Formed in 1934, the Blackwood Brothers brought together Roy, Doyle, and James Blackwood along with Roy’s son R.W. Their gospel work continued for more than six decades, placing them among the leading U.S. gospel acts from the 1950s through the 1970s. A devoted admirer in his youth, Elvis Presley auditioned for the group in 1953 and was declined.
The quartet performed in churches near Ackerman, Mississippi, through the mid-1930s. In 1937 they began broadcasting on a radio program from Kosciusko, Mississippi. Two years later they relocated to WJDX in Jackson, where their repertoire expanded to include pop and country numbers in addition to gospel. Their popularity soon prompted another move, this time to the powerful KWKH signal in Shreveport, Louisiana, whose reach covered much of the South.
While based in Shreveport they signed with V.O. Stamps, the dominant Southern gospel publisher of the decade. The association lasted into the early 1940s, when World War II interrupted their activities. Re-forming in 1946 without Stamps, the group replaced Doyle Blackwood with Don Smith. They launched their own record label and achieved sufficient success that Doyle returned to organize a separate ensemble, the Blackwood Gospel Quartet.
Roy retired in 1950 and Bill Lyles took his place. The quartet then settled in Memphis and secured a contract with RCA Victor. Recording began in 1952, leading to national exposure and an appearance on Arthur Godfrey’s television program in 1954. Less than a month later R.W. Blackwood and Bill Lyles died in a plane crash. The remaining members immediately disbanded and pledged never to perform again.
Years afterward they resumed, adding J.D. Sumner to succeed Lyles and bringing in Cecil Blackwood and Jimmy Blackwood. They entered the LP era in the mid-1950s and issued numerous albums on RCA and Skylite throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Their first Grammy Award for Best Gospel Performance arrived in 1966; seven more would follow. James Blackwood received seven Dove Awards as Male Vocalist of the Year during the 1970s. Inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1974, he was long known as “Mr. Gospel Singer of America.”
