Name That Gaither Tune

I learned to sing harmony with Gloria Gaither in the back seat of my parents’ blue Chevy Impala.

Technically, Gloria was not really in the car with us…but it felt like it.  It was the 1960’s, I was a little girl and eight-track players in cars were brand-new.  It was a match made in heaven.

“The Bill Gaither Trio” was in their youth as well. (If you grew up attending church in the 60’s, 70’s, or 80’s, you probably know who they are.) Bill was the baritone, his wife, Gloria, sang alto, and his brother, Danny, a beautiful tenor. They were having great success sharing their new style of gospel music and were packing conference centers and churches across the country.

I jokingly tell people that I was weaned on Gaither music. I simply can’t remember it NOT being a part of my life. (Yes, I know. That was a double negative — it’s how I talk in real life.) My parents loved them and attended all their concerts. I loved their music too — even at a young age, it stirred my heart.

My mom loved my singing and was ecstatic that I was learning harmony from listening to those tapes. She bought every one they recorded. Her favorite pastime became driving me around the country roads of our little town while we listened to The Gaither Trio and I belted out songs. She even started bringing a cassette player with a corded microphone attached so I could “sing along” with the Gaither Trio and she could listen to it later. (I thought I sounded just like Gloria.)

I didn’t just sing in the car. Many days after school, my mom would sit at the piano with a pile of “Gaither” sheet music, and select songs for us to play and sing together. She would pound out the chords and I would sing the melody. It was a fun thing we did before my dad and brother would come home.

At age seven, I began singing solos in church, naturally, Gaither songs were a staple in my repertoire.  At age eleven, our church choir made an album. Jack, the choir director, asked my friend, Sydney, and I to sing with the adults. (We thought we were big stuff.)  At the second Sunday afternoon taping he surprised me by asking, “Do you know where your music is to the song, ‘Something Beautiful?’”

“Yes. It’s on the piano at home.” I replied.

“Well, you need to call your mom and have her bring it over here. I want you to sing it on this album.”

I was SO excited. I remember standing on a step-stool in front of the wooden podium (so I’d be able to sing into the attached microphone) with the rest of the choir seated behind me. I was nervous as I began to sing… “Something beautiful, something good…”

My dad was not a pastor, but he was often asked to speak in churches on the subject of stewardship. “Is it okay if I have my daughter sing at the end?” he would ask.

They always said yes, and I always sang — my standard became the Gaither classic,  “The Family of God.”

I sang it everywhere…church services, youth camps, banquets, assemblies, and even when they would organize new congregations on our church district. It sort of became my song. And if anyone ever had need of a soloist (because their soloist didn’t show up), it was normal for them to say, “Oh, Claudine can sing something.”  (Often a cappella or with a pianist I had never practiced with.) My friends got tired of it…the adults never seemed to. This went on and on for years.

My son once joked that while other teenagers were listening to Frampton Comes Alive, Led Zeppelin, or the Eagles, I was attending Gaither concerts and singing, “Get All Excited.”

It’s true. Gaither music was a part of almost every day of my life.

One day, shortly after we were married, my husband and I were sitting on the blue shag-carpeted floor of my parents’ music room. (It was called the music room because it had the piano in it. It was really just the catch-all room.) We were hunting through some sheet music to find something to sing as a special for the Sunday service. (Yes, now we were singing together.)

“What’s all this?” he asked, digging through a large pile of music. “It’s all bound together.”

“Oh, that’s just the Gaither music.”

“All of it is Gaither music? ALL of this?” It was a stack several inches deep.

“Yes,” I said, eyeing the stack. “We have a lot. I probably have sung most of those at some time or another.”

He just stared at me with his mouth open. “That’s a lot of singing.” Then his eyes lit up, and I saw a mischievous look come on his face. “Sing them for me,” he challenged.

“What?” I asked, trying not to laugh.

“Sing them for me. You know…let’s play “name that Gaither tune” except backwards.  I’ll say the title. You sing the first line. I dare you.”

“You’re crazy,” I chuckled.

“No, seriously,” he pushed on. “Let’s see what you remember.” With that he began to flip through the music. “Here,” he said, “let’s start with this one… ‘Joy in the Camp.’”

“For years I traveled down a long and lonely road,” I answered almost before he finished.

“Lovest Thou Me?” he continued.

“Modern times have brought us many com-forts,” I said, pronouncing the word comforts slow and distinct. “That ones easy. Jimmy, (my voice teacher) used that song to teach me pronunciation.”

He flipped to another one. “I’m Free.”

“So long I had searched for life’s meaning.”

How about, ‘I Will Serve Thee?’” By then he was looking for more obscure ones that he had not heard of.

“Same sentence as the title,” I answered.

“Since Jesus Passed By?”

“’Like the blind man I wondered.’ That was one of the first solos I ever sang.”

On and on we went. When he finished the stack he started reading the titles off the list on the back of the sheet music. He was rolling his eyes and laughing out loud by the time he ran out of songs.  He had been trying to trick me. I had proven that I knew my stuff.

I looked at him with a smug I-told-you-so-look.

“You are a true Gaither aficionado,” he declared. “I’m going to have to buy you a badge.”

I had to laugh. “Yep! I probably am and I’ll wear that badge proudly when you get it for me.”

We still joke about that day even though it was over thirty years ago.

The truth is, the music of Bill and Gloria Gaither is woven seamlessly through the fabric of my life…our son’s baby dedication…my parents’ funerals…even our “Great Depression,” that time in our lives when both my husband and I were clinically depressed. (Read about it here.) It was a Gaither song, “Because He Lives”, that I sang over and over, almost daily, as part of my commitment to worship and trust God, no matter how hard the trial.

I still listen to Gaither songs on occasion, usually on Sunday mornings when I’m getting ready for church. (Or when I’m missing my momma.) Their songs stir up memories and truth and emotion. They take me back to my childhood when their music was new, fresh and young and spoke of an intimacy with God that I was hungry for. Their words taught me about Jesus, the beauty of his name and the infinite love he has for me.

I realize now that I learned far more than just how to sing harmony from Gloria Gaither. I learned grace…and truth…and how God can make beauty out of the improbable awfulness of real life. 

I think those tapes were worth every dollar spent.

Do you have a favorite Gaither tune?  Tell us about it.