusiasm.) We sang for the morning service, ate a wonderful meal and then sang again. Personally, just between us, I don’t see how some of our guys (Joe, Sonny, etc.) can sing at all after eating so much! Of course I would never be guilty of that€¦€¦.(Ha) Anyway, we finished our weekend tour by hurrying home to Lawrenceburg for a concert at the Anderson Christian Church. Many of the folks who came out to hear us are close personal friends and supporters of the Patriot Quartet and several have been my life long friends.

As of this date it looks like we will be off for the next couple of weeks. After that we have a fairly full schedule for June. Please pray for us in the upcoming months. There is a lot of uncertainty ahead, but we are determined to keep doing what the Lord has given us to do.

May God bless each of you and may God Bless America.

Well folks, we finally made it through March and are hoping not to be “fooled” by April. I say it that way because we had several chances to grow our patience in march ( the bible says that tribulation maketh Patience, doesn’t it?). We began the month with a wonderful visit with our good friends at Harmony Hill Baptist, in New Matamoras Ohio and then on to Mt Vernon Baptist, Scott Depot, WV. Mt Vernon is always a favorite stop for me personnally, because I get to visit with my son Johnson, his wife Lea and my best fans Sarah, Ashley and Katie and sing to some great folks too! We ended the month with another very good tour, going to Vandergrift presbyterian Church in Vandergrift ,Pennsylvania; back to the New Town First Baptist near Cincinnati, Ohio, and finally; back to the Mackville Methodist Church, Mackville Ky. Both these trips were wonderful. However, the middle of the month was where we learned all that patience (I hope). Between weather and the flu bug, we didn’t get to sing at all between the first and the last weekend in March! We even had to cancel a trip to eastern North Carolina that we had been looking forward to. Ouch, that hurt. Oh well, looks like April is shaping up well, with a number of church concerts and a couple of conventions. Please check our schedule for more information and come join us whenever you can. Until next time, just keep on doing with all your might what the Lord has asked of you. He’ll bless you for it.

March 18, 2008. Springing Forward!!! Just praising and trusting the Lord!

I hope this finds each of you doing the same and looking forward to what He has in store for you this spring. As I watch the grass turning green, small flowers blooming, animals making nests and hear the birds singing, I too feel a new surge of energy and enthusiasm. I’m reminded that we all are a part of God’s great natural creation and share in this wonderful rejuvenation of body and spirit we call SPRING. Thank you Lord!

The Patriots are certainly ready for spring. We’re looking forward to a renewing of our calling, the wisdom and patience to trust the Lord for direction, and the faith, strength, and energy to enthusiastically obey. So far this year we’ve experienced a mixture of great blessing and hard times. We’ve been blessed with the unfailing presence of the Holy Spirit in our concerts, with the love and prayerful support of our friends, new and old, and with the completion of a brand new recording. That’s just a short list of them. However, we’ve been beset by the devil as well. It seems that since we began last December to follow God’s leading toward a slightly new ministry direction, we’ve been having an unusually large number of problems. A short list would include: bus repairs; fuel prices (I know, everyone has that one); concert cancellations (weather related or sickness); poor concert attendance (also weather and sickness related); and finally, several rather large unplanned bills, resulting in a total draining of our bank account. I can only conclude that we must be on the verge of doing some great work for the Lord for the devil to try so hard to stop us! I can’t wait!

Our new radio single “We Don’t Have Time” written by and featuring our talented baritone, David Combs has gone out to radio stations all across the country. It’s a great song from our recording Standing for God and Country that zeroes in on how we sometimes think we don’t have time to do what the Lord wants us to do, but we know who is the true Master of our time. I hope you’ll “take the time” to call your local station and ask for “We Don’t Have Time.” We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our newest recording titled Classics II - In the Good Old Days. It’s a compilation of eleven more of our favorite gospel songs of the 60’s and 70’s. Several of the songs feature our brand new tenor, Sonny Rue (I like it anyway, heh, heh). The recording is getting very good marks from those who’ve given it an early listen, and I think you’ll like it too. We should have the finished CDs around the middle of April. You can order early by e-mailing me at www.gabhartd@bellsouth.net and forwarding a check for $18.00 ($15.00 + 3.00 postage).

Please pray for us as we press on through some uncharted waters for us. We are praying that some of you will feel God leading you to partner with us financially in our ministry. We’d like to ask you to pray about supporting us on a monthly basis, and then follow the Lord’s leading, whether it’s yes or no. Until next time, enjoy God’s great gift of Spring!

Happy New Year! As I write this it’s the 2^nd day of 2008 and I just can’t quite get that to sink in. I’ve only just very recently got used to writing 07, and here we go again. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in 08. Actually, He’s already given us a great blessing with the great watch night service the Patriots were part of at the Sand Spring Baptist Church in Lawrenceburg Kentucky. We shared the program with Lawrenceburg’s own trios Jubilation (all male) and the Hilltop Trio (all female), as well as, One Voice, a brother/sister duet from Crab Orchard Kentucky and the Calvary Heirs, another male quartet from the London Kentucky area. Mr. Larry Briscoe and his program committee did an outstanding job of putting the program together. Each group was different than the others but all were very good. Adding to my personal enjoyment was the wonderful fellowship we experienced both on and off the stage. Most of those in attendance were already old friends, so whether we were in the audience or on the stage we were enjoying great gospel music while looking into the smiling faces of Christian friends. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Most of December we enjoyed a brief vacation from traveling. We haven’t been idle, however. During the last three weeks or so we have been working preparation for a new recording project. This will be a “Classics” II featuring some more old favorite southern gospel songs. This will be our first recording featuring the Patriot’s newest member, Ensco “Sonny” Rue, at tenor. He’s been received extremely well by audiences everywhere we have been with him and is building his own following of fans (I just can’t see why people carry on so over tenors anyway.)

