The initial iteration of the group was under the direction of the church's assistant pastor, J. R. Carrethers, and consisted of his sons Rufus and Harold plus their neighbor John Battle. In 1925, the group became a quartet when Lattimer Green joined. During the 1930s, Green left the group and William Malone and Samuel McCrary joined, but they retained the name of Fairfield Four, although it had expanded its membership beyond a quartet. Following their initial radio broadcast on WSIX, the group gained recognition outside of Nashville.[1]
In 1942, the group won a contest that resulted in an appearance on 50,000-watt radio station WLAC, with a hook-up to the CBS network. This performance was so successful that the group continued to perform on WLAC for the next decade, and group members became celebrities within the gospel music genre.[2]
During the 1940s, the membership of the group continued to evolve. Their first recording session was held in 1946 at Nashville's Bullet Records and over the next 15 years, the group released over 100 recordings on the Bullet, Delta, Dot, Champion, and Old Town record labels.[2] By 1949, Sam McCrary assumed leadership of the group and they continued to record and tour with various membership changes. "The group split up in 1950, and Hill, Freeman, and Lewis moved to Greenville, Alabama, where they founded a new quartet, the Skylarks. McCrary, however, kept the Fairfield Four name and added tenors Willie Love and Willie "Little Axe" Broadnax to the group."[3] In 1954, McCrary left the group to become a minister. More personnel changes ensued, but by the late 1950s the group's popularity had waned, along with the decline of interest in a cappella gospel singing. The group disbanded in 1960.[2]
In 1980, the group re-formed to participate in a special "Quartet Reunion" program in Birmingham, Alabama, and they performed again in 1981 at a Smithsonian Institution program on "Black American Quartet Traditions". The revitalized group has continued to perform from the 1980s to the present.[1]
In 1993, the group participated in the Gaither Homecoming video and music recording series. They are featured in Turn Your Radio On and Old Friends.
The group began to gain more popular recognition outside of the gospel world after appearing on albums by other artists, including Steve Earle's 1996 album I Feel Alright, on the song "Valentine's Day", and again the following year on the album El Corazón. The track, "Telephone Road", was released as a single and the group appeared in the music video, as well as select live dates.
Also in 1997, the group appeared on John Fogerty's album Blue Moon Swamp, singing on the track "A Hundred and Ten in the Shade". They also undertook live appearances with Fogerty.
The Fairfield Four's most recent album Still Rockin' My Soul! was released on March 10, 2015, and won the Best Roots Gospel Album at the 58th Grammy awards.[4]
^ abcGovenar, Alan, ed. (2001). "Fairfield Four: African American Gospel Singers". Masters of Traditional Arts: A Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1 (A-J). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio. pp. 188–190. ISBN1576072401. OCLC47644303.
Zolten, Jerry, Great God A' Mighty!:The Dixie Hummingbirds - Celebrating The Rise Of Soul Gospel Music, Oxford University Press, 2003, ISBN0-19-515272-7.
