I know that this is going to get crazy, but the posts on the Timesmen thread inspired me to start this.

Is it me, or are natural tenors harder to find now than in the day? It seems there were more natural tenors from the little stuff from years gone by that I have heard. I guess though that they didn’t go as high back then at times either.
Who do you think are the top male quartet tenors in more recent years? I am pretty much choosing to dwell on ones who are still performing in some fashion regularly. I think more of us are familiar with these than those of years gone by. Maybe we can start an all time list or vintage list elsewhere.
I admit I am not as well versed in a lot of groups as many here. I know quite a bit about the ones I like, but could definitely use more variety I am sure.

These aren't in order of rating, but more in the order I am thinking of them. However, Phelps would probably be the top either way.

David Phelps - I realize that he isn't with the GVB anymore, but I think he is probably the best there has been. With all due respect to John Rulapaugh, I was really surprised when Roy Pauley put David behind John in his list a while back. I realize that Phelps does other types of music and is more classical than other SG tenors, but SG used to have a lot more classical sounding tenors than are on the road now.

Danny Funderburk - I really loved him with the Singing Americans and Cathedrals. He is what first drew me to the Cats. All of the tenors I had heard back then sounded girly and thin. Danny had power and passion and sounded like a man on the high notes. I still consider him a top favorite.

Bill Baize (he is going to be touring again soon.) - I always thought he was probably the best SG tenor in the seventies. He had high enough notes and sounded like a man while doing it. Nice sound.

Jim Murray - He is not as high as I often prefer, and like Phelps is not necessarily a pure SG tenor, but he has a great smooth sound.

Pat Hoffmaster - This was a great tenor too. I love the Sound's first lp and although Pat was lead there, he is a great tenor.

Jerry Trammell - Another that wasn't as high I would like, but I thought he had a pleasant, smooth sound. My only exposure to him really was his time with the Stamps. I haven't really heard the Florida Boys stuff with him.

Ernie Haase - There are times I am not thrilled with Ernie, but hearing him do Oh What A Savior and I'm Too Near Home did make Funderburk's loss not as hard at the time.

Jay Parrack – Jay’s sound is not always to my liking, but he had power and I loved when he would sing the high G’s or so above high C’s and Riley would work down to the low G’s or so below low C.

Brian Free – I loved Brian’s voice on the original Robe Of White. Yet, he never sang like that anywhere else I heard. Not sure why. I wasn’t thrilled with a lot of his Gold City stuff as he is too thin and feminine sounding to me. However, he still had some good stuff like The Greatest Of All Miracles and This Time One More Time Will Do It.
There are times now that I think his sound has changed. I do like some of his stuff with Assurance, however, not all of it.

Steve Ladd – Steve has a nice, clear voice that has gotten better and stronger since joining Gold City. As I mentioned with Parrack, I also love his really high ones. I prefer his sound to Parrack’s and Free’s. I think if he is able to get the power Parrack had he may be the best tenor Gold City ever had. (I haven’t heard much before Free, so I cannot comment on that stuff yet.) In some ways he already is.

Rick Strickland – His sound isn’t as good as most others I mentioned, but he does have a unique voice and doesn’t sound girly or thin.

Steve Warren – He may not have as many high notes as I prefer, and maybe not a true tenor, but he did a good job and does so without the thinness and feminine sound some others have.

Larry Ford - Not as high as many, but a very good sound and voice.

John Rulapaugh – He does know his limitations and stays within them. Maybe he should talk to some other tenors.

Jerry Martin – I have enjoyed his stuff with the Doves and the latter stuff with the Kingsmen. I think he gives them more range.

Derrick Boyd – I thought he had a lot more power and thickness on the high ones than many.

The Kingsmen have had many tenors who would likely not have quality voices, but some of them could sing like Chipmunks on helium. I loved the live version of Love Lifted Me that had the tenor going to a Bb above high C. (As I recall). Ol’ squeaky, Gary Sheppard did a great job on the Judgment and doing some of the stunts on the Kings Gold stuff. However, that is more novelty and highness than quality though.

The next ones aren’t active in groups as far as I know, but I am going to list them.

Sherrill (Shaun) Nielsen - I am sure I heard stuff with him somewhere. I even own some, but I don't think I ever listened to it before filing it away. However, by reputation I am putting him here.

