Billy Jay

“Hey, Buddy, you’re the only original Hoosier Harmony Boy left in the group, ain’t you?” Sonny asks me.

Sonny is our bus driver. We’re headed down I-65, headed to Alex City, Alabama from our home base in Salem, Indiana. I’m hanging out with him up front. The rest of the group are relaxing, either in the lounge or their bunks. I’m in what they call the “buddy seat”, already in my sweats, T shirt and socks.

“I sure am,” I answer his question. “When we started up in ’74, I was the tenor singer and bass guitar picker. Around ’92, I started having trouble hitting high notes, so I moved down to lead singer. Around 2000 or so, the arthritis hit and I handed the bass over to one of the younger guys.”

“Yeah, when I fist aw the group, back in 1990, you was the tenor. You’ve been here for a lot of singers and musicians, ain’t you?”

“That’s true,” I admit. “Seen’em come and go. I’ve had some interesting experiences. Hey, do you remember Billy Jay White?”

He shakes his head.

“Must have been before you started following the group. Rhythm guitar picker for about four years. Billy Jay was a little guy, barely five feet tall and not much more than 100 pounds. He was out of Sandy Hook, Kentucky. Squirrely guy and backwards. When we’d play, he’d stand back as far as he possibly could. His back would be against the wall most nights!”

Sonny laughs.

“Did he ever get over being so shy?”

“Well, he never stopped being shy. When he got engaged, we all wondered what he said when his girlfriend proposed to him! We finally figured out a way to get him to move forward on stage, though. That was quite a night!”

It sure was quite a night.

Billy Jay had been in the group for about two years. Back then, my older brother Carroll was our bass singer, road manager, and he handled our scheduling. Carroll got a call from the Bible Revival Tabernacle on the outskirts of Indianapolis. They wanted us to sing on a Saturday night. Brother Zollman, their preacher was a big fan and said he had all of our albums. He had always wanted to have us sing at his church. We’ve always sang at any church that would pass the plate, regardless of size, so Carroll booked the date at a church where we’d never been that was pastored by a man we didn’t know.

As we usually did, we arrived at the church a few hours before we were supposed to sing. Brother Zollman was waiting in the parking lot. He was shaped sort of like a fire hydrant, a redhead whose hair was actually more orange than red. He was wearing a purple doubleknit suit, and this was years after that type of suit had gone out of fashion, along with a pink shirt and white snakeskin boots. Brother Zollman was quite a sight!

In our group, everybody has a job once we arrive at the venue. Billy Jay and I were responsible for setting up a table in the lobby to display our records and tapes. At this point, the only groups selling CDs were the big time groups like the Cathedrals and the Gaithers. We also had 8x10 photos and T shirts with our name on the front. The rest of the guys would set up the sound system.

Once Billy Jay and I were finished, we looked around the lobby. There was a rack that had religious literature and two bulletin boards. One board had church announcements, including a flier for an upcoming Jimmy Swaggart revival at Market Square Arena. I remember the wife and I had been able to go see that one and Jimmy really could excite a crowd.

The other bulletin board was different. Remember Instamatic photos? This Bulletin board had dozens of those photos push pinned to it. All of the pics were the same-people in their Sunday best, lying in caskets. Billy Jay and I stood there and stared at the pictures. I kid you not, ol’ Billy Jay looked like he had just seen a ghost!

About that time, I felt a hand grab my shoulder. Brother Zollman, standing behind us.

“Now, brethren, these here are those among our congregation who took up the serpent and didn’t have the faith!” He clicked his tongue and sadly shook his head. Then, he released his grip on my shoulder and walked away.

Billy Jay stood there, slack jawed.

“What about that, old buddy?” I asked, trying to make a joke of it.

Billy Jay shook his head. He didn’t think it was all that funny!

That night, we hit the stage with “Standing On The Solid Rock” like we always did. The crowd really liked what we had to offer. There was clapping, shouting, foot stomping, and hands waving. There was one difference, though.

Instead of standing, back to the wall, as usual, Billy Jay stood up front that night, beside the singers. By the time, I gave my testimony and sang “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” to finish our portion of the service, Billy Jay was actually standing in front of us as he picked his quitar!

Whenever we performed at a church service, when we were finished, we would all sit down on the front row and listen to the pastor’s sermon. We did that on this evening, just as usual, except for Billy Jay. He jogged all the way to the back pew and had a seat there. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Billy Jay seating on the edge of his seat, looking around the room! He was on high alert for snakes!

As soon as Brother Zollman was finished preaching and the altar call started, I saw Billy Jay scurry out the back door! Billy Jay got on the bus and stayed there. He didn’t help us break down or load our equipment on the bus or anything! He went to his bunk and stayed there until we got back home!

The next day, I told Carroll that we shouldn’t ever go back to

Bible Revival Tabernacle and why. Carrol laughed, but he agreed with me. Sure enough, a few months later, Brother Zollman called, asking for a return engagement. My brother told him that we wouldn’t come back and even told Zollman why that was. Zollman told him they only brought out the snakes when everybody there believed in snake handling.

“Brother, we just ain’t comfortable with that kind of thing!” Carroll explained and that was the final word on the subject.

We’ve never been back and Billy Jay White, Southern Gospel guitar picker, was never the same!