Effective period / Period of releases: 1967

Members: Bill Nunley

Bluegrass Gospel Acapella Group from of the Clinch Mountains in Southwest Virginia. From the Chestnut Grove Methodist Church in Abingdon, Virginia, this legendary (but little heard outside the region where they live) a cappella quartet has had a profound effect on gospel a cappella singing that far outstrips their local renown, influencing such local luminaries as Ralph Stanley, Doyle Lawson, and Ricky Skaggs, both in repertoire and performance style. These selections are drawn from albums made by the group during the 60s, 70s, and 80s to capitalize on the enormous popularity of their local radio broadcasts and personal appearances in the mountainous areas of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Stylistically, the quartet springs from the shape note singing schools of their youth and the Stamps-Baxter shape note hymnals so omnipresent in white Protestant churches of rural areas; their four part harmonies and parts singing is as old as the churches where they learned to sing. (https://www.singers.com/group/Chestnut-Grove-Quartet/)