Blending harmonies smoothly, the way only family can, Sweet Home’s Stock Brothers last week released their first CD, Timeless.
The collection of hymns, arranged by Sweet Home native and Nashville producer Lynn Keesecker, strikes across the gaps in musical tastes that divide generations, bringing new life for the younger crowd to the traditional hymns loved by older generations. At the same time, the new arrangements will appeal to traditional sensibilities with light percussion, strings, keyboards and quiet guitars.
The songs on the 12-track CD can be found in the books that rest in racks on the backs of pews in churches throughout Sweet Home. They include tunes like “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” “It is Well With My Soul” and “How Great Thou Art.”
Though steeped in music all their lives, the Stock Brothers only recently started singing together and sharing their collective talents with others. Locally, the Stock Brothers performed in the August Sweet Home High School All-School Reunion. They also sang for a Habitat for Humanity benefit.
Jim Stock, a 1987 graduate of SHHS, explained how he and his brothers, Matt and Joel ended up finally coming together.
“I think collectively, we all had our first exposure to music in church,” Jim said. Their mother, Sylvia Stock was active in leading church programs, and “she would obviously make us be participants.”
In high school, Jim wasn’t active in music, most of his singing being to the radio. When he enrolled at Northwest Christian College, Jim tried out for the college’s singing ministry, Pilgrimage, and toured several western states. That was his first “official” exposure to singing in front of other people. After that, through his network of family and friends, Jim sang for weddings, funerals and church, including the Riverside Christian Church and the Church of Christ at 18th and Long.
He went to work in a sawmill for seven years, with singing as a hobby.
He earned his bachelor of science degree in business communications in 1991. He is married to Renelle and has two children, James, 4, and Hannah, 2.
Matt, SHHS Class of 1990, said that Jim did sing in high school. He would get in trouble during football practice when he got bored and started and singing.
Joel, SHHS Class of 1992, was the only one of the brothers who was involved in music during high school. He was involved in plays and productions in grade school. In high school, he was part of the vocal ensemble under Paul Rowton. For two years, he was in a band with Phoebe Ran, John Hankins, Danny Evans and Tim Russell, and they covered contemporary hits from such bands as the Black Crowes. Their main exposure came in the form of the high school talent show.
Joel attended the University of Oregon on a golf scholarship and turned pro in 1997 when he graduated with a bachelor of arts in English literature. He toured in gold for a year and a half. Singing was left behind at that point in his life. Joel is engaged to Sarah Sharp of Portland.
Matt also had little experience with music during high school.
“I did a couple of talent shows and stuff with the guys,” Matt said. When he enrolled at Northwest Christian College, Matt also joined the Pilgrimage. He finished his degree at George Fox University in Newberg where he sang with the chapel band and on Wednesdays. He also sang at weddings and funerals, but mostly he did that alone.
Matt earned his bachelor of science in psychology in 1995.
Coming together for the three was never planned by any of the three.
“It was all really quite by accident,” Jim said. “A friend of Joel’s … wanted us to do something together, all three of us.”
They began preparing, with Matt living in Newberg, Jim in Sweet Home and Joel in Portland.
Matt was running a group home for troubled youths when the call for all three to sing came.
Two months in a row, they worked for an hour or two Saturday nights preparing songs for Sunday morning at church.
“As much as we thought people would get sick of it, we always got such a warm reception from people.”
“As a result of that experience,” Jim said. “We realized how fun that was.”
It was about two years ago that the three began searching for music for their unique three-part approach and occasionally performing together for fun.
Larry Gatlin visited Sweet Home for Sylvia’s birthday in 1998, and the Stock Brothers sang with him.
Jim was having trouble with his vocals, so Gatlin introduced him to vocalist Franco Iglesias of Portland.
“We call him the Maestro,” Joel said. He worked with Jim, pushing him toward opera, and Matt decided to take voice lessons also. Soon, all three were taking vocal lessons from Franco.
The Stock family had him down for dinner in summer 1999.
“We stood at the piano, and we sang for him,” Joel said. “He sat here and cried and he told us he thought we had a gift.”
“God has given you a gift,” he said. “If you don’t use it, you’re denying that gift.”
In October 1999, Joel gave up gold and went to work for his father, Skip, then for his brother at Triple T Studs. Matt also went to work for Jim, and they all went to work together learning to sing together. Soon after, Lynn Keesecker, Joel Keesecker’s older brother, entered the picture. Lynn worked for Word Records at the time in Nashville.
“Here comes dad making a cold call to Nashville one day — I’ve got three boys here … how many times have you heard that before,” Matt said.
Lynn was skeptical, Jim said.
“His first reaction was (sending) a few songs for us to mess around with. He just kind of assumed we’re country.”
