Virgil O. Stamps [1892 – 1940] was the older brother to Frank, and the first to inspire and promote southern-style gospel singing across America. Though he was a noted singer, writer, publisher, and pioneer recording artist, his greatest accomplishment was spreading gospel music through the “glory days” of radio. For several years his company counted many salaried quartets and more than 100 affiliated quartets on radio stations nationwide. After working for the Vaughan Music Company from 1915 into the early 1920s, Stamps launched out on his own in 1924 and founded the V.O. Stamps Music Company in Dallas, Texas. Two years later, Stamps merged the company with J. R. Baxter, Jr. to form the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company. By the late 1930s, it was the most successful publisher of shaped-note songbooks in America. The company’s annual Stamps-Baxter School of Music, that began in the mid-1920s, stood as the largest developer of gospel singers in Texas and throughout the South for more than four decades.
Tag Archives: radio
Glen Payne
Glen Weldon Payne [1926 – 1999] was born in Royce City (near Rockwall) in the middle of the Great Depression. His love for gospel music began at an early age when his grandfather took him to hear the Stamps Quartet. Early in his teens he attended the Stamps School of Music, and following his military service in the Forties, returned to teach at the school. During that time he sang with the Frank Stamps Quartet and the Stamps-Ozark Quartet. In 1957 he joined Earl Weatherford and the Weatherfords out of Oklahoma and from there formed a trio to sing for the Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron, Ohio in 1963.
During this time in Akron, Glen met Van Harris and married her in November 1958. Their children, Todd, Carla and Darla blessed them with several grandchildren – Glen was very much a family man.
Also during his time in Ohio, the trio soon became a quartet with the addition of George Younce and The Cathedral Quartet (the Cathedrals) became one of the most popular and recognized groups in Southern Gospel Music, spanning four decades.
Over his lifetime in Gospel Music, this native Texan was nominated for eleven Grammys and also honored for his music career by the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame, the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Radio Music Hall of Fame.
Johnnie High
From the farmlands outside of Waco, Johnnie High began his music career as a teenager hosting his own radio program. In those early days of strumming his guitar and recording many popular songs of the 40s and 50s, his love for music, and support for Texas artists began to grow. When he made his way to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Johnnie was producing recordings and music shows all over town, beginning with the Grapevine Opry! Before his death, for over four decades, the Johnnie High Country Music Revue was the longest running, most successful weekly music show in the entire Southwest! Most every program through those many years has included all kinds of Gospel Music – and usually featured his own “regular” Gospel Quartet utilizing lots of great Texas talent!