Roy McNeil – Same as Shaun above, I am not sure how much I have heard of his. However, I think he probably has qualities too that I like. I really need to listen to stuff with him and Nielsen to be sure. However, I am listing him here too.

Big Lew was really enjoyable. He could evermore sing the high stuff even though his natural voice was baritone. He gave the Prophets a unique sound.

Non current SG or no SG
With the exception of Steve Green (whose voice never did it for me) and possibly Lemuel Miller (who I have not heard so I cannot comment) all of the GVB tenors had good sound. Some weren’t as high as others, but Gaither does seem to get smooth ones who sound good on the high ones.

Larnelle Harris - Not quite as high as many, but nice sound. I would love to hear a quartet with David Phelps on tenor, Larnelle on lead, Gary McSpadden on baritone and Big John Hall on bass.

Terry Franklin – a little too white bread for me at times, but a good voice and almost endless high notes.

Jonathan Pierce – Not really high enough at times, but nice, smooth voice. I think he would have done better on lead in the GVB. (Ala English)

Wes Hampton – Higher than Pierce but with a sound closer to Phelps. I think he has a great future ahead of him.

A no longer SG tenor with a unique sound is Joe Bonsall. Admittedly he does not have the high C’s or so that most SG tenors do, but I think he is more powerful on the G’s than about anyone. I believe his voice really helped the Oaks to move out of SG and gave them a much more contemporary and marketable sound outside of SG than they had prior. Here is a response he put in a thread I started recently:

“Many...... in fact MOST Gospel Tenors can sing much higher than I do...... When I came to the Oaks I had to learn that they hired me for what I DO and what I CAN bring to the table. Not to sing like WILLIE OR ANY OTHER TENOR FOR THAT MATTER......I have always used Jim Hill as an example...... as a young kid I saw tenors singing way up in the clouds just as easy as pie and get blown out of the building by a high kicking guy whose veins were bulgeing (sic) out of his neck singing a G or A flat. My kind of guy......
You must play within yourself. Find what you do best and give it all you have. I have NEVER been a great SINGER as such....... but I have always tried to give it ALL I HAVE on every song and like old Jim Hill...... it has worked for me!”

I will almost bet I missed some above. Here is a list of some tenors who didn’t make it above but who had something about them I liked.

Josh Cobb had a very unique voice. I liked him on some songs like I Stand Redeemed and the original version of Holy Is Thy Name.

Chris Allman and Jason Waldroup do not have the high voices for SG quartets, but have good sound. I think Chris is more powerful now than then.

David Sutton has done some good stuff.

Mercy’s Mark’s tenor seems to be a good one from what I have heard.

Well, I need to go. Any thoughts or additions?

I do hope someone with more knowledge than I starts a thread on vintage tenors or all time best.

P.S. I am going to have to post an awful lot of jokes and disrupt an awful lot to outweigh the seriousness of this post. :)

I have difficulties ranking tenors (or any other positions) in order but will list some of those I considered the best since becoming an SGM fan in the early 70s. Some earlier ones I know only from records

Sherrill Nielsen, Rosie Rozell, Bill Shaw (especially on record), Joe Pat Hoffmaster, Bobby Clark, Steve Warren, Jim Murray (I think he is often underrated), Bill Baize and Denver Crumpler. I'm big fan of Willie Wynn but wouldn't include him in my best list. Jim Hill, Roy McNeil and Brion Carter (Palmetto State) were very good but sometimes were more of lead singers than tenors. John Rulapaugh is first rate but I hate to see him off the main SGM circuit. Cathedrals had some very good tenors including Roy Tremble.

Roy Pauley did a column around 1990 when he listed the 25 greatest SGM singers in order (all positions) and I recall he had Shaw as number one and Nielsen third.

Q-man...........You have listed some here that could be in your vintage thread, if you start one. Bill Baize, Jim Murray, Pat Hoffmaster, Larry Ford, Sherrill Nielsen, Roy McNeil and Big Lew Garrison all sang many years ago. Of course, Hoffmaster and Big Lew are no longer with us, as I'm sure you know.

As far as recent tenors go............I am not trained to judge the quality of voices, but I like John Rulapaugh and Jerry Martin best, of the ones I have heard. I admit that I haven't seen some of the tenors travelling today.

Of the older tenors that you mentioned.......Jim Murray, Larry Ford and Sherrill Nielsen are/were hard to beat, and I have a soft spot for Big Lew Garrison because he was the very first tenor that I saw. I never got to see Hoffmaster or Baize, but Hoffmaster had a beautiful voice on the recordings I've heard, and Baize is considered by some to be among the best.

