Stamps Quartet News (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 1, 1963 Page: 4 of 16
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On the Move With
A. T. Humphries
Several years ago a country boy
in Arkansas attended a singing con-
vention and heard a quartet sing. This
quartet wasn’t the
best quartet in the
land but it inspired
this country boy to
attend a three
weeks singing
school. Later he at-
tended several
three weeks nor-
mal schools, hav-
ing to walk 16
miles per day to
attend some of
them.
Among the teachers in these schools
were Frank H. Stamps and L. D.
Huffstutler and this was the begin-
ning of a lifelong friendship. This
writer owes a great deal to these two
men. One inspired him to become a
quartet singer and the other a song
leader.
It is with great pleasure that I cast
my lot with the Stamps Quartet Mu-
sic Company and to become more
closely associated with my friends in
the gospel music field. I count it a
great privilege to be associated with
Frank Stamps and his lovely wife
Sally. I consider them among my
very best friends. In my opinion they
are the greatest couple in gospel mu-
sic today. It is good to renew old ac-
quaintances with Jimmy Grisham,
Loy Hooker, John Cook, Arthur Wat-
son and the others in the office. I
look forward to working with these
friends. A better group of people
could not be found anywhere.
Since starting with the Stamps
Quartet Music Company, I have been
on the move almost constantly. Sun-
day, December 16th, 1962 I met J. D.
Sumner in Birmingham, Alabama
where we attended the County Con-
vention. Here we met many old friends
and I hope we made many new ones.
No better singings can be found any-
where than those held in Alabama.
Then on to Dallas for a short visit
with Frank Stamps. My 9-year-old
daughter Debbie joined me in Dallas
and we then went on to California
where we had a nice visit and con-
ference with our good friends Don
Smith, Charles Shelton and Rev.
Thacker. Final arrangements were
made for the school in Fresno begin-
ning August 12, 1963. Christmas was
spent with my sister in Ontario, Cali-
fornia. This was the first time we had
spent Christmas together in 28 years.
December 27, 28 and 29 found us
at the annual convention of the Na-
tional Association of Teachers of
Singing, held in the Biltmore Hotel
in Los Angeles, California. I count it
Page (4)
a great honor to have been a member
in good standing of this Association
for the past 10 years. It has been my
privilege to serve as Lt. Governor of
the Southern Region for the past 3
years.
We made some valuable contacts
Some of the leading voice teachers
of the nation are quite interested in
our work and agreed to teach in some
of our schools this summer. We will
be saying more about this later after
final arrangements have been made.
January 5th found us in one of the
largest gospel concerts I have attend-
ed in the Municipal Auditorium in
Greenville, South Carolina. There
were over 8,000 inside and an esti-
mated 2,000 turned away. This shows
extraordinary promotion by Bob Poole
and his associates. It was my privil-
ege to lead this entire congregation
in some of the old favorite gospel
songs.
Sunday morning the Stamps Quar-
tet with Joe Roper and I appeared in
the Sunday morning worsship service
of the Tremont Avenue Church of God
where our very good friend Rev. W.
E. Johnson is the pastor, and our
former student and friend Max Mor-
ris is the educational director. This
is the church where the Stamps Quar-
tet School will be held beginning July
8, 1963. Max Morris and Jack Pittman
along with Bob Poole and others will
be the local promoters of this school.
This is a joint school with the J. M.
Henson Company and we predict it
will be one of the largest schools of
gospel music ever held.
On January 9, 1963 we met with our
good friend Roy Brookshire in Jack-
son, Mississippi. We wish to commend
Mr. Brookshire for the work he is
doing with the Mississippi Youth
Singers. On January 10th we met
with our lifelong friend Albert E.
Brumley in Ft. Smith, Arkansas to
plan advertising for our 1963 schools.
January 11th it was our privilege to
confer with Dr. Oslin, pastor of the
First Assembly of God Church in Ft
Smith, where the Stamps-Hartford
School will be held this summer. I
found Dr. Oslin to be one of the most
alert and dedicated men I have ever
talked with. Final arrangements were
made for the school and arrangements
were made for Mr. Austin, Dr. Oslin’s
minister of music, to be the promo-
tional manager of the Ft. Smith
school. This school promises to be one
of the best ever held in Arkansas. It
was near Ft. Smith that I discovered
America and it was in this area that
I received my first musical training
that we spoke of earlier in this ar-
ticle.
Sunday, January 12th found us in
another gospel song concert at Tulsa,
Oklahoma with the famous Blackwood
January, 1963
Brothers, Statesmen and other quar-
tets. More conferences were held and
tentative plans were made with our
good friend Lloyd Orrell for a Stamps
Quartet school to be held in Detroit,
Michigan, with tentative starting date
of August 5, 1963.
Monday, January 13th we moved on
to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where
we had a nice visit with E. M. Bart-
lett, Jr. Gene's dad, E. M. Bartlett,
Sr., was the person who gave me my
start in gospel music. I lived in their
home for quite some time when I was
a lad.
Dallas being my final stop, we are
now busy making plans with Frank
Stamps for the Dallas school and also
the other schools over the nation.
We urge you to plan now to attend
one or more of these schools. Courses
are planned to meet every need of
the gospel singer and musician. Dedi-
cated, talented, well prepared, and ex-
perienced teachers will be teaching
in each of these schools. We agree
with the statement made in the NATS
Convention “It is more important to
put music in the heart of man than to
jput man on the face of the moon.”
Our motto in these schools will be, “I
will sing with the spirit and I will
sing with the understanding also.”
I Cor. 14:15.
•-—— ---
Special Invitation
The Ark.-La.-Okla.-Texas Singing
Convention convenes February 2nd
and 3rd in the National Guard Arm-
ory Building in Marshall, Texas. Sing-
ing will begin at 6:00 p.m. Saturday,
February 2nd, and 9:00 a.m. on Sun-
day, February 3rd. Everyone has an
invitation to attend this convention.
Some of the quartets that will at-
tend are: The Springer Quartet of
Booneville, Arkansas; The James
Family of Little Rock, Arkansas; The
Stamps Office Quartet of Dallas;
Howard Rogers and the Southemaires
Quartet of Paris, Texas; The Joyful-
aires and Stamps-Baxter Mixed Quar-
tet of Dallas.
We will have someone in the lobby
of Hotel Marshall on Saturday after-
noon to assist all visiting singers.
Anyone desiring reservations may
write me: O. B. Barber, 204 Harper
Drive, Marshall, Texas.
We are expecting three to five
thousand singers. The convention is
being sponsored by the Chamber of
Commerce in Marshall. We surely
hope you will make every effort to
be with us. Thanks a lot.
Your friend,
O. B. Barber
STAMPS QUARTET NEWS
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Stamps, Mrs. Frank. Stamps Quartet News (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, January 1, 1963, periodical, January 1, 1963; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth785603/m1/4/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .