The Chuck Wagon Gang
Encyclopedia
The Chuck Wagon Gang is a multi-award–winning Southern Gospel
musical group that was formed in 1936 by founding member D.P. (Dad) Carter with his son Jim(Ernest) and daughters Rose(Lola) and Anna(Effie). The "Gang" signed with Columbia Records
and remained with them for 39 years, At one point they were Columbia's number one selling group with excess of over 39 million in record sales.
By the late 1970s, the group was still touring but felt a lack of support from the label they had recorded for during the previous forty-one years. Columbia had stopped servicing their songs to radio; thus airplay had become non-existent. Roy and Ruth Ellen Carter talked about it. They asked each other the question: “What can we do to rebuild what Daddy started?” That became the aim: not to make money, but to truly dedicate themselves to rebuilding the group to the strongest position it had enjoyed in years past. It was at this point starting in 1979 that they began recording for Copperfield Records for several years.
The Chuck Wagon Gang has performed at Carnegie Hall
, the Hollywood Bowl
, and the Grand Ole Opry
. The group has been elected to the Gospel Music Association
's Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian Institution
's classic American recordings.
Dave Emery grew up in a musical family in Indiana
. He first heard of the Chuck Wagon Gang, from listening to the Mull Singing Convention
broadcast as a child. His father and brothers formed a quartet while his mother played the piano. During their travels they would often sing many of the old Chuck Wagon Gang songs that were found in the songbooks published by Mull.
Emery spent 20 years as a teacher in a Bible college and as a pastor while singing across the country. Later in the 1990s he joined the Blackwood Brothers in Branson, Missouri
, and even followed them to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
, where they still perform. He left Tennessee
and moved back to Branson to join the Branson Valley Quartet. During his time with that group, Ronnie Page invited Emery to join the Gang.
Emery and his wife Phyllis live in Nashville, Tennessee
.
Shaye Smith
Shaye Smith was born Nashville, TN and grew up in Baton Rouge, LA. She lived in Ft. Worth TX for eleven years, has lived in NC for the past five years. Shaye sings the alto for the Chuck Wagon Gang and is the granddaughter of the Gang's original alto, Anna Carter Gordon Davis and Howard Gordon, who was the group's guitarist for many years. She and husband Andy Smith and make their home in Hertford, NC. They have two sons, Ben and Noah.
Shaye holds two Bachelor's Degrees in Music (Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Music in Choral Conducting) and she arranges many of the Gang's new songs in preparation for recordings. Shaye was involved in many musicals and operas in college as well as choral and theater projects, and so feels completely at home on stage.
Shaye joined her Uncle Roy and the Chuck Wagon Gang in 1993 as soprano. She sang with the Gang until the Wagon was parked in 1996. In 1999, she helped get the group back on the road, eventually moving to her current position of alto. Of all her musical experiences, singing with the Chuck Wagon Gang is what she enjoys most, especially since she has the opportunity to continue the legacy that her grandmother and family began over seventy-four years ago. Shaye says the most important decision she ever made was on August 15, 1983, when she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. "Becoming a Christian gave my love for music a purpose. I devoted my life to Jesus and dedicated my voice to singing Gospel Music. I can't imagine being involved in music in any other form or fashion. The Lord has truly blessed me."
Julie Hudson
Julie Hudson was born and reared in Bedford, Indiana
, and was graduated from Olivet Nazarene University
. She obtained a degree in nursing in 1987. She has been an operating room nurse for 18 years.
Hudson moved to High Point, North Carolina
, where she became a music minister at her church. She was a member of concert and a cappella choirs and played the flute.
She resides in High Point
, North Carolina
, with her husband John, to whom she has been married for 18 years, and their 16-year-old daughter Brittany.
Stan Hill
Stan Hill was born and brought up in Knoxville, Tennessee
. Hill makes the list of tenors for the Chuck Wagon Gang. His voice and blend have helped to maintain the standards first taught by Dad Carter.
In addition to singing with the Chuck Wagon Gang, Hill sings with his wife and performs with other local groups and theaters in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Hill has been married to his wife Kathy for 25 years, and they have three children: Chris, 22; Brad,16; Rebekah,15.
Joe Rotten
Joe Rotton was born and raised in Union Springs, AL. All of his family including a daughter, son-in-law, and six 6 grandchildren still live in the area. In the mid 80’s he moved to Spartanburg, SC with his job at Bonnie Plant Farm. He is semi-retired from Bonnie Plants and continues to work for them during the spring planting season.
He grew up listening to Southern Gospel and singing in the choir at Macedonia Baptist Church. The main group he remembers hearing on the radio was The Chuck Wagon Gang. The first time he was able to see the Gang was in the mid-50’s at the Wally Fowler All-Nite Singings in Montgomery, AL. He attended many of these with his grandmother and uncle. Later in high school he picked up the guitar and played with the FFA band and other local groups for several years.
