When I used to go to Harrisonburg's all-night gospel sings was a LONG time ago- it was in the early 50s. On my recent visit to Virginia I asked a friend who lives in Harrisonburg if they still put them on- he said No. OTOH, he's not a musician and was not involved so I can't be sure.

Dale, I would love to know if a reasonable facsimile still exists. Performers came from all over the south at that time- I remember Lousiana and Alabama specifically- and they would play as long as the crowd stayed. I remember one time they played until 5 a.m. but 2:00 was more common.

Thinking back, I imagine it was in an open mike format- I believe they did not get paid. But many of them had records and songbooks for sale, along with promotional material. I imagine that promoters and venue reps were in attendance.

I wish I could remember more of the artists' names. I do remember "The Friendly Four" and "The Lighthouse Trio". At that time, we looked askance at anything larger than a quartet or anything smaller than a duet- we had a narrow view, I must say. Five was a chorus, for pete's sake, and who wanted to listen to a lone voice? Seriously, that is where I learned to love harmonies.

It was great fun.