Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises
Take a trip with the Morning JoyRide®️ as Melody discusses the humorous side of real issues facing families today.
Quirks, Bumps, and Bruises
From Bear Encounters to Becoming Our Parents — Melody Chats with Kevin Williams
Melody sits down with Kevin Williams of the Gaither Vocal Band for a fun, wide-ranging conversation filled with laughter and great stories—from a bear encounter, to how we all eventually turn into our parents, to discovering who Melody’s favorite singer of all time really is.
On this episode of Quark's Bumps and Bruises, I was able to sit down with Kevin Williams of the Gaither Vocal Band and share just a lot of fun and laughs and interesting conversation that I thought you would love to hear. Here are the actual breaks from the morning show on that day. Well, good morning. Welcome to the morning joy ride. It's Melody along with you as always. But guess who got up early with me? Because most artists do not want to do that. In fact, it's mostly zero, except for Kevin Williams. Kevin Williams. I can't believe it. I am so thrilled that you were willing to just hang out with me this morning. And uh I just want you to know I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I'm I'm in Nashville, actually, but at the same time, uh I'm I'm on Joy FM and I love that. Somebody asked me the other day. I met somebody at an airport and we were talking, and I said, Where are you from? He said, Winston, Salem. And I said, You ever listen to Joy FM? I've got a good friend over there this morning. I totally did a plug for Joy FM over there. Thank you. I'm a joy boy in the game.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we're gonna we're gonna hire you as our publicist as well. But um, but yeah, we're gonna be talking with Kevin. Uh, first thing I want to ask him in just a bit is what he's been up to. What's been going on in his life? We'll just know all things Kevin. Welcome to Joy FM and the morning joy ride. It's Melody along with you as always. But uh I have somebody really special that's gonna be hanging out with me today. And it is my good friend, love talking to him so much, Kevin Williams. You know him through the Gaither Vocal Band, plays the guitar, hysterically funny, has great looks into the camera during concerts, and uh just an all-around great guy. But I gotta tell you something, Kevin. You make me feel really good. And do you want to know why?
SPEAKER_00:I'm glad that's the idea.
SPEAKER_01:Because out of all of y'all in the vocal band and such, you're the only one that'll get up early and talk to me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's not even early, see? I know, but I am I'm the earliest one up on the bus. Are you? Yeah. Yeah, I'm always the first one making coffee, and I'd I'd sit up there with our bus driver for a minute and then I'd go on in and the guys will start. Wes is the next one up. He'll he'll pile in about 9 30.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I have talked to him before. I have talked to him once before, but that's it. That's it. You and Wes.
SPEAKER_00:It's gonna have to be afternoon for Reggie to get up.
SPEAKER_01:Well, first of all, before we get into the what's and how's and whys and where's and whens, tell me a little bit about what you've got going on in your life, what you're doing, and where you're singing and playing and and making people laugh. What's going on with you?
SPEAKER_00:Melody, uh, life is always so busy, and I'm thankful for that. And then I I I go go go go, and then I just have to crash, and Kathy and I run off somewhere for three or four days. So that's uh kind of always been it. Kathy and I have been married for 29 years now, this past August. And uh our girls, we the oldest daughter, Carolina, got married back in May. Uh and she is 26 and uh Olivia's 24 now. Those little girls are way grown. So uh Carolina's married, they live in Nashville. Got a great son-in-law. Olivia is uh communications director for a senior mobility company, and so she's here in Nashville as well. And then um I'm still doing everything I do, mostly studio work through the through the week. I'm I'm uh playing on people's records and producing. I got to go to the Quartet convention and play one night for uh a lot of the artists. We played like for five hours or something. Uh we had a great band that night, and it was a lot of the artists that I've played on their records, you know. So that that's fun. Uh getting to play live with Gold City or somebody, you know, that you normally play within the studio. And then um study that through the week, and then uh on the weekends, usually I'm doing either a solo date or uh uh Bill Gates or a vocal band date somewhere. And um he's 89 and still going strong and crazy. I love the music we're making. We did the the Dove Awards the other night. That was fun to get to get up there in uh in front of all of that, you know, uh uh genre of music, that crowd, and and represent what we do and and uh that's just great. So life is always busy, but it's great. Uh yesterday I was making hospital visits from our church that were I'm on a deacon team that kind of helps out with some of that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:You're in pastoral care now too, right?