Joe continued to follow the Gang as a fan through the years. In the early 90’s Pat McKeehen was having back problems and Joe was asked to help Harold Timmons with the bus driving duties. Several years later, in 2004, the group relocated the headquarters from Ft. Worth, TX to Nashville, TN. It was then that Joe began driving to Nashville to again help drive the bus. Someone in the group mentioned it would be nice to have a bass player. Joe offered to learn and a few weeks later started playing with the gang.
Joe says, “This is like a dream come true to be playing with the group that I have been a fan of all my life.” “My only hobbies are The Chuck Wagon Gang and SEC football (in that order).”
Rose(Lola) Carter Karnes- Soprano
Anna(Effie) Carter Gordon- Alto
Jim(Ernest) Carter- Bass, Guitar
Shaye Smith is the granddaughter of the Gang's original alto, Mrs. Anna (Carter) Davis. Shaye has two bachelor's degrees in music and taught choir at Kings Mountain High School, close to her home in Shelby, North Carolina
for several years, till she rejoined the Gang in early 2010.
Shaye participated in musicals and operas while in college as well as choral and theater projects.
Rose Carter Karnes
Anna (Carter) Gordon Davis
Jim Carter
Jim Waits
Haskel "Hi-Pockets" Mitchell
Roy Carter
Eddie Carter
Howard Gordon
Ronnie Crittenden
Pat McKeehan
Greg Gordon
Vickie Gordon (Owens)
Ronnie Page
Bettye Goodwin
Ruth Ellen Yates
Shirley Carter
Patricia Neighbors
Harold Timmons
Debby Trusty
Anita Saylor
Kathy Watson
Renee' Martin
Darrell Morris
Jim Wesson
Rick Karnes
Melissa Kemper
Ronnie Page
Allen Thompkins
Penny Greene
Kelly Jennings
Source 'CWG 70th Ann. CD Cover'
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
musical group that was formed in 1936 by founding member D.P. (Dad) Carter with his son Jim(Ernest) and daughters Rose(Lola) and Anna(Effie). The "Gang" signed with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and remained with them for 39 years, At one point they were Columbia's number one selling group with excess of over 39 million in record sales.
By the late 1970s, the group was still touring but felt a lack of support from the label they had recorded for during the previous forty-one years. Columbia had stopped servicing their songs to radio; thus airplay had become non-existent. Roy and Ruth Ellen Carter talked about it. They asked each other the question: “What can we do to rebuild what Daddy started?” That became the aim: not to make money, but to truly dedicate themselves to rebuilding the group to the strongest position it had enjoyed in years past. It was at this point starting in 1979 that they began recording for Copperfield Records for several years.
The Chuck Wagon Gang has performed at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
, and the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. The group has been elected to the Gospel Music Association
Gospel Music Association
The Gospel Music Association was founded in 1964 for the purpose of supporting and promoting the development of all forms of Gospel music. There are currently about 4,000 members worldwide...
's Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
's classic American recordings.
Current members
Dave EmeryDave Emery grew up in a musical family in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
. He first heard of the Chuck Wagon Gang, from listening to the Mull Singing Convention
J. Bazzel Mull
Jacob Bazzel Mull was a Christian minister and religious broadcaster in East Tennessee.-Biography:Mull was the grandson of Wallace B. Mull, a circuit riding preacher in the 1800s...
broadcast as a child. His father and brothers formed a quartet while his mother played the piano. During their travels they would often sing many of the old Chuck Wagon Gang songs that were found in the songbooks published by Mull.
Emery spent 20 years as a teacher in a Bible college and as a pastor while singing across the country. Later in the 1990s he joined the Blackwood Brothers in Branson, Missouri
Branson, Missouri
Branson is a city in Taney County in the U.S. state of Missouri. It was named after Reuben Branson, postmaster and operator of a general store in the area in the 1880s....
, and even followed them to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875....
, where they still perform. He left Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
and moved back to Branson to join the Branson Valley Quartet. During his time with that group, Ronnie Page invited Emery to join the Gang.
Emery and his wife Phyllis live in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
.
Shaye Smith
Shaye Smith was born Nashville, TN and grew up in Baton Rouge, LA. She lived in Ft. Worth TX for eleven years, has lived in NC for the past five years. Shaye sings the alto for the Chuck Wagon Gang and is the granddaughter of the Gang's original alto, Anna Carter Gordon Davis and Howard Gordon, who was the group's guitarist for many years. She and husband Andy Smith and make their home in Hertford, NC. They have two sons, Ben and Noah.
Shaye holds two Bachelor's Degrees in Music (Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Performance and a Bachelor of Music in Choral Conducting) and she arranges many of the Gang's new songs in preparation for recordings. Shaye was involved in many musicals and operas in college as well as choral and theater projects, and so feels completely at home on stage.
Shaye joined her Uncle Roy and the Chuck Wagon Gang in 1993 as soprano. She sang with the Gang until the Wagon was parked in 1996. In 1999, she helped get the group back on the road, eventually moving to her current position of alto. Of all her musical experiences, singing with the Chuck Wagon Gang is what she enjoys most, especially since she has the opportunity to continue the legacy that her grandmother and family began over seventy-four years ago. Shaye says the most important decision she ever made was on August 15, 1983, when she accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior. "Becoming a Christian gave my love for music a purpose. I devoted my life to Jesus and dedicated my voice to singing Gospel Music. I can't imagine being involved in music in any other form or fashion. The Lord has truly blessed me."
