Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 9, 1993 TAG: 9304090270
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LONG TIME ON THE GOSPEL ROAD
POLLY Lewis knows how long a bus lasts: about 1 million miles.Since the Lewis Family took to the road full time in 1963, they've burned out at least three of them. They're in the market for a fourth.
"We've traveled from California to Maine to Florida," Lewis said of the family known in some circles as "The First Family of Bluegrass Gospel Music."
They also have done "bluegrass cruises" to the Bahamas and Mexico.
Tonight, the endless road will take the Lewis Family to Pulaski Middle School, where they will present an Easter Gospel Concert beginning at 8 p.m.
Tickets for the show, which also will feature pianist Don Whaley and guitarist Richard Kiser, are $15 at the door.
Gospel music has been a full-time job for the Lewis Family for 30 years. In a crowded field, where most groups do their performing on the weekends - after working day jobs all week - that's saying something.
But the Lewis Family is not your average gospel group.
How many other gospel groups, after all, ever had their own television show? The Lewis Family, taped weekly in the group's native Georgia, ran from 1954 until last fall, and was believed to be the longest-running television series in the country, Polly Lewis said.
The group also has performed at the Grand Ole Opry and on TNN's Nashville Now.
Group member "Little Roy" Lewis has been called a "banjo master . . . a picker's picker," by USA Today.
Polly Lewis said "Little Roy" also is the showman in the group. "He's the clown."
The Lewis Family, of Lincolnton, Ga., began performing at rural schoolhouses and churches in Georgia and South Carolina in 1950.
James Roy Lewis, who started the family group, is 87 now and known as "Pop."
"You'd be surprised. He looks 20 years younger," Polly Lewis said. "Pop" still travels with the group.
Altogether, there are eight group members spanning several generations of the Lewis family - but united in the old-time music they play at some 200 performances a year. Polly Lewis said putting out a weekly television show for 38 years probably helped to keep them together.
Their records and tapes, of which they have sold more than a million, blend hot bluegrass licks with gospel lyrics in three-part harmony. Polly Lewis described their live performances as "high energy. We keep things moving along."
Among their awards and honors was last year's induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, along with James Brown and Brenda Lee.
The family also was recently named "Outstanding Bluegrass Act of 1992" at a music awards ceremony in Atlanta. "We were real excited about that," Polly Lewis said.
She said the awards were handed out by rock star Elton John.