SPEAKER_00:Pastoral care is what they call it. Yeah, I just call it loved on people. That's that's my whole thing. It's the same thing I do at at the table or uh, you know. Right. I'm just uh I love that. And uh God's blessed me to be able to to do that in a lot of different ways. Sometimes you can put a smile on a face with uh with a song, or sometimes with a with a funny, you know, a little joke or something, or sometimes you just open the door for somebody and it it makes them smile. So I I love that. But God's blessed me so much. And and uh it's turning fall uh you know in Nashville, the weather's getting really great now.
SPEAKER_01:I love it.
SPEAKER_00:Uh lots of stuff we can do. So that's kind of the update. It's it's about the same as last time, but it's always good, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, we love catching up with you, and and it's so obvious, Kevin. You're such a people person. I've been around you quite a few times, and it's just uh like I said, very, very obvious. Well, we're gonna talk a little bit more with Kevin about uh trip he and his wife took to the mountains, and there is a cabin involved, but maybe a creature as well. Stay with us here on the morning joyride. Melody, along with you here on the joyride, I have Kevin Williams with me this morning as well. And uh, Kevin, you were just talking about how busy you are, and uh you had something happen recently that was quite interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Kathy and I will take a little vacation somewhere, and we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, uh last week for three days, and we had a cabin over there. And I I may be a people person, but I'm not a bear person. I met a bear over there uh who was in our driveway uh just looking for food, you know. And he was one of these big man, this was a big bear. And um, so I'm I'm on a balcony kind of up a little bit. He can't really get to me. If he did, I had time to run away, you know. So so but I'm still 20 feet away from this bear. Oh my goodness. I could hear him breathing and everything. It was just funny. And uh so yes, I'm I'm not a bear person. God did not create that in me. Well, so what did you do? Well, I took pictures, I took video like any good social media person would. I took video for the radio and uh yeah, and so uh and was doing a lot of prey, and my prayer life got back in order really quickly. And uh it was a beautiful trip.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness. Well, I'm assuming the bear just kind of s sauntered off away from you.
SPEAKER_00:I'll send you the video. He went to I think it's actually on my Facebook page if you go there, but he he went to the trash cans and rattled them and then went on. Yeah, it was wild. He just was looking for his daily uh bread.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I'm thankful it wasn't you. I am thankful his daily bread did not include you.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, me too.
SPEAKER_01:So it's Melody and it is Kevin Williams, y'all, uh, here on the Joyride. And Kevin, you were just talking about going to a cabin and you came face to face with a bear in front of you.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this bear was about 40 feet tall. No, I don't know. It was a big bear, though. This story gets gets bigger every time I tell it. Yeah, this bear was like King Kong.
SPEAKER_01:Instead of a fish story, it's a bear story. Well, did you know? Uh this is so interesting, Kevin. To start a zoo, you need at least two grizzlies, a polar, and a panda. Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00:I know I I've never thought about it.
SPEAKER_01:Well it is that's the bare minimum.
SPEAKER_00:Oh gosh. No. I didn't see that coming. I should have.
SPEAKER_01:New standards of the ultimate and corny jokes. That that would be me.
SPEAKER_00:You all great from Hee-Haw. Where did you get that?
SPEAKER_01:Hey, I used to watch Hee-Haw. Don't think I didn't.
SPEAKER_00:I love Hee-Haw. Didn't you? That was great Saturday nights, yes, six o'clock uh central time, where I was and yes, uh, I I loved seeing everybody on there. I I knew even in the band that played behind them, nobody knew the names of those guys, and I did, even like at seven and eight years old. I knew who everyone was.
SPEAKER_01:And then and then that was followed, I think, at seven or eight by Carol Burnett, right?
SPEAKER_00:Carol Burnett came on, yeah, on CBS. And uh the whole Saturday night lineup was Bob Newhart was on uh on Saturday nights. Alice, do you remember that show?
SPEAKER_01:Alice, hey, and don't don't forget Fantasy Island.
SPEAKER_00:And Fantasy Island, that's right, which was ABC. You're exactly right. I remember all of that stuff.
SPEAKER_01:How do you remember like where it was? I don't remember if it was.
SPEAKER_00:I had uh 45. When I'm four years old, I've got a 45 of Johnny Cash singing Folsom Prison Blues, and it was on a red Columbia label. So I I remember labels uh uh very well like that. And uh I had uh Gwynn Campbell singing by the time I get to Phoenix on a capital.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_00:You know, uh I had 45s and nobody even knows what those are anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Oh I had I've got I've still got mine. I've still got a stack of 45s. Yeah, I was hey, I was a carpenter's girl.
SPEAKER_00:Like I loved Carpenters, oh, that was amazing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I loved the carpenters, and I did a lot of striand too. I did. I did show tunes. I was weird. In high school, you know, all my friends were going to all these rock concerts and pop concerts and stuff, and I was at you know, at home listening to Streisand sing, you know, Don't Rain on My Parade.