Julie Hudson
Julie Hudson was born and reared in Bedford, Indiana
Bedford, Indiana
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,768 people, 6,054 households, and 3,644 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,157.1 people per square mile . There were 6,618 housing units at an average density of 556.2 per square mile...
, and was graduated from Olivet Nazarene University
Olivet Nazarene University
Olivet Nazarene University is a Christian institution of higher education located in the Kankakee, Illinois village of Bourbonnais. Named for Olivet, Illinois, ONU was originally established as a grammar school in east-central Illinois in 1907...
. She obtained a degree in nursing in 1987. She has been an operating room nurse for 18 years.
Hudson moved to High Point, North Carolina
High Point, North Carolina
High Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
, where she became a music minister at her church. She was a member of concert and a cappella choirs and played the flute.
She resides in High Point
High Point
High Point, in the northwestern part of New Jersey in Montague, Sussex County in the Skylands Region of New Jersey, is the highest elevation in the state at 1,803 feet . It is southeast of Port Jervis, New York. High Point is the highest peak of the Kittatinny Mountains.At the peak is the High...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, with her husband John, to whom she has been married for 18 years, and their 16-year-old daughter Brittany.
Stan Hill
Stan Hill was born and brought up in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
. Hill makes the list of tenors for the Chuck Wagon Gang. His voice and blend have helped to maintain the standards first taught by Dad Carter.
In addition to singing with the Chuck Wagon Gang, Hill sings with his wife and performs with other local groups and theaters in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Hill has been married to his wife Kathy for 25 years, and they have three children: Chris, 22; Brad,16; Rebekah,15.
Joe Rotten
Joe Rotton was born and raised in Union Springs, AL. All of his family including a daughter, son-in-law, and six 6 grandchildren still live in the area. In the mid 80’s he moved to Spartanburg, SC with his job at Bonnie Plant Farm. He is semi-retired from Bonnie Plants and continues to work for them during the spring planting season.
He grew up listening to Southern Gospel and singing in the choir at Macedonia Baptist Church. The main group he remembers hearing on the radio was The Chuck Wagon Gang. The first time he was able to see the Gang was in the mid-50’s at the Wally Fowler All-Nite Singings in Montgomery, AL. He attended many of these with his grandmother and uncle. Later in high school he picked up the guitar and played with the FFA band and other local groups for several years.
Joe continued to follow the Gang as a fan through the years. In the early 90’s Pat McKeehen was having back problems and Joe was asked to help Harold Timmons with the bus driving duties. Several years later, in 2004, the group relocated the headquarters from Ft. Worth, TX to Nashville, TN. It was then that Joe began driving to Nashville to again help drive the bus. Someone in the group mentioned it would be nice to have a bass player. Joe offered to learn and a few weeks later started playing with the gang.
Joe says, “This is like a dream come true to be playing with the group that I have been a fan of all my life.” “My only hobbies are The Chuck Wagon Gang and SEC football (in that order).”
Original Members
D.P. (Dad) Carter- TenorRose(Lola) Carter Karnes- Soprano
Anna(Effie) Carter Gordon- Alto
Jim(Ernest) Carter- Bass, Guitar
The Family Connection
Shaye Smith (Member 1994-2007, 2010–present)Shaye Smith is the granddaughter of the Gang's original alto, Mrs. Anna (Carter) Davis. Shaye has two bachelor's degrees in music and taught choir at Kings Mountain High School, close to her home in Shelby, North Carolina
Shelby, North Carolina
Shelby is a city in Cleveland County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 19,477 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Cleveland County.-Geography:Shelby is located at ....
for several years, till she rejoined the Gang in early 2010.
Shaye participated in musicals and operas while in college as well as choral and theater projects.
Former members
D.P. (Dad) CarterRose Carter Karnes
Anna (Carter) Gordon Davis
Jim Carter
Jim Waits
Haskel "Hi-Pockets" Mitchell
Roy Carter
Eddie Carter
Howard Gordon
Ronnie Crittenden
Pat McKeehan
Greg Gordon
Vickie Gordon (Owens)
Ronnie Page
Bettye Goodwin
Ruth Ellen Yates
Shirley Carter
Patricia Neighbors
Harold Timmons
Debby Trusty
Anita Saylor
Kathy Watson
Renee' Martin
Darrell Morris
Jim Wesson
Rick Karnes
Melissa Kemper
Ronnie Page
Allen Thompkins
Penny Greene
Kelly Jennings
Source 'CWG 70th Ann. CD Cover'
External links
- (http://www.copperfieldmusic.com Former Record Label For Chuck Wagon Gang and additional info/product)
- (http://www.chuckwagongang.com/) Historical Page For Chuck Wagon Gang