Scott Swanson
Fifteen years ago, Frances Wilson got the urge to sing gospel music.
This wasn’t new territory for her. Frances, now 63, grew up in Nebraska, where her family had hosted many gospel performers, such as the famous Blackwood Brothers – with whom they were on a first-name basis.
But that was the late 1960s and this was 1998. Frances got her husband Mike sold on the idea of putting on local concerts – and performing in them.
Mike Wilson had been a talent scout for years, and he liked her idea. He found a location – the Church of Christ at 18th and Long, and she lined up some performers.
Thus was born a concert series that persists to this day, though performances are now held at the Sweet Home Church of the Nazarene, 415 Holley Road.
The first artist scheduled for 2013 is Tim Walters of Harrisburg.
“We just do it because we enjoy sharing with our community,” Mike Wilson said.
The early concerts featured three artists or groups per event but that didn’t work out. The performances needed to focus more on a single artist, so they switched to that approach early on, he said.
“Instead of giving them 20 minutes each, we give them an hour now,” Wilson said. “You don’t really understand the difference between 20 minutes and an hour until you’ve done it. When you’re featuring an artist, it’s nice to highlight the guest artists.”
The line-up for this year includes Sweet Home artist Perry Crocker, the Mack Coyer Family, Four by Grace, KP and the KINGS, Jericho Road and others, most associated with the Pacific Gospel Music Association, which includes many local gospel artists.
The Wilsons themselves perform at most of the events, said Mike, 70. Their duet act began when they founded the series.
“I’d always sung a little bit, on my own and in church,” he said. “(Frances) has a beautiful voice and that’s how we started out. She wanted to have more opportunities to sing. It’s become a way of life. It’s a wonderful opportunity to meet people from all over the world.”
The couple has written several songs that they perform themselves, with titles such as
“Streets of Jerusalem” and “I fell on my knees at the Savior’s house,” and Mike Wilson said some of his poems have been picked up by other artists, even internationally.
In addition to the 10 concerts they host every year – January through October, they perform at “one or two” nursing homes each month, at churches and “small get-togethers” and travel to various gospel events out of the area.
“We stay extremely busy on a limited scale,” he said. “Instead of golfing or fishing or hunting, we do gospel singing. It’s become a way of life.”
Wilson said his experience in seeking out talent has been handy in the gospel field. He and Frances last year heard about a group of teens in a church at Bridgeport, south of Dallas.
“It’s just a crossroads – 160 people in the church. We ran across them by accident – heard about them from someone else,” he said. “We went over to Bridgeport and listened to them.”
The Wilsons invited four of the youngsters, who performed in a male quartet called The Kingsmen, to perform in one of the monthly Sweet Home concerts and eight of the youths performed that night.
“It was kind of impromptu,” he said. “The oldest is 21 and the youngest 17. They are all fantastic singers and they all play instruments.”
Wilson, who is a cousin to the Stock family, which produced the well-known Stock Brothers group, said it’s been handy to be able to perform with his wife.
“It’s kind of fun to be able to produce another sound in Sweet Home that was promotable,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of times when a guest artist got sick and we went ahead and did the program for him.”
The concerts at the Nazarene church draw a faithful crowd, he said – averaging between 50 and 100. The concerts are free, though a free-will offering is taken for the performers.
“We don’t do it for a living,” Wilson said. “We just do it because we enjoy sharing the Lord’s word through music. Evangelism. That’s all it is.”