SPEAKER_00:Well, no wonder you you were a Sandy Patty fan because there are a lot of Oh yeah, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I love that.
SPEAKER_00:I did um I I produced a collection of it was a lullaby collection years ago uh for a record company and and a secular company. I had to do a Streisand song on there, and I can't think of the name of it, but it was uh it was a beautiful lullaby. And it was it was very hard to sing. The intervals were hard and and it was in high range and all that stuff. And I got Lady Love to do that song. It was amazing. And it's uh I have a 20-year-old cut of that, 25-year-old uh cut of that, probably now. One of my favorite things, and and she's such a talented singer. She's gonna be with us, of course, in uh in Lynchburg.
SPEAKER_01:She's a little bit, I can tell that she's got some Sandy in her too. Like she she's she's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, let me tell you, Melody. She jumps in. Well, she can sing anything in any range, just about she's a studio singer background, you know, as well. So she's very rangy. And uh and people just love her. She's so what you see is what you get. Yeah. She's very open. And she's on social media all the time. I asked her about that. I say, You're wearing me out, lady. Yeah. But uh, she's she does that to stay in touch with people because she just loves people. She's great, and uh and yeah, she totally has that Sandy Patty element to her where she can hit those notes and ring that bell.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, she absolutely can. Well, Kevin, talking about all this stuff, I thought you were young, but honey, you've done you've done told your age.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01:That's his truth, and he's sticking to it. Hey, it's Melody, but not just Melody. It is Melody and Kevin Williams. You know him, you love him. He is, I think, the greatest thing since sliced bread with the Gaither Vocal Band. And uh I used to tell my former co-host Daniel Britt, who, Kevin, I think you know well.
SPEAKER_00:Daniel Who?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:I'm sorry. I'm gonna let him know you did that. I would say, look, I love all the singers. I do. They're all fantastic. And I love Bill. I love Bill Gaither. But it's Kevin I want to talk to because you're hilarious, and I love to talk to hilarious people.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you are so great. And I love Daniel. You're right. He is our uh producer on the Gaither Homecoming uh radio show that we've done, well, I've done for 20 plus years now. Oh no, I guess I guess about 20. I think the show's about 20 years old. But Daniel's come in and taking that to uh a new level. I'm so proud of him. And uh and I love talking to you as well. The good news of the gospel is this that we can live a life of joy, and I love that your station is joy fm. And so I think we all owe it to ourselves to spread a little joy. Uh I think that's part of the gig. And so uh I I love it when people smile at something I say or when I play or whatever, whatever I can do to put a smile on a face.
SPEAKER_01:I just or just the look. Kevin can give Kevin can give the look and to the camera that will just lay you out on the floor.
SPEAKER_00:You believe I've been doing that for a while, too. I know this is uh December is 33 years for me with Mr. Gaither and uh and Miss Gloria. And uh the vocal band was Bill and and uh Michael English and Mark Lowry and Terry Franklin when I came, and and that was a great group, and we've seen it evolve all through these years, and now it's this wonderful, you know, five-man group that is just uh amazing. But uh all through those years, you guys have been playing our music at Joy FM, and it means so much, and uh and I just appreciate you embracing it and getting it out there. It's huge.
SPEAKER_01:I know sometimes I've I look at our playlist of uh the different singers and groups and stuff, and I think this station should be called Joy FM with the Gaither Vocal Band. That's what the name of the station should be called. Because I mean, do you uh there's never a song that's not released to us that is not perfectly fantastic. So y'all make it very easy for us to put your music on the air each and every day.
SPEAKER_00:That's very kind of you to say. Uh I I just appreciate that, and I I do believe in the music that we do, and uh, but it takes somebody getting it out there, you know, and so Joy FM has been so faithful over the years with doing that. And I appreciate the uh listeners who give and support, man. That just means everything too. This is a team effort, and uh and thank you for all you do.
SPEAKER_01:Well, we're gonna talk more with Kevin Williams. I'm not letting him get gone too quick. He's gonna stay with us here on the joyride. It's Melody and it's Kevin Williams, y'all. I mean, yeah, that Kevin Williams, you know, the one at the Gaither Vocal Band Concerts, along with me this morning. And uh I'm looking at the list of those, um, and we'll be talking more about this today. There is a great concert. It's a Gaither Homecoming concert, two-day event on October 17th and 18th. You can go to Gaither.com for all the information there. But I'm looking at a list of those that are going to be there. And I I just I just thought you may find this a little interesting and you may not, and if not, just act like you do. But I there is somebody on this list that for me to be at this concert would be one of the big reasons I would want to be there. And her name is Sandy Patty.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah, and she's agree.
