Music’s Aviation Tragedies: The Blackwood Brothers

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Happy leap month! We’re leaping for joy here because that bright light in the sky showed up!! Hooray!! It’s a new month, and that brings a new countdown. This was suggested by @JudyEv (and there’ll be an Aussie on the list in her honor): she said maybe I’d know a few musicians who’d perished in plane crashes. Of course, and I’ll make a countdown of it. Here we go. The Blackwood Brothers: R.W. Blackwood and Bill Lyle Southern gospel music is a splendid mix of praise and harmonies. (You may or may not know that the Oak Ridge Boys began existence as a southern gospel quartet.) The Blackwood Brothers were among the first commercially successful southern gospel quartets, dating back to 1934. By 1954 they were rivaling any “secular” act in popularity. It was at that apex of their career that tragedy struck. On June 30, 1954, the Blackwood Brothers were playing at a show in Clanton, Alabama (which is near Birmingham) with the Statesmen Quartet. Before the show Robert “R.W.” Blackwood, a licensed pilot and the group’s baritone singer, took to the skies to check out the best flight path, as they would be leaving after the show (and after dark). With him was the Blackwoods’ bass singer, Bill Lyles, and the 18-year-old Johnny Ogburn, an Army soldier home on leave and the son of the festival’s promoter/founder. The Beechcraft plane came back in toward the runway, then went around again. The second time it “bounced” on the landing, according to witnesses, went straight up in the air, then fell back to earth in a fireball. All three occupants were killed instantly. The funerals for Blackwood and Lyles were held in Memphis, their base of operations, two days later. Among the mourners was Elvis Presley, who was a lifelong fan of southern gospel. (As a footnote, the modern incarnation of the Blackwoods performed at Lisa Marie’s funeral last year.) In response to the tragedy, the Blackwoods forged on, creating a new form of travel for musicians: the tour bus. Needless to say, the Blackwoods were a little apprehensive about flying after witnessing the plane crash, so they had a bus decked out with comforts so they could travel from show to show without the fear and painful memories. Among the post-crash successes the Blackwood Brothers won eight Grammy awards and induction into both the Gospel Music (1974) and Southern Gospel Music (1997) Halls of Fame. They’ve sold over 50 million records, making them one of the most commercially successful gospel acts of all time. The popularity and influence of the Blackwood Brothers cannot be understated. Nearly every southern gospel quartet modeled themselves after them. Nearly 70 years after the plane crash that nearly ended the band, their legacy endures. Blackwood Brothers Robert Winston (R.W.) Blackwood (October 23, 1921 - June 30, 1954) (age 32) James William (Bill) Lyles (December 7, 1920 - June 30, 1954) (age 33) Place of crash: Clanton, Alabama Here’s the Blackwood Brothers, with R.W. and Bill (the two on the right), singing the Stuart Hamblen classic “It Is No Secret”: