UNDER APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR NOVEMBER 2014:  WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS

Okay, I will freely admit that this month’s entry, WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS is hardly an “Under Appreciated Rock Band”; but at least they are actually a Christian group as opposed to last month’s UARB, Mötochrist, which was picked only because they had “Christ” in their name.  Wendy Bagwell is a (male) gospel singer who is best known for his folksy tales, most famously their 1970 release called “Here Come the Rattlesnakes” that recounts the time that the group played in a church in eastern Kentucky that practiced snake-handling.  it was the first million-selling single in gospel music history. 

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I became familiar with Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters when we used to go to sleep listening to WPTF radio in Raleigh.  As the second radio station in North Carolina, and still the second most powerful in the state with its 50,000-watt broadcasting tower, WPTF was beloved throughout central North Carolina.  I often listened to Bart Ritner, who was with the station for 39 years and is credited with having one of the first two-way radio talk shows in the country.  Their FM affiliate was renamed WQDR-FM in 1972 – the call letters stand for “quadrophonic” (four-channel stereo), which station managers mistakenly thought was the wave of the future; but this was still one of the first album-oriented rock stations in the country. 

My mother Flora Ann Winfree grew up in the town of Wendell, located 25 or 30 miles east of Raleigh; when my grandmother Alma T. Nowell moved to Winston-Salem, she loaded her house up with old-timey stuff.  For instance, they had bought the first electric stove in Wendell; this porcelainized steel appliance even had one original burner (with exposed glowing coils) and would be worth a fortune today.  There was an old-fashioned oval light that sat near her front door; for Christmas, she put a red bulb in it.  There was even an old-style, worn out telephone in her home whose dial just barely turned.  Southern Bell was supposed to have collected all of those telephone sets decades earlier (this was back in the days when Ma Bell owned all of the telephones in the country, believe it or not) but had somehow forgotten this one. 

My grandmother had one of those vintage wooden radios on display, but the one that she used was one of the early plastic models; and she regularly listened to WPTF on that radio – 100 miles away in Raleigh.  On my little transistor radio, I had trouble picking up stations in Greensboro just 30 miles away, so I was amazed at that.   

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WPTF had a late-night country music show back then that was aimed at truckers, called Interstate 68 (the station is at 680 on the AM dial); it was hosted by Hap Hansen.  They took requests, so most of the songs were charming oldies, but there were also other recordings that were unusual to say the least.  Besides “Here Come the Rattlesnakes” by Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, they played numerous routines by legendary country comedian Jerry Clower that often featured the crew of Ledbetters that he hung with back in the day; “Telephone Call from God” by Jerry Jordan about a man picking up the phone and finding God on the other end (you never actually hear God, but Johnny Carson can be heard briefly in the background – a newer hit version came out later that mentions Jay Leno instead); and a 1948 monologue by Tex Ritter called “Deck of Cards” about a soldier caught spreading out cards in church (sample dialogue:  “The Marshal said to the sergeant, ‘Why have you brought this man here?’  ‘For playing cards in church, Sir.’  ‘And what do you have to say for yourself son?’  ‘Much, Sir’, replied the soldier.  The Marshal said, ‘I hope so, for if not, I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished.’”) – I don’t have Tex Ritter’s version, but I do have the one by Rusty Draper.  

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There were also some of the genuinely odd recordings by Lester “Roadhog” Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys.  That last was a group that had been invented by the Statler Brothers, and what they tried to do was create a truly bad country music show of the sort that would often play on stations or on stage in rural areas.  Hap Hansen hated having to play those routines, since he was afraid that listeners would think that it was he who was playing those terrible songs!  (My father Wallace M. Winfree was a big country music fan, but he told me on several occasions that there is nothing worse than bad country music). 

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And then there is “Here Come the Rattlesnakes”.  The story is a bit rambling like all of Wendy Bagwell’s are, but listening closely makes you realize that they are carefully crafted as well.  Bagwell made clear that he was not judging them and did not know if they were right or wrong, but he didn’t have the kind of faith necessary to pick up a poisonous snake:  “I mean, a frog I can see!”  At one point during their performance, the tail of a snake nearly hit Wendy Bagwell in the foot:  “I did a little shouting myself.  And SHE thought I was in the spirit . . . and brought me one of them!” 

At one point, Wendy Bagwell asked someone where the back door was.  When told that there wasn’t one, he said, “Reckon where do they want one!”  At the end, he tells his listeners to go to a church that handles snakes if you got the chance:  “Sit on the back row, but go!”  It is quite a story, and it is not hard to see why it became such a hit.  

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Some years later, I saw a piece on a national news show about snake-handling churches.  I was able to find the video for this story on the Internet not long ago; but now that the National Geographic Channel had a reality-TV show in a snake-handling church where someone died, and with Gary Tuchman broadcasting a story about them on CNN in 2012, I can no longer find it.  Anyway, the news reporter had grown up within or at least near that religion; and he knew that, at some point, he would have to revisit his past.  The story was mesmerizing to me – when the reporter took up a snake himself, he was taken by an overpowering ecstasy.  At some point, the feeling left him, and he realized what he was doing and gave the snake back. 

What I remember most was the music – the reporter called it a cross between gospel music and acid rock, and it is unlike anything else that I have ever heard.  I spent many years without success trying to hunt up an album of snake-handling music, and I actually have a picture in my mind of an album that I came across a long time ago. 

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Wendall Lee “Wendy” Bagwell was born in 1925 in Chamblee, Georgia on the outskirts of Atlanta.  Bagwell was a U. S. Marine and was twice decorated for bravery.  After returning to Georgia, Bagwell adopted a nephew of his who had been abused.  

