Fortune smiles on the Statlers

By Mary Alice Blackwell

Published: May 15, 2008

You can’t have grown up in Staunton and not know about the Statler Brothers.

I was never what you would call a country music fan — quite the opposite. But I can sing you every line from “Flowers on the Wall.” As a matter of fact, I’m humming the tune right now.

“Playin’ solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one …”

I think it is absorbed through the skin of Stauntonians without anyone even realizing it happened.

Harold Reid, Don Reid, Phil Balsley and Lew DeWitt were the guys next door who happened to throw this amazing party at Gypsy Hill Park every Fourth of July.

We would take our lawn chairs and plop them out on the baseball field. But you had to go in the middle of the night on July 3 … and wait in a loooong, long line. You see every July 4th, country music’s most award-winning group staged a free concert with the best fireworks in the universe. Apparently, their fans from outside Staunton found out about this. Hundreds of thousands descended on our tiny hamlet — from every state, from foreign countries — just to hear our neighbors sing.

I told myself that I was going for the fireworks.

Each year a different Statler friend “from the business” came along to sing, too. Conway Twitty, Jerry Reid, Barbara Mandrell, Johnny Cash …

Yawn.

But, before the fireworks, the Statlers would come back out on stage… and sure enough, without me evening knowing it, my toes would be tapping, my lips would be moving. 

I went year after year.

But in early 1980s DeWitt’s health began to fail. Diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, the tenor had more and more difficultly dealings with the rigors of a national tour. We, too, worried about our neighbor, and wondered if his group would fold.

But DeWitt, himself, told the friends that he had grown up with that he had found his own replacement. He encouraged his

“Brothers” to give him a listen.

In Harold and Don Reid’s new book, “The Statler Bros.,” Harold wrote that “Lew said we might want to check on a young singer he’d heard at a ski lodge, Jimmy Fortune. … Good looking, great singer and an excellent guitar player who had been born and raised about forty miles from our front door. I don’t know how you view this, but we knew in our hearts that God had his mighty hand on this group from day one.”

Jimmy Fortune, the kid from a talented family of singers, was the first to audition. But the Statlers did it right. The group went to Nashville to hear the best of the rest. Then they called Fortune back for one last listen.

“No one came close to his considerable talent,” Harold Reid added. “There is no one, and I mean no one, I have ever met who can learn and retain as much and as quickly as this Nelson County boy.”

Fortune did his first show as a Brother on Jan. 28, 1982, in Savannah, Ga. When DeWitt retired seven months later, Fortune stepped in as his permanent replacement.

Oh, he looked a little younger, much younger. But his voice sounded so similar to DeWitt’s, it was eerie.

It was DeWitt who penned “Flowers on the Wall,” the Statler Brothers’ first hit song. It was Jimmy Fortune who wrote “Elizabeth,” the band’s second No. 1 smash.

Jimmy Fortune went on to perform at 14 Fourth of July celebrations in Staunton, not to mention being a part of concerts across the country for the next 21 years. It was a good run. He sang on double-platinum albums. He was a star on “The Statler Brothers Show,” which debuted in 1991 as the highest-rated TV show on the Nashville Network. The multi-Grammy Award-winning Statlers were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame (2007) and the Country Music Hall of Fame (2008).

Fortune was in the group when the Statlers sang at the White House for presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush. He even sang to the woman who inspired his first Statler hit, Elizabeth Taylor.

The story has it — which can be found in the “Statler” book that Harold, Don and Phil made Jimmy watch one of their favorite films, “Giant.” After the screening, Fortune went straight out to the tour bus and penned “Elizabeth.”

Although the Statlers officially retired in 2002, Fortune didn’t stop singing. He moved to Nashville and launched his own solo career, with three albums to his credit, so far.

This weekend he is returning home. In fitting Statler fashion, Fortune will give a benefit solo concert at Belmont Baptist Church on Monticello Avenue. Tickets to Saturday’s 7 p.m. show are only $15, with proceeds benefiting the church’s ministries. Children younger than 10 will get in free, but still need to nab a child’s ticket, since space will be limited. Drop by Hiner’s Christian Bookstore or call 296-7111 for details.

Oh, there may not be big fireworks, but it’s sure to warm the heart.