The brothers spent nights working at Triple T and days rehearsing with a woman in Eugene and working with Franco in Portland.
In February, they flew to Nashville, went to their hotel room and immediately were performing for Lynn. All of that came with no guarantees they would get a record deal.
Lynn had left Word Records and was looking for something else to do at the time.
“Lynn didn’t know what he’d expected out of us, and we ourselves didn’t know where we wanted to go musically.”
Lynn made to visits to Sweet Home later and spent a couple of days going through all kinds of musical styles with the Stock Brothers. Then he wanted to hear what they liked. They “basically karaoked” for him.
“That’s when he looked at us and said, ‘Wow,'” Joel said.
“Through that experience … he was able to get a better understanding of our voices and the versatility of singing different styles of music. We had no idea what kind of music we wanted to do.”
When a woman in their church died, they were requested to perform “The Old Rugged Cross,” Joel said. Lynn was in town. He opened up the hymn and arranged it for the Stock Brothers. In two hours, they had the song together. That’s the way they sang it then, and that’s the way it appears on the CD.
“It was then that a light came on,” Joel said.
“Musically, we had no desire to be some pop boy band,” Jim said. “I think after the initial hype of realizing we were going to do something,” they settled on remaking classic hymns. “As we said before, we believe these gifts were from God, and we wanted nothing more than to be a witness to our faith. We wanted to honor the traditions we were raised on.”
Those songs talk about the struggles all experience, belief in God and conviction.
“Not only would the older generations be appreciative of this but our generation and younger generations would gain a new appreciation for the music.”
In the short time since the completion of the CD, the Stock Brothers have had an affirmation of that from their peers about the hymns, songs that were often considered by the younger generations as boring, old-fashioned and out of style.
“God had a hand in this,” Jim said. “We simply needed to be faithful to the process.”
July was the first time they had ever been in a recording studio.
Lynn and the Stock Brothers went to work on the CD at Alpha Music, located on Silverton Road in Salem. Lynn arranged the music and had the instrumental tracks recorded in Nashville. Vocals were recorded by Cory Knowland and mixing completed by Ted Wilson.
Cory and Lynn had a connection during the recording sessions, Jim said. During that time, the brothers “also bonded a lot.”
The whole recording business was a learning experience, Joel said. When it comes to being professional musicians, the brothers didn’t grow up that way.
“None of us can read a lick of music,” Matt said.
“We’re as raw as it gets,” Joel said.
“It was a real challenging experience,” Jim said. “It was also a really rewarding experience.”
The brothers walked into the studio “shaky,” but they walked out with confidence, Jim said.
The Stock Brothers have a full plate of engagements throughout the month. Joel and Matt make the singing their full-time job, while Jim is still working his day job.
“We’re just going to try to perform everywhere we possibly can,” Joel said. Later this month is a 10-day tour of Southern California, primarily churches, conferences and colleges. They have been booked fairly solid since November and through January.
They also are planning to audition for Robert Schuler’s Hour of Power radio program.
As they look forward to another CD, “we’re always going to take advantage of the opportunity for ministry,” Jim said. The music is not just about money. More importantly it’s to “uplift people’s spirits.”
The most important thing in terms of where they go musically is “keeping a message,” Joel said.
“We’re not going to compromise our beliefs for potential success,” Jim said. They want their integrity to be represented in their music.
“It’s the only way it’s going to work for us,” Joel said.
“If we’re not doing what we believe,” Jim said. “We’re going to lose our passion. If our passions isn’t there, we’ll never be a witness to folks. They’ll be able to tell we’re going through the motions.”
“If this can’t feed us,” Matt said. “We can always feed other people as a ministry.”
The Stock Brothers wanted to thank the community of Sweet Home for its support. They also wanted to thank their church and schools, which were always positive and encouraging.
“The support of our family, church and community is the most important thing there is,” Jim said. They help keep the brothers in check and “our feet firmly planted in the ground. If this doesn’t lead to bigger things, the most important thing is you always have your home.”
The Stock Brothers also wanted to thank Mike Horner and the Triple T Studs family for its support and flexibility for the CD and music while they worked there.
The Stock Brothers wanted to particularly thank their parents, Sylvia and Skip.
“If it wasn’t for them, this wouldn’t have happened,” Joel said.
They provided emotional and financial support to help the brothers to their current level, Jim said.
Persons may contact Sylvia at 367-6313 to purchase copies of the CD. The CD also is available at Sugar City Espresso, Sweet Home Florist and Hometown Drugs. The Stock Brothers are working on more outlets, and their label, Well Done Entertainment is working on a wider distribution. Persons may also order from the Stock Brothers website http://www.stockbrothers.com.