Music has always been a part of my life.  As a small child, I can remember my Dad’s family coming over for Christmas, singing hymns and Christmas carols.  He had three brothers and three sisters.  Mom played an old upright piano that must have weighed 1,000 pounds.  As I grew older, realizing that all of the good parts had been taken, I learned to sing harmony.

 Mom’s brother and his two sons also played music.  I thought that what they played was a little weird.  One of them had a real small guitar and the other had a round instrument with a long neck.  My brother Ray, who was eight years older than I, played guitar with them.  He told me that the small guitar was called a “man-doe-lin” and the other one was called a “ban-joe”.  All I knew was that they sang and played real fast.  I guess that this was my first exposure to Bluegrass music.

 My first public appearance came when I was still in Elementary School.  My sister, Diane, who is three years younger, and I sang “Silver Bells”.  We practiced that song and practiced that song until I could almost sing it in my sleep.

 As I grew older and my voice deepened, I sang with a men’s chorus, church choirs and several gospel quartets.  The men’s chorus was something different.  We had between 25 and 40 men singing four-part harmony.  They were called the Area Wide Men’s Chorus and the members came from five different churches.  I sang with them for three years and noticing that a lot of us were getting a little heavier, jokingly suggested that we change the name to “Wide Area Men’s Chorus”.  One of the quartets that I sang with was the “Fussell Brothers Quartet”, which consisted of my brother Ray, two of his sons, and me.  All of us could sing bass, but because I was the least musically talented member, I got to keep the bass part and they took the other parts.

 After I came to Fort Lee Baptist, I joined a group that sang at nursing and retirement homes.  It was with this group that I started singing songs made famous by Jim Reeves.  He was one of my favorite country singers and his satin smooth voice was silenced much too soon in a plane crash.

 In early 2002, ChurchYard Grass asked me to help with their second CD, In His Arms.  Later that year, they invited me to join the group.  I still wonder why, except that they needed another person to help with moving the equipment.

 Even though my dad, mom and brother have gone to be with the Lord, I realize that I have been blessed much more than I deserve.  I had loving parents, a big brother and a little sister.  Virginia, my wife of 37 years, is my biggest fan.  We have three children, Beth, Chris and Mike, that I am very proud of and all the kids sing.  I have seven grandchildren that  I enjoy, and each one is different.  Now, I get the chance to sing with CYG, four men who are not only good musicians, but good Christians.  Our minister has a favorite expression that is so true – God is Good…All the Time.  All the time…God is Good.