Please listen for (and request often) our new, soon to be released, radio single “WE DON’T HAVE TIME” written and featuring our own David Combs. We are told this song will be on the first compilation disk to radio from the Eddie Crook Company for 2008 and should be arriving at radio stations accross the country in the next few weeks.

For those of you who have asked, we really do have a schedule for 2008 and it, or part of it should be up on this site today. I and the other Patriot member in charge of posting the schedule (Joe) pledge to do a better job of keeping this site updated this year. I know many of you depend on us to keep you informed. I encourage you to drop us a note when you can as well. Your support and encouragement is very important to us.

Please pray for us as we begin another year of serving the Lord. We are not always certain what direction He will take us but we want to always follow His bidding. May God bless you as you do the same.

Come Celebrate with the Patriot Quartet and friends at the 4^th annual Patriot Homecoming sing. This event will be held Friday and Saturday October 26 and 27 at 7:00 pm each night. The site will again be the Lawrenceburg United Methodist Church located on the corner of US 127 Bypass and Carlton Drive, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. We’re sure to have a great time with such guests as Lawrenceburg’s own Hilltop Singers to kick things off on Friday night, followed by the very popular Jay Stone Singers. Saturday night will feature talented singer, songwriter and actress Cheryl Jackson, followed by the Called Out Quartet, an excellent group of young men whose popularity continues to rise across the country. Of course, the Patriots will also be singing each night. The church doors will be open for all to come. However, there will be someone at the sanctuary doors to accept donations to help defray the costs of bringing these good groups to Lawrenceburg. We would suggest $10 per person as a reasonable goal for those able to help, but all donations, large or small will be much appreciated. Most of all we desire your prayers and presence for these nights of praise and celebration of the blessings we all enjoy as saved sinners and as Americans!

Since my last posting (and I’ve been dutifully chastised for taking so long) the Patriots have been very busy doing what the Lord has called us to do. We’ve sung to and worshiped with a lot of folks in such places as Akron, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; St. Louis, Missouri; Renfro Valley, Kentucky and lots of points in between. God just continues to bless us everywhere we go with the presence of His Spirit and with the blessed fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ. We truly love seeing old friends and making new ones.
The National Quartet Convention was great time of seeing old friends and making the acquaintance of many new ones. We hope all of you who came by will remember to mention us to the Father and will stay in contact with us. The Patriots were pleased to sing at an NQC showcase on Monday afternoon. I hope you were there. We certainly enjoyed ourselves for the brief time we were on stage and want to give a great big thank you to our friends in the crowd who supported us so well!
On a personnel note, we do have some sadder news. Jerry Shepherd, our long time tenor and brother has found it necessary to once again leave us for medical and family responsibilities. You may recall that he returned to us a little over a year ago after being gone for a few months due to medical problems. Since his return, the Lord has used him in a mighty way, both in his singing, in giving his personal testimony of the Lord’s grace in his life, and through the book Angels At The Crossroads by Ann H.Gabhart. It’s a biographic story of his tormented young life as a professing Christian who was also a drug addict, alcoholic and eventually convicted felon on whom God never gave up or forsook. The twists and turns in his life through his rededication and work for the Lord in prison and his eventual release is so compelling many have told us they stayed up all night reading the book. We, the Patriots, will surely miss Jerry and his antics on and off the stage. Please join us in prayer for him and his family as they start this new chapter in their life. Jerry plans to continue singing as a soloist and giving his testimony when the opportunity arises. May God richly bless you, Jerry and Connie. We love you both.
God is good! He always provides abundantly. When Jerry took his “leave” last year, the Lord almost immediately provided the perfect man for the time in Paul Stearman. This time it’s taken us a little longer but we believe God has lead us to just the right person to fill our tenor position again. His name is Ensco “Sonny” Rue. Sonny and his wife, Judy live in Danville, Kentucky where Sonny owns and operates his own insurance business. He (like the rest of us) is a “mature” man with many years experience in a variety of music genres, including a couple of stints in a southern gospel quartet. Although Sonny has already filled in a couple of times, we will be “officially” introducing him to our friends at the upcoming Patriot Homecoming Celebration. He will be taking over the tenor position full time at the end of October. We, including Jerry, believe the Lord has again brought us together with the right person and we are grateful to Him. God is indeed good!
This weekend begins with a Friday night visit to the Kentucky Gospel singing convention being held at the Convention Center in Cave City, Kentucky. We look forward to seeing a lot of our good friends there. From there we go on to Fairmount, Illinois and our friends at the Greer building for another great time at their Saturday night gospel concerts. On Sunday we travel just back up the road to the Central Park Church of Christ in Tilton, IL. We look forward to visiting and singing with these folks. They have become our very dear friends and staunch supporters. It’s gonna be a great weekend!
Until next time, may God richly bless you.
DG.

Hello my friends.f Well, here we go again with (an attempt of) an update on the Patriot Quartet. First, I have a small confession to make. You haven’t seen an update for a while due to my aggravation with this computer! A couple of weeks ago, I spent hours bringing our readers up to date on the comings and goings of the group only to loose it all when I attempted to publish it to our site!!! Not being on the best of terms with this contraption to start with, I almost swore off completely! OK, what actually happened was that I had myself a nice Christian fit! Ah, confession is good for the soul. I feel better.