Kevin Kehrberg (June - July, 2007) is currently a doctoral candidate in musicology at the University of Kentucky. The subject of his dissertation in progress is the music of famed gospel composer and publisher, Albert E. Brumley.

His Fellowship work at Berea June-July 2007 focused on the gospel quartets documented in Berea's radio program collections, especially the Renfro Valley Gatherin' and other programs John Lair aired on network radio from Renfro Valley in the 1940s and 1950s.

Kevin's efforts focused on analyzing performing styles and repertoires, understanding stylistic similarities and differences within a concentrated geographic region, and developing a more complete account of John Lair's association with Albert Brumley. He also looked closely at John Lair's use of gospel music in the radio programming, quartet contests, and annual all-night singing events he produced, and the impact this activity had on the greater Renfro Valley community. Fieldwork included attending present-day Renfro Valley performances, conducting oral history interviews, and identifying a collection of rare gospel quartet radio recordings from the 1950s.

Reual Thomas organized the Four Tones in mid to late 1944 as a replacement for the Crusaders. While on Renfro Valley business in the south, he recruited Georgians, Carroll "Shorty" Bradford (tenor) and Paul "Curley" Kinsey (bass). Combined with Howard Steele from Corbin, Kentucky (baritone & guitar), the new group took their name from a no longer existing one that had included Bradford, Kinsey, and future gospel star, Lee Roy Abernathy. No group recordings have survived, however Renfro Valley radio scripts strongly suggest that the Four Tones maintained much of the same repertoire that the Crusaders had performed. The original configuration held only briefly over the period during 1944-1945 that the group was in action. Replacements moving in and out at various times included Herschel Collins, Glenn Pennington, and Flossie Thomas. (More. 434KB)