Terri Gibbs, one of the great country-gospel singers of all time, can be heard in a free concert at 1:45 p.m. Sunday at Bethesda Baptist Church, just off Gordon Highway at Old Louisville Road, near Harlem.
Her performance is part of a Homecoming Day celebration marking the church's 110th anniversary.
Gibbs in 1981 was the first entertainer to win the Country Music Association's Horizon Award, later won by The Judds, George Strait and others. She also won the Academy of Country Music's New Female Vocalist award.
Her Top 20 hits have been Somebody's Knockin', Rich Man, Mis'ry River, Ashes to Ashes and Anybody Else's Heart But Mine.
Among my favorites of her recordings are Some Days It Rains All Night Long, her classic recording of a song called Bells and a remake of the Etta James hit Tell Mama. You can learn more about Gibbs at her Web site, terrigibbs.us.
GOODBYES TO GEORGE AND HANK: The past few days have seen the passing of two great country and bluegrass personalities.
Savannah River Grass band fiddler George Pritchard, of North Augusta, died July 19 at 82, and legendary songwriter Hank Cochran died July 15 at 74.
Pritchard played with some of the top names in bluegrass and country music, including Mac Wiseman, Don Reno, Delia Bell and George Jones, and at some of the greatest bluegrass festivals in the South, including Lavonia, Dahlonega, Jekyll Island, Hamby Mountain, Raccoon Creek and Coney Grove in Georgia.
His band, the Dusty Mountain Boys, backed young singer Brenda Lee on television station WRDW in the mid-1950s. His long career in local radio included being general manager of WGUS-FM. He was a great guy who had lots of friends and admirers.
Cochran, who talked Pamper Music publishing in Nashville into hiring a new songwriter named Willie Nelson, was married for 10 years to Grand Ole Opry star Jeannie Seeley and wrote her hit Don't Touch Me (If You Don't Love Me, Sweetheart).
Other classic hits he either wrote or co-wrote include Patsy Cline's I Fall to Pieces, Why Can't He Be You and She's Got You ; George Strait's Ocean Front Property and The Chair ; Vern Gosdin's Set 'Em Up, Joe ; Ray Price's and Ronnie Milsap's Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me ; Burl Ives' A Little Bitty Tear (Let Me Down) and Funny Way of Laughin' ; Mickey Gilley's That's All That Matters (To Me) ; Keith Whitley's Miami, My Amy; and Eddy Arnold's Make the World Go Away .
TALKING IN WASHINGTON: On Sunday afternoon I'll be talking to the Washington-Wilkes Foundation historic organization at the Robert Toombs House in Washington, Ga., about my book Mysteries and Legends in Georgia . The meeting will start at 2:30 p.m.
BRAGG JAM IN MACON: The annual Bragg Jam music and arts festival takes place Saturday in Macon and includes a Concert Crawl from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
A $20 arm band gets you into nine venues, and trolleys will be available for transportation. The Corey Crowder Band, which is opening for Josh Kelley on Aug. 26 in Bell Auditorium, will perform at 7:30 p.m. at Rivalry's nightclub as part of the Concert Crawl.
See braggjam.org/concert-crawl.php for details.
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