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Biography
With a unique sound marked from the blazing (and frequently hilariously comic) banjo theatrics of Little Roy Lewis, a large bass drum, and robust harmonies from a contingent of identically dressed Lewis daughters, the Lewis Family has continued to be an institution of Georgia music and of the bluegrass festival scene for a number of decades. The “First Category of Bluegrass Gospel” got its begin, in ways, when Roy Lewis, Sr., referred to as “Pop,” utilized a ladder to soul 15-year-old Pauline Holloway (“Mother” Lewis, who passed away in 2002) from her home also to an elopement in McCormick, SC, in 1925. In the past due ’40s they became a member of with four of the eight children to create a family performing group, acquiring the name the Lewis Family members for any gospel performance in a Woodmen of the Globe conference in 1951. That 12 months they produced their 1st recordings on the tiny Sullivan label, and by 1957 these were saving for Starday. The family members was influenced from the gospel quartet harmonies from the Chuckwagon Gang and by the big-beat gospel of Martha Carson, but their sound and displays were distinctive right away. In 1954 the Lewis Family members began appearing on the weekly tv program in Augusta, GA, near their hometown of Lincolnton; it went until 1992. The family’s live shows likewise experienced a durable regularity; through about 60 recording produces on Starday, Canaan, Riverson, and Daywind, their audio remained mainly unchanged. They started touring regular in the first ’60s. By the finish from the 20th hundred years the Lewis Family members played approximately 200 displays annually, showing up at annual Southern gospel occasions like the Albert E. Brumley Memorial Performing in Springdale, AR, in addition to at bluegrass celebrations all over. Their displays, proclaimed by cornball laughter and stage razzle-dazzle plus a gospel message, provide a exclusive window in the musical previous in their vacationing family-group setup. Even though group operates in a sphere different in the bluegrass mainstream, Small Roy Lewis is regarded as among the best masters from the five-string banjo in bluegrass. For sheer swiftness in the fretboard he’s unrivaled. Daughters Miggie, Polly, and Janis Lewis became a member of the group steadily in the 1960s and 1970s as many brothers slipped out to go after business professions, and their tranquility singing anchors lots of the family’s music; a third era of Lewis music artists has used the stage more and more often lately. Many Lewis Family are gifted multi-instrumentalists, as well as the group has several upbeat quantities, including “THE NICE Time GATHER,” which are structured in order to allow multiple virtuoso solos on several instruments, occasionally including such novelties as an autoharp. Their repertoire, especially heavy in the functions of bluegrass songwriter Randall Hylton, also includes numerous traditional parts and exclusive music from a network of regional Georgia musicians small heard somewhere else. The Lewis Family members hosts an annual festival of its, the Lewis Family members Homecoming & Bluegrass Festival, in Lincolnton. These were inducted in to the Georgia Music Hall of Popularity in 1992 and also have won many Dove awards.
