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Here is how the Southern Harmony Boys (SHB) came to be. David and Joseph
met in 1994 when Joseph joined the Masters Quartet. They became good
friends and sang in a couple of groups together. In late 1999 they both
found themselves not singing, and they decided that they wanted to start
their own group. David thought they ought to give Pete Rose a call and see
if he would be interested in singing with them. Joseph and David decided to
just pray about it for a while. Some time passed and Joseph gave Pete a
call one night and asked him what he thought about putting a group together
with David. His response was this, "It's funny you ask, because not two
weeks ago, my wife asked me to give you and David a call and see if you guys
wanted to sing together." This floored Joseph. In his mind he had doubt,
and God removed all doubt when he just simply took the first step. They
knew then that God was putting this group together.
The three men met together one night at Joseph's house in October of
1999. They didn't really sing much, but they did a lot of talking and
praying. They wanted to do things right, and first and foremost make God
the center of attention, and the pivotal point that all matters revolve
around. They started out with no money, no CD's to sell, no group
transportation, and no sound equipment of any kind. They literally started
from nothing. All they had were some soundtracks. That's it. Thankfully,
they were able to borrow some sound equipment from a local church, and they
went and sang. Joseph was
the tenor, Pete was the lead, and David was the baritone. Eventually, the
church needed to use their sound equipment for a new youth ministry they
were embarking on, so the sound system was given back. Just enough money
had been saved at that time to go and buy the bare essentials it took for a
sound system. It took everything they had saved, but they didn’t have to
spend a dime out of their own pockets. It was clear that God was putting
this group together.
Group personnel changes are inevitable. Pete was the first. Pete was a
coach and he and his family got an offer they couldn't refuse in Corsicana,
Texas. So they moved, and for about a year he stayed with the group and
made the commute back and forth to sing. It was about a three-hour trip one
way for them to make. Pete's wife ran the sound for them at the time and
they had two small girls that made the trips too. This took a toll on them,
and Pete discussed it with us, and he decided to
resign from the group.
The group needed another man, and they really didn't even have to look
for one. David called Joseph one day and said "I've found a guy to sing
with us and he is a tenor!" His name was Lloyd Mahaffey and he lived in
Marshall, Texas. Lloyd was going to sing a special at their church one
Sunday morning,
and David wanted Joseph to meet him. Joseph went and they all met, and
Lloyd became a Southern Harmony Boy. Lloyd officially joined the group in
May 2002. Things were going along real good as a trio for the Boys, and
there was no doubt God had a hand in this group.
One evening Joseph called David and said, "I want a bass singer." David
said, “Okay.” Joseph said he didn't want just any bass singer, he wanted
Marlin Dorsey, and that if they couldn’t get Marlin then he didn’t want a
bass at all. Marlin had been singing bass since he was sixteen years old
with his family group the Dorsey Quartet for the past twenty-four
years. Knowing that the Dorsey Quartet had disbanded, Joseph gave Marlin a
call one night and asked him if he was singing with anyone. At the time,
Marlin was singing with a group called Southern Cross out of
Tyler, Texas. Joseph told him to just keep singing, and if anything ever
happened with that group to call because he had a standing invitation to
sing bass for SHB. About six months later Marlin gave Joseph a call at home
one night and asked, "Where are you guys singing this Sunday?" Come to find
out, Southern Cross had disbanded and that made Marlin available. Joseph's
response was, "You're hired!" Marlin Dorsey officially joined the group in
August 2002.
One thing I forgot to mention was that Lloyd was a coach too! And once
again, change was inevitable. Lloyd was coaching in Tatum, Texas and living
in Marshall with his wife and two kids. Being a coach takes a lot of your
time. He got a job in Winona, Texas and had to move his family to Tyler to
be closer to his job. He and his wife's family were from around there. So
Lloyd moved and resigned from the group.
They did not have any idea what they were going to do this time. Marlin
mentioned at practice one night that he knew of a guy that he thought would
do a good job for the group. He lived in Henderson where Marlin was
from. His name was Taylor Reynolds. Marlin called him and asked him if he
would be
interested in singing tenor for the group. He hadn't sung in a group for
quite a hile, so he wanted to talk to his wife about it. She was in support
where Taylor was still skeptical. So Taylor came to practice one night to
audition. They sang a few old songs together and he did a pretty good
job. Marlin, David, and Joseph went to another room to talk about the
decision at hand, and when they went back into the room where they had been
singing, Taylor had his back to the guys and didn't see them open the
door. He had started singing a song that group does, and he was singing it
by himself. They were not only impressed but they were blessed. Taylor
officially became a Southern Harmony Boy in August of 2004.
Marlin often says, "Be careful what you ask God for, you
just might get it!" That is exactly what happened to the Southern Harmony
Boys! They asked God to lead this ministry and that is exactly what He has
done and is still doing. Some things have not been easy, but God didn’t
promise that it would be easy. The Southern Harmony Boys know that if they
will be faithful and keep their eyes focused on Him He
will direct their paths. Beyond a shadow of
a doubt,
God has put this group together! |
