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The Racy Brothers have come a long way from Dumas, Arkansas. One of the brightest stars in the firmament of Modern Classic Gospel music, the nine-member group clearly remembers its roots—as the title of its latest release, I Won’t Forget, makes clear. But even as they tip their hat to the past, the Racy Brothers put a totally fresh, contemporary spin on the traditional sounds on which they were raised.
Gospel greats as diverse as the Mighty Clouds of Joy, Andrae Crouch, the Hawkins Singer, among many others, echo through the Racy Brothers’ unique quartet sound as they filter the best of all that has gone before them through their own decidedly original artistic sensibilities. And while they still make their home in Dumas and the surrounding locale, the group is far more likely these days to be found on a tour bus, heading for a church or auditorium, taking their music to the masses from one end of America to the other.
I Won’t Forget features 12 stellar Racy Brothers originals that deliver the soul of Sunday-morning church, while also being so catchy and instantly memorable that the listener soon finds them embedded in their ears, mind and heart throughout the week as well.
The album’s title song, “I Won’t Forget,” is a heartfelt, steady-rolling classic-in-the-making, with a modern-day spin on the smooth-but-impassioned sound pioneered by Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, and other seminal, defining Gospel quartets.
“When I wrote that, I was just reflecting on all that I’ve been through in my life, and the group as well,” says Walter, “and no matter what the circumstance, through the goods times and the bad, God’s been there to work things out for the best. That’s an awesome thing, and it is something I won’t ever forget, and thank Him for.”
“Touch Me,” with an infectious, swinging Gospel groove, colored by a punchy horn section, is a duet, written by and featuring the instantly recognizable, incomparable Modern Classic Gospel superstar, Lee Williams of the Spiritual QC’s, in fine form and proving himself and the Racy Brothers to be perfect musical and spiritual soul-mates.
“Lee and the QC’s were playing in Dumas every now and then twenty years ago or more, when they were just starting out,” Walter recalls, “so we go way back with them. It was a great experience working in the studio with Lee on this song. We sat around the piano and worked with it some to find the right groove that worked for everybody, and when we had it where everybody felt good with it, we laid it down in one take. There was nothing more to add. It was perfect, and all right there.”
Also destined to fill the airwaves in the coming months is “God’s Been Good,” an irresistibly rocking, toe-tapping testament to God’s eternal goodness. “That song means just what it says,” Walter states. “For example, we do so much traveling. It can be dangerous out on those road sometimes, and we’ve had a couple of brushes with disaster in our time, but the Lord has kept us a protected us regardless, throughout it all. He’s been much more than good to us.”
The Racy Brothers were formed in 1988, around the nucleus of brothers Bobby and Vernell Racy, and their two nephews, Walter Witherspoon and Pervis Holly. All were raised in strong, church-going families where God-given, musical gifts were abundant. Both of Walter’s parents had groups of their own. His mother’s was called the McLettic Stars, and still performs together today, and his father’s group, the Birds of Harmony, also included founding Racy brother, Bobby.
Frequently traveling with his parents to their performances when he was a child, and later joining them onstage playing a variety of instruments, Walter not only decided early in life to make Gospel music his career, but to carry it farther and wider than the local and regional area within which his parents played.
“I’ve always wanted to take our music to the next level,” he says. “That’s what the Racy Brothers are all about. We want to carry this gift He’s given us to the whole world.”
But even though Walter’s parents were content to make their music on a relatively small platform, they nonetheless instilled values in him that have been pivotal in shaping his own destiny.
“My parents taught me a lot of valuable lessons,” says Walter, “the most important being to keep God first and foremost in all we do, music and business. My father, who is a pastor now, was a truck driver then, in order to make ends meet and support his family, and he taught me a lot about dedication. He’d come in from a long drive and go right for his guitar. He loved his music, and knew if he was going to continue to get better and grow in it, that he had to work at it. And he did. His work ethic really made an impression on me, and has stuck with me and served me well all of my life.”
Walter is minister of music at his Dumas’ Union Missionary Baptist Church, and he also owns a recording studio and several independent record labels on which he produces projects for acts in and around the area. Prior to the release of I Won’t Forget, the Racy Brothers had four smaller-label releases to their credit, in 1989, ’91, ’94 and ’97, with the ’94 offering, titled Time Out, featuring guest appearances by Gospel greats Harvey Watkins, Jr., of the Canton Spirituals, and the Keynotes’ Teddy Cross. And then as now, the group worked the road at an often-relentless pace.
With their new major-label release promising to carry the Racy Brothers to yet another of the “higher levels” that Walter has sought for the group throughout its history, he and the Brothers minds are firmly focused on where they’re going, and why.
“No matter where we’ve been, or how far we go,” Walter concludes, “we’ve always made sure to keep our priorities where they belong, and though we work hard at our music, and take pride in what we do, we never let the creation get ahead of the Creator.”
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