Walking On Into Day Two - Silver Dollar City's Southern Gospel Picnic

Day 2 of Silver Dollar City’s Southern Gospel Picnic is now in the books. I caught seven different shows with six different artists including a surprise artist. Two of the artists, I got to see for the first time live!

LeFevre Quartet

My morning started with the LeFevre Quartet. I hadn’t seen the group with the current lineup of Mike LeFevre, Jordan LeFevre, Brandon Barry and Thomas Nalley. They had a really strong set with the highlight being “Rainbow of Love,” where Brandon and Thomas got to show off their vocals. I also love that they sang “Come and See,” probably my favorite song of the group’s. Brandon also was featured on “Lead Me All the Way.” This was a great fun song to see live!

Dunaways

Next, I went to see the Dunaways who I actually saw twice today. They repeated several in the two shows I saw, but since this was my first time seeing the group live, I certainly didn’t mind. I love that they sang “Didn’t I Walk on the Water” in both shows! I cannot get enough of that song! They also sang from their recent release “Church in the Kitchen,” another fun one to see live. Before they sang it, they led the congregation in “Rock of Ages.” There were several songs that were new to me that I really enjoyed hearing, “Again and Again” and “Reassure Me.”

I also caught two show of the Mark Trammell Quartet. They sang a good mix of older songs and songs from their newest release. They sang a few new ones that I didn’t get to hear yesterday like “When the King Comes to Claim His Throne” and “I’ll Take It to the Grave.” It seemed that audiences cannot get enough of “Your Walk Talks.” I think this must have been requested in every show! I also got to hear Randy Byrd sing “Side by Side,” funny moment! They also ended each show with “The King Is Coming.” I never get tired of hearing this song!!

Gordon Mote

Gordon Mote was another person I got to see for the first time. He had an incredible set! He started with “Get Up In Jesus’ Name” and then sang “When I Lift Up My Head.” He then sang “Faith Like That,” absolutely love that song and definitely the highlight for me!! He started playing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” on the keyboard. He talked about what strong faith his parents had and how they raised him in a Christian home. He told a little bit of his testimony. I didn’t realize that both he and his brother had been born blind. His parents knew that God had a hand in their lives. He learned to play piano at age 3. His mother taught him the old hymns of the church, and he said those are the songs that ministered to him the most through the years. He also led the audience in “Through It All.” He also sang “Maplewood Methodist Church.” Great song! He was going to end on “Good Ole Gospel Ship,” but Duane Garren (who serves as emcee) requested that he sing one more. A man shouted out “Thank You Lord” and then another man shouted out “Mercy Walked In.” He said that he heard “Thank You Lord” first so started playing and asked that the audience join in. Then as a surprise he sang the chorus of “Mercy Walked In” to end the set.

In Echo Hollow, the Isaacs were scheduled to perform, but we got a special surprise! The Old Paths are on the Showboat Branson Belle today, but came out to sing a few for us! They sang “Ever Since That Wonderful Day,” “Oh What a Savior” and “I Passed Over Into Canaanland.” This group poured their hearts into those songs and the audience loved it!!! So glad I got to see them sing again!

Then the Isaacs took the stage, and they looked a little different than normal. Ben was not with them due to family obligations. Sonya said it was the first time he had missed in 15 years. Becky and Sonya’s husbands and Levi (Becky’s son) were with them helping out. It was different without Ben but definitely good to see and hear John Bowman and Jimmy Yeary on stage!

They started the night with “Walk On.” They sang several favorites of mine like “If That Don’t Make You Wanna Go,” “Get On Board” and “He Ain’t Never Done Me Nothing But Good.”

It was another scorcher outside, but that didn’t stop the Isaacs from putting everything they had into the hour and a half. Lily made the same comment Brian Free did the night before about it being a good time for the ice bucket challenge. Haha! It might be interesting to see how many times that comment is made over the week.

Lily read an excerpt from her book You Don’t Have to Cry Out Loud. She talked about her dad and regretted that she didn’t get to know her dad like she wanted to. She waited until it was too late. Then they sing “In the Living Years.”

John got to sing one of his songs “God’s Not Dead.” Levi and Jackobi (Becky’s daughter) also joined the whole family for “Walk Together Children.” This was one of Jackobi’s first appearances on stage. They did a great job! John sang the Bill Gaither bass part. Levi was featured on “It’s Good to Be Back Home Again.”

Jimmy sang the multi-award winning country song he wrote “I Drive Your Truck.” He told the story of how they wrote it. He and Sonya also sang “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” that they wrote.

They sang a few a cappella songs with Jimmy, Lily, Sonya and Becky like “The Lord’s Prayer.” They planned to end on “I’ll Fly Away,” but the audience requested them sing one more. They obliged and ended with an amazing a cappella version of “How Great Thou Art.” What a way to end the second day!