SPEAKER_01:I I used to think that I was Sandy Patty.
SPEAKER_00:That's not a bad ambition.
SPEAKER_01:If you don't believe me, ask my hairbrush that I was singing to, pretending that I was her. But um I a little little unknown fact about me, probably for you, Kevin, is that I used to travel and sing. I used to sing solo, and then I was in a group for a while, and then I was a worship leader for thirty-six years.
SPEAKER_00:Well, now I think I did know some of that Melody, and that's so cool. I'm so blessed that you have uh that kind of heritage about you.
SPEAKER_01:That's it Yeah, oh I I love music. Uh in fact, when I was born, my parents were gonna name me Sandy. Isn't that funny? I was going to be Sandy. But when I was born, they said, nope, she doesn't look like a Sandy. We're gonna name her Melody, which is funny because of all the music things that I have been involved in through the years.
SPEAKER_00:But perfect is what it is. It's perfect.
SPEAKER_01:It's crazy. But knowing that I was gonna be Sandy and then my love for her, but I when I would sing, I think most of my playlist was Sandy Patty songs. And uh in fact, my father passed away uh just a few months ago. And uh I was able a few years back, my mom wanted me to be able to sing uh at her funeral. And I said, Mom, I can't I I cannot sing at your funeral live, I can't do that. And uh she said, Well, have it recorded. So I went and had Sandy Patty's arrangement of it as well recorded. And so I played that at my mom's funeral and my dad just a few months ago. That was one of the things that he wanted to. But Sandy Patty can sing you see. I want to see if you agree with me on this. She doesn't just sing the song, she cradles the song like a baby.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, that's a good way to put it.
SPEAKER_01:Her phrasing, and not every artist can do what Sandy does. It's the way that she can make a word sound like what it means. She can uh phrase it just perfectly. And uh I know that she's getting older, and I get that. I get how the the voice changes a lot as we get older, and and I know that she I was there in uh Indian Trail for one of her farewell tour concerts. In fact, Daniel Britt one day said, Uh, Melody, I've got somebody on the phone. And he said, and I've got to go take this call real quick. Just jump on there and just chit-chat for a minute. And I got on there and Daniel had surprised me with Sandy Patty. And yeah, so uh and she was gonna be uh in Indian Trail close to Charlotte for one of her farewell tour concerts, and I was got I had tickets to that and all that. But anyway, I just love her. So if you see her that weekend, please let her know how much I love her.
SPEAKER_00:I'm gonna text her as soon as we hang up. I uh I texted her a little funny yesterday. Uh I'd seen a little thing on the internet, and I there's this little picture of uh like a guitar pedal, you know, guitarists use pedals. And this was a singer pedal. And one thing said uh slow the drummer down, and the other pedal was to, you know, turn the guitar amp down and all this stuff. And it was just funny to me, and I sent it to her and she said, You're a riot. I love her. But she really established herself in a beautiful way. You know, she was a backup singer for the Gaithers. I mean, can you believe that?
SPEAKER_01:And uh well she sang We Shall Be Holding.
SPEAKER_00:Something, didn't it?
SPEAKER_01:That just you know, that blew her through the stratosphere because who else can hit that note? But she uh That's the truth, I know. I was able, uh Kevin, on that phone call to tell her how much she had meant to me, you know, and that her music just had such an impact on my life uh when I was she's a little older than me, not too much, but a little older than me, and uh I just absolutely love her. And I know recently they did, you may have been there, I don't know, but they did uh an entire just the other night, I think.
SPEAKER_00:Didn't was the Scrummerhorn Symphony Center. It was a a beautiful evening honoring the music of Sandy Patty and her legacy. And uh of course Bill and Gloria were there and uh a lot of our singers were there. And it she had uh amazing performances of her songs and and great tributes to her and and it was also well deserved. She is such a uh personable, wonderful person too, as well. And I think she she gets it. You know, number one, she gets the music. She was uh funny, she was the piano teacher for Benji Gaither, Bill and Gloria's youngest. She was his piano teacher. How would you like to have Sandy Pad to be your piano teacher?
SPEAKER_01:Oh my goodness, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But but she so she gets the music, but then she also gets the message and she gets people. So she gets her delivery method changes based on who she's with. She just understands how to communicate. She does. Um, and she's just a great person. She and Donna are a beautiful together, and I just love her to death. But I'm gonna text her as soon as I get off her off here, and I'm gonna say, I'm tired of talking about you, the Melody this morning. I'm just tired of it. I want to talk about me.
