Career
The group began as the amateur Four Star Quartet in Staunton, Virginia, performing in local churches. In 1959, after Don Reid replaced original lead singer Joe McDorman, they reorganized as The Kingsmen and developed three distinct shows — country, pop, and gospel — tailored to different venues in their region. They performed their gospel program on Sundays and their country and pop shows during the week, with a repertoire including country tributes, pop standards, and impersonations of popular artists. [2]
In 1963, after the song "Louie, Louie" by the rock band The Kingsmen was a major hit, and with a gospel group in the Carolinas also using the name, another name change was in order. Taking a cue from a box of facial tissue in their hotel, Don Reid, Harold Reid, Phil Balsley, and Lew DeWitt were known from then on as The Statler Brothers, although only two of them were actual brothers. [3]
In 1964, the fully professional Statler Brothers commenced an eight-year run as Johnny Cash's opening act and backing vocalists, which included singing on his At Folsom Prison album and appearing weekly on The Johnny Cash Show , the ABC series that ran from 1969 to 1971. The next year, the Statlers quit the Cash tour to focus on their own career. [4]
Although they were a quartet that occasionally recorded and performed gospel songs, they never considered themselves a gospel act ("we were not gospel") [5] and James Blackwood said, "If the Statler Brothers had ever decided to come fully into the gospel field, they would have been the best gospel quartet ever in the business.” [6] When signing at Mercury in 1970, the Statlers resolved to be “strictly country. No more pop or crossover targets, just country like we'd always wanted to be.” [7]
Among their best-known songs are their lone pop hit, "Flowers on the Wall", written by Lew DeWitt, as well as country hits including "Bed of Rose's", "Do You Remember These", "The Class of '57", and "I'll Go to My Grave Loving You".
When their years as a country radio mainstay ended, the Statlers went into television. From 1991 until 1998, they hosted The Statler Brothers Show , a weekly variety show, which was the top-rated program on The Nashville Network (TNN) throughout its seven-year run. [8] [9] [10]
Throughout the Statlers' career, much of their appeal was related to their incorporation of comedy into their act, on stage and on television. This even extended to recording a comedy album as Lester "Roadhog" Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys, an alter ego they introduced on Country Music Then and Now in 1972.
In 1980, the Statlers purchased and renovated their former elementary school, Beverley Manor, in Staunton, occupying the complex for more than two decades. The complex included offices for the group, a small museum and an auditorium. A garage was built to store their tour buses.
In 1970, the group performed an Independence Day festival in Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton. The event, known as "Happy Birthday USA", went on for 25 years, often drawing in excess of 100,000 fans. [11]
Lew DeWitt retired in 1982 after years of ill health. After a two-year hiatus, he undertook a solo career to the extent that his health permitted. He died in 1990, aged 52. [12] [13]
DeWitt was replaced by Jimmy Fortune, who wrote the group's final major hit, "More Than a Name on a Wall", in 1989. The Statlers reached the number-one spot on the Billboard chart four times in all: "Do You Know You Are My Sunshine", "Elizabeth", "My Only Love", and "Too Much on My Heart", the last three written by Fortune. [14]
Legacy
Wil and Langdon Reid, the sons of Harold and Don, respectively, formed a duo in the 1990s, originally performing under the name Grandstaff. In 2007, Grandstaff recorded "The Statler Brothers Song" as a tribute to the Statlers.
In an interview on Nashville's WSM (AM) on March 25, 2010, Wil Reid said that they decided to change their name to Wilson Fairchild after many people got the name "Grandstaff" wrong during introductions. The name comes from "Wilson", Wil's middle name, and "Fairchild", Langdon's middle name.
Sisters Kim and Karmen Reid (daughters of Harold) also enjoyed a brief stint as a country duo in the early 1980s, which included a guest appearance on an episode of Hee Haw .
A third generation of the Reid family has also joined the music scene. Jack Reid, son of Wil, and Davis Reid, son of Langdon, began performing together around 2022, and are quickly growing a strong fan base. They have opened for artists such as Lorrie Morgan, Gene Watson, their fathers Wilson Fairchild, and Rhonda Vincent [20] .
