The Alcoa Quartet was a Southern gospel singing group best known for recording at the Bristol Sessions in 1927. Unlike most of the rural performers who recorded at the recording sessions set up by

Ralph Peer Ralph Sylvester Peer (May 22, 1892 – January 19, 1960) was an American talent scout, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher in the 1920s and 1930s. Peer pioneered field recording of music when in June 1923 he took remote rec ...

for the

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in 1927, the Alcoa Quartet were a slick professional singing group from

Alcoa, Tennessee Alcoa is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, United States, south of Knoxville. Its population was 10,978 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Knoxville, Tennessee Metropolitan Statistical Area. As its name suggests, Alcoa was the site of a lar ...

made up of the brothers J.E and J.H. Thomas as well as W.B. Hitch and John Wells, who were already well known as professional musicians who performed at state fairs, revival meetings and conventions as well as on the radio. Like some of the other Bristol performers they had already recorded as well. Their repertoire was mostly religious in nature like "I'm Redeemed" and are a good example of a vocal tradition that had been popular since Victorian times. They would go on to a long career performing on radio as well as later backing the young Roy Acuff among others, becoming an inspiration to future quartets like

The Blackwood Brothers The Blackwood Brothers are an American southern gospel quartet. Pioneers of the Christian music industry, they are 8-time Grammy Award winners in addition to winning 7 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards. They are also members of the Memphis ...

The Jordanaires The Jordanaires were an American vocal quartet that formed as a gospel group in 1948. Over the years, they recorded both sacred and secular music for recording companies such as Capitol Records, RCA Victor, Columbia Records, Decca Records, Vocal ...

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and

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who would record a version of "I'm Redeemed".

References

* "The Bristol Sessions", liner notes by Charles Wolfe, Country Music Foundation, 1991 * "Country, The Rough Guide", Kurt Wolfe, Penguin, 2000 {{Authority control American gospel musical groups Gospel quartets Southern gospel performers People from Alcoa, Tennessee