SPEAKER_01:Well, she's uh she just had again had a great impact on my life. No, and she is one you talking about know your audience, as you were saying. She had a gift to know who she was singing to and then how to relate so beautifully, and then that voice. Oh, for goodness sakes, that voice. And so uh that's just fun. I I don't always see her listed, you know, on the Gaither tours that you do, so seeing her there on that is just awesome. Well, we're gonna talk more, and we won't talk any more about Sandy, I don't think, uh unless I need to gush more. But we'll talk about it.
SPEAKER_00:I'd just like to talk about me if that's it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we gotta get back to Kevin, y'all. We've got to get back to Kevin. Good morning, it's Melody, and I am so excited because I have a special co-host with me this morning, and his name is Kevin Williams. Uh-huh. Yeah, I'm not playing. It is Kevin Williams. And uh glad to be with you. I well, I'm absolutely thrilled that you are. And uh I had a little fun recently on the air with a would you rather question. And I love those because they're really hard and there's really no right answer. So, and you have to think. So, I'm gonna ask you this, Kevin. Would you rather, as you age, as you get older, would you rather, and this is a choice you have to make, would you rather age and have all the physical part of you being able to get around and you know, healthy that way? Or would you rather age mentally?
SPEAKER_00:Uh um so to me, you know, and and and I'm such a young thinker. I I hope I stay young and always, you know, for a long, long time. I think the mental capacity having that is more important than anything uh physical uh to me. I would uh I'll enjoy being able to think and process and uh uh enjoy being clever, you know, those those kind of things. So uh and relating uh intellectually with somebody. That that's important to me. I think if your mental faculties are there, you can you can keep your spiritual life um healthy, you know. But um I think it's up to us to take care of our bodies too and and do the best we can with what we got. So but yeah, I'd I I'd wanna, you know, I'd give up the physical before the mental, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's interesting. About nine out of ten that answered that said the same. And uh and I'm with you. I would, you know, at well, here's what I said. At my age, the physical is done anyway, don't even matter. So I would just stick with the mental.
SPEAKER_00:That's funny.
SPEAKER_01:Oh well, hey, it's Melody and Kevin Williams. We've been together all morning and thrilled to have him in uh co-hosting with me today. And uh Kevin, I want to ask you something. I um I have realized recently that I have said this several times. Oh my goodness, I have turned into my mother. Or oh my goodness, I that is exactly like my father.
SPEAKER_00:And it's things sometimes that same thing I have turned into your mother, and I don't understand how that happened. But I never met the woman, but I seem so much like her now.
SPEAKER_01:Um Well, I'm thinking about that, because these are things that I'm saying where when I was younger, I was saying, I'm never gonna do that. I am never gonna say that, I'm never gonna act like that. So I'm gonna ask you today, do you know something as you're getting older? You 100% you know I have just turned into my mother or my father.
SPEAKER_00:Uh yeah, uh my dad, I see my dad in me so much in ways that disgust me. Uh I I uh I love the man, don't get me wrong. I but there are there are things he did and I or would say, and I'd I'd think, oh, that's so whatever. And and then I see myself doing it. I think we all do that. Dad had a habit of as soon as he finished his meal, evening meal, there at the table, and he'd clean that plate, you know, and mom was a great cook, country cook. He would push his plate away from him. He wouldn't leave it in front of him. He'd he'd push it like 12 or 14 inches away, straight away from him on the table. And they lean back in the chair and talk. And I thought, why is he pushing his plate? Everybody else is, you know, it's it now his plate is in my spot. Well, you know, get get your plate back in your spot. I do the same thing. I did it the other day, and and Kathy said, What are you doing? I said, I don't know, just being my dad, I guess. And then uh the other thing is uh distance and and routing. I caught myself the other day. I have a new son-in-law. They've been married since May, and and they came back from he's originally from Lexington, Kentucky, and so they they had come back and I said, How'd you come? Did you take Bluegrass Parkway over and then Elizabeth Town? Did you go south on you know, and none of this matters. Why why do I even care? But it's coming out of my mouth, all this, you know, how'd you come? Did you what kind of mileage did you get on you? And uh I totally see my dad in all of that. It's hysterical.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we may think that we're not going to do that, but we will. We will at some point. So would you like to weigh in on that along with Kevin and I? Have you turned into your mother or your father? And if you have, we want to know all the details. Triple eight nine eight sixty nine thirty six call or text. A very special thank you to Kevin Williams of the Gaither Vocal Band. You know him and love him, plays the guitar, does a lot of stand-up comedy along with Bill, and I want to thank him so very much for hanging out with me here on not only the morning joy ride, but able to share it with quirks, bumps, and bruises.
