Second annual gospel event will be held on February 15
The Williams Trio will be hosting their second annual Homecoming show on February 15 at 5:00 p.m along with Karen Peck and New River. The southern gospel concert will be held in the Cleveland Church of God located at 4101 Highway 8 East in Cleveland.
The trio consists of Kenny, his son Jordan, and his daughter-in-law Taylor. Kenny is the President of the corporation that owns Cleveland Funeral Home, Jordan is the manager for the funeral home, and Taylor currently works as the bookkeeper at Roy Collins Construction as well as the part-time bookkeeper for Delta Arts Alliance.
According to their website, www.thewilliamstrio.com, “Kenny’s love for music began at the very young age of nine years. He was introduced to many different instruments by his parents and he learned to play most any instrument with strings by ear. It was also at this age, he started honing his vocal abilities as this developed in years to follow.”
“I’ve just spent all my life singing and playing different instruments and such,” said Kenny. “I’ve been in several quartets: One-way quartet, the Pranksman Quartet, Emmanuel Quartet, and, going way back, we called ourselves The Brothers Three.”
According to Kenny, the first time he ever got up to sing in front of people was when he sang with The Brothers Three, and he has now recorded several songs with each of the groups previously mentioned.
“I’ve been blessed,” added Kenny.
Jordan shared that he grew up around music because of his father’s love and dedication to the craft, and he went on to acquire a degree in Voice with a minor in piano.
“I fell in love with music at an early age,” said Jordan. “As far as the group goes, I do most of the bookings as far as finding places to go and lining all that up.”
Taylor moved to Cleveland in 2018 and met Jordan soon after. She said she grew up singing in church. The first time she ever sang in front of anyone was supposed to be with a group of twelve kids from her church, elven of which were in the same family.
“They all got sick and could not be there, so it was just me,” said Taylor. “They were like, you still have to sing. So, I was about probably 10 or 11 years old at the time. Ever since then, I’ve been singing. I love music, and I love to sing.”
According to Taylor, the group works as a team to choose their music and the overall direction of their ensemble.
“In 2020, during COVID, I was worship leader at Cornerstone Baptist in Greenville,” said Jordan. “During that time, of course, you couldn’t go to church, so everything was live streamed. The pastor came up with the idea to do the music portion here so we wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Greenville.”
Jordan said the Pastor would then put his sermon online a few minutes after they streamed their music so their congregation would still have a full service.
“We did that for a while, and we would practice here in the chapel at the funeral home, just the three of us,” said Jordan. “That went on for about six months. After that, we wanted to go around and do more for other churches. That kind of kick-started where we’re at now.”
In 2022, The Williams Trio started taking bookings for shows, and in 2023, they recorded their first album.
“Message of Mercy, the title track of our first album, was released in January of this past year,” added Kenny. “It rose to like 92 on the top 100 Charts.”
Last year, they started the homecoming show to promote their new album, and they had Brian Free and Assurance come to do the concert with them. According to Taylor, the response was great that they decided to make it a tradition and invited Karen Peck and New River to do this year’s homecoming concert with them.
Taylor said Karen Peck and New River are based in Dahlonega, Georgia. It is one group with Karen Peck as the lead singer with the rest of the band consisting mostly of her family.
“Six-time Grammy nominated, nine-time GMA Dove Award winning Karen Peck and New River has impacted the Gospel Music industry for almost 30 years,” according to their website, www.karenpeckandnewriver.com. “In 2018, Karen Peck Gooch was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame. Karen was also inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2021. In 2022, she was voted Favorite Soprano from The Singing News Fan Awards.”
The price for a pre-sale ticket is currently $21.00, but the price at the door on the day of the show will be $25.00. If you would like to reserve your tickets, you can go to The Williams Trio website, call (662) 385-0981, or purchase directly from the Cleveland Funeral Home.
Tickets can be picked up at will call on the day of the show. According to Jordan, the seating is first come first serve, the doors will be opening for seating at 4:30 p.m., and the sanctuary is handicap accessible.
Jordan said they do have a group price for groups of ten or more and if anyone is looking to bring a group, just give them a call and they can walk you through that process.
There will also be a door prize for those that make it to the concert. Jordan said the prize will be a Mississippi Delta themed basket of goodies including pottery made in the delta.
“Every ticket has a number on the side,” said Jordan. “So when they come in, they’ll be handed back their portion of the ticket. Somebody will rip off the other side, put it in the bucket. About midway through the service, we’ll draw that ticket and they’ll get the door prize.”
If you would like to learn more about The Williams Trio, or keep up with their progress, Jordan said you can go to their website to see upcoming shows or follow them on Facebook.
According to Jordan, all of their recordings can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Youtube. They have plans to release more music soon, but this is their only show in Cleveland booked so far this year.
The purpose of The Williams Trio is to spread the Gospel through song. According to their website, they want to be “the light in the darkness for as many as they can”.