What up peeps?! Hope you guys are doing awesome. Seems life just gets faster and faster as we get older. First I have a birthday (numero 45 for those counting) then Darrell has one (numero 46….still got him by a year) and life just seems to zip by at warp factor 20. Craziness. Remember when weeks seemed so long and weekends seemed so short when we were kids? Now every week seems like those weekends when we were younger. Can’t complain though, I guess if my life weren’t so wonderful it would be crawling by like school days did. Wish I had been doing a better job of staying in touch with you all. I’m betting some have assumed we don’t care, and that’s about as far from the truth as you can get. We’ve actually been busy working diligently on what we all have said is our favorite CD yet…and it’s about to be ready for you guys. I know it’s August and this might seem a bit early to start the celebration, but we’ve just put the wraps on our very first Christmas CD!! You all know I like Southern Gospel….if we all didn’t I don’t think we’d be spending week in and week out singing it. I like allot of other kids too…but my very favorite of all genres of music has to be Christmas. I like traditional, contemporary, secular, hymns, rock, classical….I just can’t get enough, and the rest of the guys are the very same way. So the anticipation has been killing us. You know…we do music tracks, then a few weeks later we go back one song at a time and do the vocals…then work on photography…then artwork…so when it is all done it is as big a surprise to us how it sounds and looks as it is to you guys sometimes. Last Friday we all got to hear it for the first time…and were all very pleased. Now the race has been on to get “A Called Out Quartet Christmas” ready for this weekend’s Homecoming here in Nashville. If all works just right we will have a limited number available for the folks who are able to come and hoping to have another round ready in a few weeks after that (targeting the trip to Massachusetts as the delivery time for the real batch).

So…what’s the song list like? Here you go…songs on the new CD. Some you’ll know, others you may not…all favorites of the group for one reason or another. Oh…and though we are a quartet, it just wouldn’t have been right to not have Marty sing a song….so the CD showcases 5 vocalists at various times. First time we’ve done that. Oh yeah…the list…

Beautiful Star of Bethlehem, Mary Did You Know, White Christmas, Go Thee Down, Silent Night, The First Noel (Recitation of the Christmas story), Joy Joy, Tennessee Christmas, Glory To God In The Highest, O Holy Night

If all goes as planned, Marty will be uploading clips of the songs VERY soon. Had a few slight technical difficulties with the upload process on the internet provider end. Working through those as we speak (err…type). When you get a CD, be sure and check out the pics. We had an absolute blast taking them, but sweated like a bunch of pigs. You’ll see what I mean (not the sweat, but why we sweated…remember, it was 100 degrees the day we took those pics).

Did I mention the Homecoming this weekend?? Yes sir…it’s that wonderful time again. Same bat time, same bat channel. McFerrin Missionary Baptist Church in Madison, TN (431 West Old Hickory Blvd. Madison, TN 37115 to be exact…better write it down for the GPS just in case). By the way…for those who didn’t come to it last year, Madison is a suburb of Nashville…about 11 miles north of downtown, so if you’re trying to wort it out in your mind…it’s like going to Nashville basically. Will start singing around 7pm….but wait, there’s more! This year we are planning to have some finger foods in the downstairs starting around 5:30pm, so come on out and enjoy a little fellowship with us and our families! Another plan we have right now is to all dump our pics through the years (cell phone pics, camera pics, professional pics never used…the whole nine yards) onto a computer hard drive and have a slide show running either downstairs at the church (where the finger foods will be) or upstairs on a screen. Either way…I’ve seen mine, and some are worth the effort to come early. You’ll ask probing questions like…has Von really gained that much weight? Has Jess really lost that much weight? Yes…enquiring minds want to know…

All kidding aside…come on out. Won’t be taping this year’s event for a live CD like we did last year, so we will likely be MUCH more relaxed. Will try and pull out some songs we haven’t sang in a while, and might turn the air conditioning up real high and get everyone in the spirit to hear a Christmas song or two from the new CD. Should be interesting…haven’t had a chance to practice any of them since we did them in the studio several months ago. Would now be a good time to schedule a practice…or two for this week guys? Might even take a request or two…who knows. We don’t plan too much anymore…feel like it’s better if we just let the Lord orchestrate what He wants. He knows what’s best anyway…

Will also be explaining all the changes to the Gatlinburg deal this year. Just a hint…the price has dropped, and we’ve got more options for folks who like to maybe camp, rent a chalet, or stay in Pigeon Forge. Enough said there…come on out and I’ll whip out my best Billy Mays. If I knew us like I do (and I do know us like I think I do)…I bet we’ll be offering a special deal for those attending the Homecoming and putting down a deposit on Gatlinburg…seems like the kind of thing we might do…

Have a great week and look for another update as the weekend approaches. Will be confirming whether or not the Christmas CD will be available (won’t be for lack of trying VERY hard by everyone in the group to make it happen). Oh…and come back often and see if we end up getting those teaser clips from the CD loaded. If I know Marty the web guru like I do…this thing will be squared up in no time flat…

Von and all the guys at CO4

Hey guys…long time no talk! I’ve said this before but I really LOVE technology. I’m in the waiting room of a surgical center while my wife Lisa is having eye surgery working on my laptop and updating the quartet website using the Wi-Fi my cellphone emits…all while texting family and friends updates about how Lisa is doing (which is well, just got out of surgery and is in post-op…thanks for asking). How on earth did we get by without all of this 20 years ago? I feel like such a dinosaur when I talk about the “old days” of no cellphones or internet. What will our kids be talking about 20 years from now??

Dogtown…got some very sad news from Bro. Bob Pollard and from his daughter Shannon Pulley just a few minutes ago. One of Bro. Pollard’s nephews passed away unexpectedly yesterday and they are now dealing with not only the loss of a dear family member, but are having to sort through the visitation and service on their church’s homecoming weekend. Due to those unfortunate circumstances, Marshall Ferry (Dogtown) has canceled their singing for Sunday July 18th. It will be rescheduled at a later date, but for now…pray for the Pollard family and love on your own family while you’ve got them around. Life is awesome, but it is at best fragile and each day is a gift from the Lord.

Will hit you guys back again soon, but remember the Homecoming August 7th in Nashville, TN and Gatlinburg in November. If all goes as planned, we will have our new Christmas CD at the Homecoming…might even turn the A/C up a bit and sing one for fun.

Hope you guys all have a great weekend…..come see us at Fares Avenue this Saturday night at 7:00pm (July 17th)…and remember, no service at Dogtown Sunday July 18th. Will be rescheduled once the family has had time to deal with their circumstances….

Von and all the guys at CO4