Bliss Tavern Music

Kenneth, eldest of the Johnson children, was able to attend the Grandfather Mountain Sing; however, he could not attend the RCA Victor sessions in Nashville, because of student-pastor duties during his senior year in the Divinity School at Duke University. Several years later, he would write the definitive history of the family, “The Johnson Family Singers: We Sang for Our Supper.” (Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1997)

Steve Sholes, producer of this series for RCA Victor, arranged for an illustrious group of musicians to accompany the family in these Nashville recordings: Charles Grean, leader-bass; Chet Atkins, electric guitar; John Gordy, piano and organ; Jack Shook, rhythm guitar; and Jerry Byrd, steel guitar.
 
“Pa” Johnson, a popular radio announcer at WDIX in Orangeburg, SC, for more than 30 years following the Grandfather Mountain Sing, always ended his morning programs with Betty’s sweet rendition of “May God Be With You.”