In 1953, he joined up with two women at his church, Geraldine Terry (later known professionally as Jerri Morrison) and Georgia Jones to form a gospel singing group called Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters; on the record that I have, Wendy says that the group is from Smyrna, Georgia.  (The band name is sometimes spelled Sunlighters and sometimes Sonliters; Bagwell is also sometimes listed erroneously as Windy Bagwell).  Sandy Garvin replaced Georgia Jones for a few years; and then Little Jan Buckner, the wife of the nephew that he had adopted earlier, joined in 1961 when she was 16 years old and stayed with the group until the end.  These three stayed together for 33 years – Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters are said to have gone the longest time of any musical group in history without a personnel change.  

Wendy Bagwell and his wife Melba were married 50 years and had three children.   

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Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters enjoyed strong popularity with their combination of gospel music and humor and traveled internationally, leading to interesting stories that they were able to relate during their concerts.  They were the first American gospel group to have an appearance at Carnegie Hall (in 1968) and the first to tour in Europe. 

The group’s first popular recording was a sentimental song called “Pearl Buttons”, but they became better known for their humor.  Almost all of their albums have at least one comedy routine, and some don’t have any gospel music.  In fact, they are so well known as comedians that Wendy Bagwell’s singing voice has been forgotten to some extent.  Their top-selling album, Here Come the Rattlesnakes includes their hit along with many gospel songs; it has sold 2,000,000 copies. 

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A blog called “Southern Gospel Views from the Back Row” at www.sogospelbackrow.wordpress.com. says that they recorded just under 40 albums, with many being reissued on CD.  This man’s pick for the best recording is Absolutely Live (1989).  Wendy Bagwell also released some solo albums; Discogs lists a half dozen. 

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The group’s comedy routines include “Ralph Bennett’s Volkswagen”, “Me, Old Ronnie, and the Monkey”, and “Pickin’ Up Paw Paws”.  “Wendy’s Interview” tells the story of a young female reporter who shows up in a short miniskirt at his motel room, carrying what looked like an overnight bag.  The interview takes place in view of many people around the swimming pool, and he takes pains to convince them that this is just an interview and not something else.  The comedy had held up well over the years, and none of it can really be described as corny. 

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The comedy album that I have by Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, This, That and the Other includes “Here Come the Rattlesnakes”, “Pickin’ Up Paw Paws” (which tells of his performance in a school play while a boy), a tale about following a fancy opera singer when they performed at Carnegie Hall, and many other funny stories, but no gospel music.  

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One of the routines by Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters, “Three German Police Seeing-Eye Dogs and One Yellow Cat” was a Top 20 hit in 1984.  Ray Stevens supposedly adapted this monologue for his novelty song, “The Mississippi Squirrel Revival”; the lyrics mention a city just down the road from where I live:  “The day the squirrel went berserk, in the First Self-Righteous Church, in the sleepy little town of Pascagoula.  It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival.  They were jumpin’ pews and shoutin’ ‘Hallelujah!’” 

Wendy Bagwell also became known for his frequent catch phrase, “It’s a fact with my hand up”.  

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Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters won a slew of other awards over the years.  From the Southern Gospel Music Association, they won the Pioneer Award and also the Album of the Year award; in 1997, they were inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.  Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters was also inducted into the Gospel Music Association’s Gospel Hall of Fame.  Record World magazine named Wendy Bagwell the Comedian of the Year. 

The portion of U. S. Highway 278 that is in Paulding County, Georgia was named Wendy Bagwell Parkway by the Georgia State Legislature in 1997.  

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Kevin Williams played guitar for Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters for a time until 1995, and he produced their last venture, I Feel Like Singing.  He has become a prominent session guitarist in gospel music and has performed in more than 600 recordings. 

After Wendy Bagwell’s death, he joined the Gaither Homecoming Tour and has become their band director.  Gospel music impresario Bill Gaither had completed an album in 1991 called Homecoming that featured a host of other prominent gospel musicians; and that has led to a series of albums, videos, television performances, and other events under this umbrella that continue to the present day.  Wikipedia lists nearly 100 items in their Videography alone. 

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Little Jan Buckner-Goff was inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame herself in 2010.  After Wendy Bagwell’s death in 1996, Jerri Morrison no longer wanted to travel, but Little Jan still yearned to perform.  Several of her songs have been nominated for Grammys, and she was named the Female Vocalist of the Year by the Southern Gospel Music Association on two occasions.  Her song “Walk Around Me, Jesus” was the #1 song on the Cash Box Music Charts.  

December 2013 – LES HELL ON HEELS, 1990’s-2000’s punk rock band 

January 2014 – BOYSKOUT, 2000’s punk rock band

February 2014 – LIQUID FAERIES, 1980’s alternative/world music rock band

March 2014 –  THE SONS OF FRED, 1960’s British R&B band

April 2014 – HOMER, 1970’s progressive rock band

May 2014 – THE SOUL AGENTS, 1960’s British R&B band 

June 2014 – THE RICHMOND SLUTS and BIG MIDNIGHT, 2000’s garage revival rock bands 

July 2014 – MIKKI, 1970’s R&B/soul singer

August 2014 – THE HOLY GHOST RECEPTION COMMITTEE #9, 1960’s psychedelic rock band

September 2014 – NICK FREUND, 1960’s psychedelic rock artist

October 2014 – MÖTOCHRIST, 1990’s-2000’s punk rock band  

November 2014 – WENDY BAGWELL AND THE SUNLITERS, 1960’s-1990’s gospel/comedy group

(Year 5 Review)