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As the sports world is abuzz with talk of the NCAA Tournament bracket, we soldier on to the second round of our Championship Quartet Tournament.  Today we will vote on the second round matchups in the Tenor and Lead brackets.  There are, in my opinion, some extremely interesting matchups here:

TENORS

Ernie Haase vs. David Sutton

Jay Parrack vs.  Chris Allman

Danny Funderburk vs. David Phelps

Ernie Phillips vs. Brian Free

LEADS

Glen Payne vs. Jim Hamill

Arthur Rice vs. Gerald Wolfe

Ivan Parker vs. Guy Penrod

Kenny Hinson vs. Ronnie Booth

Happy voting!  Let us know in the comments how you voted and what you think of the matchups! Continue reading

In a life that was ended way too early, Jason Camp passed away on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. Jason was a founding member of the Kingsboys and later played with the Rabbit Easter Band. Most recently he traveled with his family group, The Camp Family. I didn’t know them personally, but my family was certainly touched by their music. My little girls favorite group is the Camp Family and we were devastated yesterday to learn of his death. We were in the studio laying tracks for my family’s new project and Steven Bishop, the drummer playing with us, told us of the sad news. Steven used to travel with the Rabbit Easter band with Jason.

Please pray for the 3 girls and wife that Jason leaves behind.  I know his group wasn’t as well known as bigger groups, but the impact they’ve made on my family we’ll never forget.  Here’s a clip of The Camp Family singing “I Thank You Lord”, one of my girls’ favorite songs.

This is a video from the Rabbit Easter Band:

I closed the Bass Bracket first round voting this morning. The response was back up to the levels of the Lead and Tenor Brackets. Thanks for the participation! There were no major upsets here, with one possible exception.

George Younce dominated like only his colleague of 35 years did, beating Gerald Williams 72-3.
Armond Morales and Brock Speer really tightened up at the end, but the smooth Morales held off Speer, 38-36.
In what may be considered a slight upset, Kingdom Heir Jeff Chapman edged former Kingdom Heir Eric Bennett 39-35.
J.D. Sumner maintained a double-digit lead all the way, defeating Glenn Dustin 43-31.
Big Chief easily bested his contemporary, London Parris, 52-22.
Mike Holcomb won impressively over Ray Dean Reese, 45-29.
Tim Duncan edged the elder statesman Rex Nelon, 40-35.
Tim Riley dominated Ed O’Neal, 64-10.

After one complete round, here are the top 10 most dominant individuals, by percentage of votes:
Glen Payne – 98.7%
George Younce – 96.0%
Mark Trammell – 89.2%
Tim Riley – 86.5%
Chris Allman – 74.4% (13 seed)
Jay Parrack – 73.1%
David Sutton – 72.7%
Mark Lowry – 72.7% (13 seed)
Ernie Haase – 71.6%
Big Chief – 70.3%

Here are the groups with the most first round wins (with their first round win-loss records)
Cathedrals: 6-2
Gold City: 5-3
Kingsmen: 4-5
Singing Americans: 4-3
Greater Vision: 4-0
Weatherfords: 4-0
Kingdom Heirs: 3-4
Gaither Vocal Band: 3-1
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound: 3-0

Other groups with four or more entrants were the Statesmen (2-5 record), Triumphant (2-2), the Blackwood Brothers (1-3), and the Masters V (1-3).

Individuals who are actively touring with a major group or solo (yes, subjective) were 21-11 in the first round.
Individuals who were at their “peak” of popularity prior to 1975 (kinda subjective again), were 3-10.
Individuals who were seeded 12, 13, 14, or 15 in their 16-singer bracket were an impressive 8-8 over their higher seeded counterparts.

Here is a link so you can see the actual bracket as it stands right now! (It’s a scanned pdf…pardon the handwriting!)

Quartet Bracket

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We wrap up the first round of our tournament with the Bass Bracket. As always, just vote for your favorites in each matchup. Will there be another big upset, or will the legends get through? You will decide. Here are the matchups:

George Younce vs. Gerald Williams
Armond Morales vs. Brock Speer
Eric Bennett vs. Jeff Chapman
J.D. Sumner vs. Glenn Dustin
Big Chief Wetherington vs. London Parris
Mike Holcomb vs. Ray Dean Reese
Rex Nelon vs. Tim Duncan
Tim Riley vs. Ed O’Neal

The Baritone Bracket didn’t generate a whole lot of “controversy” in the first round compared to others, but it did produce the closest match yet. There were 66 ballots cast, and #66 broke a tie. Here are the results:

Mark Trammell dominated Parker Jonathan, 58-7.
In one of the more intriguing matchups, Doug Anderson narrowly defeated Glen Allred, 35-31.
The youth movement is still in full effect, with Scott Inman routing Eldridge Fox, 45-20.
Mark Lowry is still very popular, and that was on display as he beat Cecil Blackwood 48-18.
Mike LeFevre and Jim Brady were close all the way, but Brady finished on top, 35-31.
Rodney Griffin led all the way despite a nice challenge from Daniel Riley, winning 38-27.
The venerable Ed Hill easily dispatched Steve French, 39-26.
On the very last ballot cast, Legacy Five’s Scott Howard pulled ahead of the great Doy Ott, 33-32.

Former Statesmen Quartet members, four of them Hall-of-Famers, are now 0-5 in this competition, including the stunning upsets of Jake Hess and Doy Ott. Two more former Statesmen will have a shot tomorrow in the Bass Bracket. Greater Vision is a perfect 4-0 going into the second round (for some reason they didn’t have a bass make the tournament).

Here are the matchups you will see next week in the second round of the Baritone Bracket:

Mark Trammell vs. Doug Anderson
Scott Inman vs. Mark Lowry
Jim Brady vs. Rodney Griffin
Ed Hill vs. Scott Howard

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It’s time to start working on the lower end of our championship quartet. They’re usually not the ones out front, but they are the glue that holds the quartet together. So, who’s your favorite glue guy? Here are the first round matchups. Click above to cast your vote!

Mark Trammell vs. Parker Jonathan
Doug Anderson vs. Glen Allred
Eldridge Fox vs. Scott Inman
Cecil Blackwood vs. Mark Lowry
Mike LeFevre vs. Jim Brady
Rodney Griffin vs. Daniel Riley
Steve French vs. Ed Hill
Doy Ott vs. Scott Howard