Although the Statler Brothers drew their name from a tissue brand and shared no actual family connection, the quartet stood among the most accomplished vocal harmony acts in country music. The group originated in Staunton, Virginia, in 1955 as a church trio featuring bass singer Harold Reid, born August 21, 1939, baritone Phil Balsley, born August 8, 1939, and tenor Lew DeWitt, born March 12, 1938. In 1960 Reid’s younger brother Don, born June 5, 1945, joined as lead vocalist, and the four began performing gospel material under the name the Kingsmen.
After contacting the promotional staff for a local Johnny Cash show, the Kingsmen secured an opening slot. Cash responded so favorably that he added them to his traveling revue, and, following their rename to the Statler Brothers, they toured with him from 1963 through 1971. Columbia signed the quartet in 1964; one year later DeWitt’s composition “Flowers on the Wall” became a major country and pop success and supplied the title for their 1966 debut album. The 1967 release The Statler Brothers Sing the Big Hits lived up to its name by yielding the Top Ten singles “Ruthless” and “You Can’t Have Your Kate and Edith, Too.”
The group switched to Mercury Records in 1969 and stayed there more than twenty years; their first Mercury single, 1970’s “Bed of Rose’s,” reached the Top Ten. That same year they staged their initial Fourth of July picnic, an event that grew into a yearly tradition attracting tens of thousands of fans. During the first half of the 1970s the Statlers maintained a steady presence on the country charts with nostalgic releases such as the 1972 singles “Do You Remember These” and “The Class of ’57,” 1973’s “Carry Me Back,” and 1974’s “Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott.” Many of their albums from this era followed thematic concepts: 1972’s The Statler Brothers Sing Country Symphonies in E Major adopted an orchestral concert format that included a side-break “intermission,” while the paired 1975 sets Holy Bible/Old Testament and Holy Bible/New Testament realized the group’s long-held wish to record gospel music. By contrast, 1973’s Alive at the Johnny Mack Brown High School appeared under the humorous pseudonym Lester “Roadhog” Moran & the Cadillac Cowboys.
The sentimental 1975 single “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You” climbed to the Top Five and anchored the Statlers’ first greatest-hits collection issued later that year. Additional Top Ten entries followed, among them 1977’s “The Movies” and “I Was There,” before the quartet claimed its first number-one record in 1978 with “Do You Know You Are My Sunshine” from Entertainers…On & off the Record. In 1980 Mercury marked the group’s tenth anniversary with the album 10th Anniversary, which included the hit “Charlotte’s Web” drawn from the film Smokey & the Bandit, Pt. 2, in which the Statlers also appeared.
Following 1982’s The Legend Goes On, DeWitt departed because of Crohn’s disease; he succumbed to the illness on August 15, 1990. Jimmy Fortune stepped in as his replacement and promptly delivered the group’s second chart-topper with his composition “Elizabeth,” a tribute to actress Elizabeth Taylor, on the album Today. The next two LPs, 1984’s Atlanta Blue and 1985’s Pardners in Rhyme, listed the group simply as the Statlers and each produced a number-one single written by Fortune—“My Only Love” and “Too Much on My Heart,” respectively. They issued the inspirational collection Radio Gospel Favorites in 1986 and followed it later that year with Four for the Show. Maple Street Memories in 1987 generated the Top Ten single “Forever,” and 1989’s “More Than a Name on the Wall,” which reached number six, marked their final major hit. The Statlers kept releasing albums, maintained an active touring schedule through the 1990s, and hosted a long-running variety program on TNN.
In 2002 the quartet declared its retirement from live performance. On October 26 they gave their final concert at the 10,000-seat Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia, not far from their Staunton origins and ongoing headquarters. Although they ceased touring, the members stayed musically engaged, issuing the gospel album Amen on Crossroads Records and following it in 2003 with a CD/DVD documenting that last show. In 2006 Mercury issued Favorites, a twelve-song anthology selected by the remaining members that contained only post-DeWitt original recordings made between 1983 and 1993. Founding member Harold Reid died of kidney failure on April 24, 2020, at the age of eighty.