NORM! (sorry, I always think of the Cheers thing when I see your name. ;))

Mine were not rated in order of preference either. I just put them down as I thought of them mostly. Willie Wynn has a unique voice and to me was an acquired taste. I did grow to like some of his stuff.

Joe, you are right that some of mine were ones that might fit the vintage thing. I don't know a lot of the ones back then. However, I had thought of some of the Statesmen and Blackwood tenors, but didn't mention them due to how long ago they were around and how little I knew about them.

Better you thought of a beer drinker than Norman Bates in the movie Psycho. Then again if you look up norm in the dictionary, one of the meanings is average. :o

I was aware of the other two examples of Norm too. :) However, something being the norm isn't always bad. ;)

Jerry Martin is my current favorite tenor. With Eric Phillips running a close second

Why do you think it is that when people talk about their favourites, the ones that are the SGM buffs always talk about the singers from the past...no one from now ever matches up. Do you think that's really true, or does time make people sound better in the memory, or do today's tenors really not match up to the old guys?
I like a sweet tenor that's not screechy. Although one of my fav male quartets in the 90's was the Kingsmen, they tended to have those kinds of tenors. Chris Collins was ok though.
Gold City...I liked Brian Free, still do. Some of his early stuff sounds really girly though.
Some of their tenors I didn't like, just because you can hit a really high note doesn't necessarily mean that you should, in my opinion!
I like Ernie Haase's sound, always have, though I think he's not as strong in the upper notes as he used to be.
Danny Funderburk was awesome in "I just started living", but I think he's had some problems with his voice in the last while.
GVB...have always had good tenors. Terry Franklin was good, and Jonathon Pierce was good too, but not as good as David Phelps. Wes Hampton is pretty cool...
Chris Allman and Jason Waldroup...I agree, not as high as some, but good voices.
I really like L5's Frank Seamans, though sometimes... I always liked the voice of Tony Jarman, and I REALLY liked the voice of Josh Cobb, it was too bad that he left.
Mercy's Mark tenor is good too...
Those are my picks I guess...

OK, I'm one of the old guys that Chicky is referring to, I suppose.

I guess we talk about the singers from the past because we just have a wider range of folks to talk about. If you have a larger group of people to choose from, obviously the cream rises to the top.

When you can discuss sixty years worth of tenors, that's a lot of high notes. It's also the fact that there are a lot of BAD tenors that have passed through history that we don't discuss.

As far as the tenors of today go, IMHO there aren't any that come close to a Denver Crumpler, Connor Hall, or a Bill Shaw. I think a lot of it is the lack of vocal training today as opposed to years ago. There is also the longevity factor. Most of the great tenors from days gone by were closely associated with one or two groups. Not only does this help with recognition, but their legacy grows because of the sound that the groups develop because of personnel consistency.

There are a few exceptions to the rule such as Cat Freeman, Sherrill Nielsen, Bobby Clark, and Roy McNeal. You just never knew what bus these guys would get off! However, many of the most notable tenors we old guys discuss remained with their groups for many years.

IMHO, a few of today's tenors that come near some of these guys in talent are Michael Booth, David Phelps, John Rulapaugh and Jerry Martin. However, only time will tell if the longevity factor will come into place. So far, that hasn't been the case except in the case of Michael.

I see gospel music today vs. yesterday much like major league baseball. Baseball players are often compared to Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Carl Yastremski, Frank Robinson . . . all men who had records that spoke for themselves and a longevity factor with their respective teams. Nowadays, with free agency, the players on the baseball field change just like the tenor singers in a quartet. As long as they are viewed as interchangable parts, they aren't going to get the noteriety of the tenors of days gone by by us old guys.

It's way too early to be thinking so hard. :huh:

As far as all time tenors go, any list is incomplete without the additions of Roger Horne and Johnny Cook. Cook had one of the most amazing natural tenor voices I've ever heard. Of course, Crumpler, Rozelle, Shaw, Wynn, Garrison, and Murray are legends for good reason.

Moving towards today, I have to say Free, Parrack (the only time I ever heard Jay miss a note was when he was so sick he hardly had any voice at all), Martin (incredible tone and range), Funderburk, Sutton, Phelps, and Haase are in another class.

