Oct. 9, 1971: The Keystones
Superstar alert! See the Footnote:
Oct. 9, 1971
Riding the Gospel Circuit
Keystones Make
Travel the Country by Bus
“Years of time have
come and gone
Since I
first heard it told
How my
Jesus would come back to earth again.
If back
then it seemed so real
Then I
just can’t help but feel
How much
closer His Coming is today.
* * *
For the
sins of the times are everywhere,
There’s a
brand new feeling in the air.
Keep your
eyes upon the Eastern sky,
Lift up your head, redemption draweth nigh.”
That’s “Redemption Draweth Nigh.” And The Keystones belted it
out behind Joe Bonsall’s tremory tenor at least twice this week at the
International Gospel Music Convention, saving it for last because it’s the one
that brings crowds to their feet.
“When you say gospel,” Joe says, “most people think of a hallelujah
tent meeting. But our type of Nashville-oriented gospel has a bit of everything
in it. It’s part country, part pop and part traditional.”
New to the Northeast, country gospel’s been popular in the
South and
“We don’t promote a religion and we don’t promote any special
church. We’re entertainers more than anything else,” Joe says. “But I think
there’s a real message here that people can take and apply to their lives.”
* * *
THE KEYSTONES are
second cousins to the gospel singers you hear late at night on AM radio, coming
in from someplace like KXEL,
But they’re modern cousins. City cousins. Their hair falls
over their ears. Their clothes are bright and stylish. And they carry a sound
system that would rival a few rock groups.
Last year The Keystones went down to
But this time they were one of some 50 groups with a
performers’ booth of their own. They left
* * *
ALL OF which
goes to show how far The Keystones have risen in the last year.
And since it was Joe Bonsall’s first year of managing and
promoting them, he’s proud of it as he sits in the group’s upper Elmwood Avenue
office behind the sign singer David Will made for his desk: “Bouncing Bonsall:
The Big Boss.”
The year also has seen them sign with a major
And bear-like pianist and musical arranger Garland Craft has
an album all his own.
“The group has worked hard for this and some of us have
sacrificed a whole lot,” Joe says, “but it isn’t going to our heads now. We
still go out of our way to be friendly to people.”
* * *
LOCALLY, the
year will hit a climax Thursday, Oct. 28, when The Keystones put on a gospel
show in
Appearing with them will be The Singing Rambos with Dottie
Rambo, a leading gospel songwriter; J. D. Sumner and The Stamps, and The
Orrells, a young
Until then, The Keystones will be touring churches, high
school auditoriums, civic halls and Sunday morning worship services in
They appear next Tuesday in
They don’t do many church services. Sometimes it’s because
older parishioners object to the group’s hair or the use of drums. But the main
reason is fatigue.
“When there’s a Saturday night sing that lasts until 3 a.m.,”
Joe says, “you don’t feel much like singing the next morning.”
* * *
AFTER a
performance, they load their equipment – including a pair of Voice of the
Theater speakers – into the luggage compartment of their bus.
While one of them drives to the next city, the others relax in the
lounge behind him or sleep in one of the three bedrooms in the rear until they
reach a motel at their destination. Last year, they traveled more than 125,000
miles.
* * *
THE GROUP
moved here from
“It was just too crowded down there,” Joe says. “We had
offices in the
“We figured
“We all like it here. Actually, we aren’t here that much
because we’re on the road all the time, but our wives like it.”
* * *
DURING
concert intermissions, their records are on sale. That’s because gospel albums
aren’t widely distributed (only three outlets in the
The records are simple and straightforward – like country
music without the lush
In their latest album, “Right On,” their pleasant
neo-barbershop harmonies slip into some interesting variations. A tasteful
steel or electric guitar augments
“The main way of promoting our kind of music is word of
mouth,” Joe says, “and there’s CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network.”
* * *
WORD OF
mouth worked in
“We played all by ourselves and we must’ve sang for about 2½
hours,” Joe says. “We got a couple standing ovations and sold a thousand dollars
worth of records.”
On stage, The Keystones draw songs from their most recent
albums and build the show into a series of emotional peaks. Finally, the
singers are exuberantly pulling off their yellow suit jackets and
* * *
THEY’VE done
surprisingly well in high schools. Joe produces a copy of a newspaper article
about three well-received concerts Sept. 16 for students in Perry, Letchworth
and
“I feel The Keystones have helped a lot of young people who are searching for things,” Joe says. “What we try to show them is that you can live a good, clean, wholesome life and still enjoy yourself. I like to think we’re getting something done for the Lord.”
The box/sidebar:
All-New Group
Pertinent information about
The Keystones:
David Will, 28, lead singer, native of
David Holcroft, 20, baritone singer, native of
Joe Bonsall, 23, tenor singer, native of
Garland Craft, 22, piano, native of
Tommy Wagner, 22, bass guitar, native of
Leroy Patch, 33, drums, native of
* * *
IT BEGAN in
the early ‘60s in
The Keystones shortened their name when they abandoned the
traditional gospel setup – quartet backed by piano – last year after the
departure of the sole surviving original member, Richard Sterban, now with The
Stamps.
So like many modern gospel groups, they added more
instrumentalists. Tommy and Leroy, who is David Will’s brother-in-law, joined
during a Midwestern tour last year.
* * *
DAVID HOLCROFT
was a trumpet player who met The Keystones at a
Instead, he joined another gospel group, met his wife there,
toured the country for nine months and wound up watching The Keystones again
one night in
“They said, ‘Hey, Dave, can you sing baritone?’ I wanted to
more than anything in the world. As a kid, I used to go to all-night sings in
* * * * *
PHOTO CAPTION:
The gospel-singing Keystones, from left, front, bass guitarist Tommy Wagner and
drummer Leroy Patch; second row, singers David Will, Joe Bonsall and Dave
Holcroft; back row, pianist Garland Craft.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Less
than two years after this article, Joe Bonsall ascended to the top of the
gospel music firmament, the Oak Ridge Boys. Already there was his former
bandmate Richard Sterban. Many gold and platinum albums later, they’re still
with the Oaks. Joe sang the lead on their biggest hit, “Elvira,” and Richard
was the bass voice that tickled your doo-wop receptors in the chorus.
Singer David Will moved on in 1974 to a high-profile gospel
group, the Statesmen, and then sang lead for the Imperials, who won 17 Dove
Awards and four Grammys. He is a founding member and lead singer of their successor group, Classic
Imperials, who are still going strong.
Keyboardist
Garland Craft joined the Oaks backup band in 1975, rode their transition from
gospel to country, went on their tour of Russia with Roy Clark and was part of
their first chart-topping recordings. He left the group in 1981, had a band
called Cedar Creek (a chip off the old Oak, I reckon) and retired from the road
in 1999 to focus on writing more gospel tunes. His Facebook page indicates that he’s friends with gospel musician Chris
Golden, son of the Oaks’ William Lee Golden.
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