On Gospel Singers
George Amon Webster's brother came to visit him in Daytona Beach, from Arkansas.
Never seen the ocean, so George took him to the beach.
They walked right up to the water, and looking out over the vast Atlantic Ocean George said, well....whatta you think?
His brother stared a minute & said.........I thought it would have been bigger.
Glen Payne, (the great Glen Payne), went back to see his family in Rockwall, Texas.
He ran into an old friend who asked him, "did you ever get a real job, or are you still sangin?"
A few years ago, David Reese, who was one of my favorite people, and I were backstage at the Grand Old Gospel Reunion in Greenville, S.C., swapping a little humor.
Up walked a midget, far less than four feet tall, who had known David when he was with the Rangers Qt. from Dallas, long years ago.
They exchanged pleasantries for a short time, (no pun intended), and when the nice man walked away, David looked me in the face with a most serious expression and said......he was a teller in a piggy bank.....
"Little Troy" was about one or two inches short of five feet tall.
He lived in Atlanta, and would ride the bus and do solo work with just about all the Quartets during that era.....Blue Ridge, LeFevres, Statesmen, the Oaks, and others.
He had the ability to obtain the sympathy, and unabashed tears from an audience, with his testimony, which sometimes included the story of his retarded son, who he had to keep tied out in the yard in the day time, because he was so bad he would destroy the house if left unattended.
Who could sit dry eyed, and not throw silent money at the offering plate, after hearing this heart wrenching story of such a pitiful child who was so adored by his family.
Little did anyone know that he did not have a retarded son, nor a rope to tie him up with, and probably not even a yard.
One night we were in California in a very large church, which was filled to capacity.
Little Troy was doing his solo stand, and he had the congregation in the palm of his hand. You could almost hear the tears falling on the carpet.
About this time a mother and her small child got up and walked toward the back of the church, probably to take the child to the rest room.
Little Troy stopped....looked over to the side and said to Smitty Gatlin, "Son, come out here and take over, I can't do this anymore, they're leaving on me."
Two people...
I thought Smitty was going to send him back to Atlanta....to take care of his retarded son, his yard, and his rope.
I've seen him bum a cigarette from Herman, and hide from him, to smoke it.
I know all the other groups have plenty of stories about Little Troy Lumpkin.
He was really a trip....on every trip.
If anyone would like stories about any of the "old timers" in the Gospel music field, let "Willie" hear from you. I'll bet you I know some.
Cletus & Company
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