GROUP HISTORY
The Dixie Echoes got their start in 1960 when the Ole
Gospel Man himself, JG Whitfield, was stricken with what more than one man
has endured - diesel fuel in the blood. (For those of you who may be unfamiliar
with that incurable condition, it is the unquenchable desire to be on the
road, singing Southern Gospel Music.) Whitfield, only just a couple of years
earlier, had yielded his bass singing role of the Florida Boys to spend more
time at home. But as the country entered the first year of the '60s, the
desire to sing lured Whitfield to form another quartet that he named The
Messengers. In 1962, J.G. renamed the group to The Dixie Echoes Quartet.
It was in 1963 that the Dixie Echoes truly began to journey down the path
that would carve their place in Southern Gospel history.
An exciting young lead singer put his clothes in the Dixie
Echoes' bus closets for the first time and at that point, the name "Shelnut"
and the term "Dixie Echoes" became synonymous. "I guess most everyone would
agree that Dale Shelnut, my dad, gave the Dixie Echoes a little excitement,"
Randy fondly recalls. "He definitely was the audience's focal point when
the group was on stage. He was always into something. But it was more than
just his antics. He could sing - and I mean, really sing. He hit notes that
I'd be happy just to get close to. If he was in the mood to do it, he could
sing just as strong and as high as most tenors and then turn around and drag
the bottom with bass notes. Plus, it wasn't just what he could do vocally,"
Randy continues, "It was what he could do with a song. He could have a whole
audience in tears when he'd sing a tender ballad like 'My Real Home Is Up
There On High' and then tear the place apart with a spiritual like 'Trouble
In My Way.' In Dad, I guess, the Dixie Echoes had a group within a group.
And because of that, when people thought of the Dixie Echoes, they thought
of Dale Shelnut - and vice versa." So natural was this name-association that
hardly anyone was surprised when the announcement came in 1972 that Dale
Shelnut was the new owner of the Dixie Echoes. "JG had retired - again -
in 1966 to concentrate on his concert promotions and his new venture (something
called Singing News)," Randy goes on. "So, he turned everything over to his
brother Joe and Joe's wife, Sue, who had been with the group since day one.
"In late 1970, the Whitfields decided to come off the road and instead of
being absentee-owners, they sold the group to Dad.
Then, because half of the group was retiring, Dad set
to work replacing singers and pickers. "One of the first persons to be directly
affected by the new owner's management decisions was the owner's oldest son.
"I was already playing bass guitar for the group before Dad took over and
every now and then, they'd let me sing a 'special' during our concerts,"
says Randy. "Well, now that we had a need for a baritone singer - that's
the part Joe Whitfield sang - I think Dad decided that he might as well get
'two for the price of one,'" Randy laughs as he continues. "I've always wondered
if I got the job because he liked my singing or because he didn't have to
pay another salary!" Whatever the case may have been, Dale and Randy together
carried the Dixie Echoes' tradition for tremendous quartet singing for the
next eleven years. "There was a time, too, in the late '70s and very early
'80s, that we had another Shelnut on the bus," says Randy. "My brother Andrew
sang tenor for us for a few years, so everywhere you turned, you saw a Shelnut.
Randy Allred (son of the Florida Boys' Glen Allred) sang bass for us during
that time and I can remember many people coming up to the record table before
a concert wanting to know if he was a Shelnut, too."
On May 11, 1983, the Dixie Echoes and the entire Southern
Gospel Music world felt a gigantic loss when Dale died after suffering a
massive heart attack. "Frankly," admits Randy, "I believe a lot of people
wrote the Dixie Echoes off when they found out Dad had died. And in a way,
I understand why. He was such a key part of what we were - no, he was the
key part - and there was no way anyone could take his place. "But time had
a surprise for those who had thought the Dixie Echoes' days were over. "In
my heart, I just knew that Dad would want me to keep the Dixie Echoes on
the road singing Gospel Music. In fact, I believe he would have fully expected
me to do that." And that's exactly what Randy Shelnut has done. With the
exception of the first two years following Dale's passing spent as a trio,
the Dixie Echoes have continued a quartet tradition that JG Whitfield started
out of restlessness. And now, as the quartet is getting ever closer to it's
40th anniversary, Randy feels that the Dixie Echoes are just now really beginning
to hit their stride after the heartbreaking setback of 1983. "We've had some
tremendously talented people in the group since then," Randy reflects, "but
I think that if you'll consider the complete overall package, the current
line-up of Dixie Echoes is one of the best ever. It's the mesh of talent,
personalities and things like the quality songs that makes us a strong
team."
The Dixie Echoes of 2008 are Randy Shelnut (who now sings
lead), bass singer Pat Barker, tenor Wesley Smith, pianist Stewart Varnado
and baritone Randy "Scoot" Shelnut, Jr - the third generation of Shelnuts
to stand on the Gospel stage. Together, they make up a quartet that delights
audiences just as much as the group of 1960 did. "We still sing a lot of
the old songs that quartets have always done," says Randy. "Most every night,
we'll do songs like 'Just A Little Talk With Jesus' and 'How Great Thou Art.'
And then we throw in some spirituals, an instrumental or two, and of course,
we'll do some songs that are standards for the Dixie Echoes.
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