North meets South Glorybound Gospel Jubilee

When the High Meadows Quartet takes the stage next weekend in Blue Hill, the Maine group will be performing on the heels of the nationally renowned southern gospel act that has inspired much of their musical ministry.

The Kingsmen of Candler, N.C., have been singing for decades, and are scheduled to perform at the ninth annual Glorybound Gospel Jubilee, a southern gospel concert event to be held June 21-24 at the Blue Hill fairground.

“We’re really pumped about going” to the jubilee, said Jed Desmond of Presque Isle, High Meadows’ baritone singer. “The Kingsmen have inspired us since we started.”

Rick Kelley, who started the jubilee nine years ago with his wife, Retta, and daughter, Dawn, said one of his goals for the event is to expose Maine groups to national gospel ministries.

“We try to give local groups an opportunity to participate,” Kelley said. “That way it gets them exposed to other pastors and people that go to different churches, and through them, they may get bookings at other churches.”

Kelley of Hampden takes pride in the high quality groups that come to Maine each summer, but he said the music must be secondary to the message.

“We are very, very careful about the groups that we book,” he said. “The main thing that we want is to reach souls for the Kingdom of God. The groups that we have coming, that’s their first priority – ministry, not performance.”

Kelley said last year’s event drew 700 to 1,000 people to Blue Hill. The event has been a financial struggle and has lost money every year, but Kelley said southern gospel is a passion for his family, who did not want to see the genre die in Maine.

Twelve years ago, the family attended a southern gospel jubilee in Boone, N.C., which inspired the creation of the Blue Hill event.

“It was the first full weekend in August [at the North Carolina jubilee] and we got up one morning and there was frost on the grass,” Kelley said. “I figured if they could do it down there and draw people with a variety of weather conditions, especially their bad thunderstorms, I figured we could try it up here.”

The Maine jubilee draws crowds of all ages from all over the United States and Canada, Kelley said. While the average age is usually between 40 and 60 years, Kelley said he has noticed many younger faces over the years.

Many families camp at the Blue Hill fairgrounds and stop at tourist areas such as Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park during their visit, he said.

This year, Kelley hopes to break even financially, which would require about 1,500 people to walk through the gates. The talent lineup, featuring 11 local and national groups, could entice such a turnout. Most groups hail from the south, like Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky and Georgia, but there are three Maine groups, one from Ohio and another from New Brunswick.

Glorybound, the group Kelley sings in with his wife and daughter, will perform all three nights alongside popular names such as Karen Peck and New River, Mark Bishop, The Dixie Melody Boys, TK & McRae, Kevin Spencer & Friends and The Ascensions.

Members of the High Meadows Quartet are especially excited to meet The Kingsmen because the group has a unique and fun style, said Desmond.

“What has always sort of inspired us about them is that they are more the good-time group,” he said. “You know you’re going to have a good time. You’re going to be ministered too, but you’re definitely going to have fun.”

The Aroostook County-based quartet also tries to mimic the ragged endings The Kingsmen use in their live performances. At the end of songs, the seven-man group splits vocal parts, and enters the melody at different points, giving it a ragged-feel, Desmond said.

If the quartet members, who are Desmond, Tim Hobbs, the lead singer from Presque Isle, Mike Woodman, the bass from Fort Fairfield, and Erik Ireland, the tenor from Easton, do get to speak with the nationally known group, Desmond said they will ask The Kingsmen why they use such a unique style for their endings.

“We have actually talked about what we’d ask them if we get the chance,” Desmond said, adding it was the topic of a rehearsal conversation. “We think we know why they do [the ending], or at least we know why we do it. It adds some excitement to the ending. It adds some variety, and gets the crowd going.”

Even if the Maine group does not meet the famous touring group, Desmond said the quartet was thrilled to be invited to the jubilee and applauds Kelley for his hard work.

“I commend him [Kelley] for doing this,” Desmond said. “It’s a lot of work and he’s made financial sacrifices, but he loves it. He’s gone out of his way to bring groups to Maine, ones that you would think would never want to come here.”