Area gospel group will enter famed hall

On Tuesday night in the Nashville, Tenn., suburb of Hendersonville, The Lewis Family, of Lincolnton, Ga., will be applauded by their peers as they are inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Hall of Fame.

This is regarded as the highest honor that a gospel performer can achieve. Past inductees include Ethel Waters, Mahalia Jackson, George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham, Shirley Caesar and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Founded in 1964, the Gospel Music Association also presents the annual Dove Awards, gospel music's equivalent of the Grammys.

The induction ceremony will take place in an auditorium at Trinity Music City (formerly Twitty City) and be taped for a one-hour special to air on cable television's Trinity Broadcast Network.

Also being inducted that night will be artist and arranger Walter Hawkins, gospel rocker Mylon Le Fevre, retired Norwegian singer Evie Tornquist (formerly known simply as Evie), music arranger Ronn Huff, gospel talent booker Don Light and songwriter, journalist and gospel TV host Lou Hildreth. See the Web site gospelmusic.org.

"I was very, very honored when I found out we were selected," said group vocalist Janis Lewis Phillips.

"This is the biggest honor in gospel music. It's an honor to even be considered for nomination into this hall of fame."

Her sister, Polly Lewis Copsey, noted, "We started out singing what we loved to sing - gospel music. We sang from the first with a lot of the Southern gospel groups (Oak Ridge Boys, The Speers, The Happy Goodmans, The Statesmen), but they didn't call it Southern gospel then.

"Then in the '70s when we began playing our first bluegrass festivals, our music started being called bluegrass-gospel."

Other members are "Little Roy" Lewis, Miggie Lewis, Lewis Phillips and the group's first nonfamily member, Scot Yarbrough. Other family members have come and gone since the family began performing as The Lewis Brothers in the early 1950s.

They were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and the group's patriarch, the late James Roy "Pop" Lewis, was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 2000.

Two people who Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Copsey wish could be there Tuesday night are their late parents, Roy and Pauline Lewis, who played such a major role in their success. Mr. Lewis sang with the group almost from the beginning, and Mrs. Lewis staffed the group's merchandise table for several decades.

"Mama was our biggest fan," Mrs. Copsey said. "She didn't think anybody could sing better than her family. She was such a supporter of us and was out there at festivals and shows selling our tapes when she was in her late 80s."

Mrs. Phillips added, "They'd be thrilled to death. Mom and Daddy are still with us all the time in spirit. He was always excited about the honors that came our way, but it never went to his head. Nothing would change Pop. Pop was Pop."

Don Rhodes has been writing about country music for 34 years. He can be reached at (706) 823-3214 or don.rhodes@morris.com.