One guy who I always thought was pretty good, but didn't stick around long enough was Nic Holland. He had a real good voice, nice tone, the only thing he seemed to lack to me was strength/power. The CD he did with Won by One (Days are Getting Brighter) was excellent. He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet since leaving WBO, which is a shame, good singer and a great guy.

I think your point, about the tenors of the past not going as high as today's tenors,
is valid. Today's style, quite often, is to sing as loud as possible........to the extent that it becomes close to shouting. Don't jump on me now, but that is the way I see it. It is just the way things change over the years. Nothing really wrong with that....it becomes the norm after awhile. I'm sure, that to younger SGM fans, the old style could be boring. But, the older tenors seemed to have a much smoother sound, and that makes them appeal to my tastes.

Anyhow, quartet-man asked us to rate the tenors, so here is the way I rate them
..........and, I haven't been exposed to some of the good tenors of today, so it is difficult for me to rate them.

1- John Rulapaugh.........I think he has a fantastic voice, and I love to hear him sing some of the old songs that were made famous by the Statesmen, years ago.
2- Jerry Martin.........he is on a par with Rulapaugh, in my opinion
3- David Phelps.......probably has the best voice, for a tenor, but I'm not as big a fan of the 'screaming' sound that he does. I know.........shoot me....lol.
4- Michael Booth......I love Michael Booth. He has the personality that none of the other tenors have, and I could listen to Michael all day long. Probably my favorite of all the tenors.
5- Ernie Haase.......I'm not a big fan, but Ernie ranks very high on most lists.
6- Rick Strickland.......probably the most unique voice of all the tenors, and can really put his heart and soul into a song.
7- All the others......I haven't heard some of the other favorites enough to rate them. Plus, I may have left someone out that I like, but those are my favorites.

As for the old timers.........

1- Jim Murray.......I just love listening to him sing. He is so smooth.
2- Sherrill Neilsen.....I think he has a fantastic voice. I compare him with David Phelps in that regard.
3- Rosie Rozelle......the John Rulapaugh from the past.......or should I say, Rulapaugh is the Rosie of the present.
4- Denver Crumpler.....I didn't get to hear him sing, and if I had, I am sure he would be at the top........because the people whose opinion that I trust most have him there.
5- Bill Shaw......beautiful voice, even to this day. I really admire Mr Shaw
6- Big Lew Garrison.......the first tenor that I ever heard will always be near the top of my list of favorites.
7- Horace Parrish......I love Horace Parrish. What a great guy, and a good tenor to boot.
8- Larry Ford and Bobby Clark......great tenors that I didn't get to see enough
10- Willie Wynn, Bill Hefner and all the other tenors that I got to watch during the early 60's.

Bear in mind that I have no musical background or training, so my favorites are mostly based on what sounds good to me.

Michael Booth is one that I hadn't thought of. I think he has a good sound and from what I hear has gotten even better.

The Top Legendary Tenors:
Bill Shaw, Rosie Rozell, Denver Crumpler, Fred Daniel, Connor Hall, Cat Freeman, Bobby Clark, Jim Murray, Sherrill Nielsen, Roy McNeil, Jim Hill

Good Tenors These Days:
John Rulapaugh, Jerry Martin, David Phelps, Wes Hampton, Steve Ladd, Michael Booth

I don't know which of those two categories Steve Warren falls under, so I'll put him in a separate file and just mark it "The Voice". :babyha:

And don't forget about Thurman Bunch. A great quartet tenor and probably the highest natural voice ever in gospel music.

In my opinion...the best tenors today are Jerry Martin and Michael Booth...


Previous tenor singers...I would have to go with Ronnie Booth, Joe Thrasher and Bill Baize....

1. Willie Wynn
2. Rosie Rozelle
3. Laddie Cain
4. Brian Free
5. Danny Funderburk
6. Kirk Talley
7. Roy Tremble
8. Coy Cook
9. Bill Shaw
10. Bill Baize

Ladies and Gents,
The original tenor for GREATER VISION is second to
none. He is now pastoring in Burlington, NC.
If you haven't heard him in recent months, you have
not heard him at his best. The name is
CHRIS ALLMAN.

He's not a screamin' squeaker. He is the real deal.
He is easy on the ears, yet has power to burn.

HP

I was impressed with Chris Allman on the Greater Vision
reunion songs I heard on TV. He is better than he was
he started with them.

Speaking of CHRIS ALLMAN

Voice maturity & experience!!!