Let’s get to know The Guardians’ baritone singer Dale Forbes! In this interview, he discusses his years with Priority, the Singing Americans, The Anchormen, Port City Quartet, and The Guardians.
Show Notes
The Guardians
The Singing Americans – Live from Chicago
The Anchormen – Spirit Live
The Anchormen – Adoration
Port City Quartet – Second Time Around
The Guardians – Where Healing Happens
Transcript
Lightly edited for clarity.
Daniel Mount
Thank you for listening to Southern Gospel Journal. My name is Daniel Mount, and I have the honor of being joined this evening by Dale Forbes. How are you doing this evening?
Dale Forbes
I’m doing great, Daniel. How are you?
Daniel Mount
Pretty good! So I’d love to start with your background and your testimony. So where are you from, and how did you come to know the Lord?
Dale Forbes
I was raised in Camden, North Carolina, which is right outside of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It’s the very northeast corner of North Carolina. It’s about an hour from Nags Head, Kitty Hawk, the Outer Banks, and about 35 minutes from Chesapeake, Virginia, 45 minutes from Norfolk, Virginia. It depends on traffic. And so that’s where I was raised. I was raised in a little small Pentecostal Holiness church out there in the country, full of good people who loved the Lord and loved each other.
And so that’s where I was raised, and it was an interesting childhood in that it was uneventful as far as bad things happening. Thank God. I had a good family, had a good church. We loved the Lord. We had a drug problem. We drug to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, you know, prayer meeting, you name it, revival, VBS. We were always there. And so that’s a good thing. I had a good upbringing by a good family, and I’m just blessed to have them in my life.
Most people’s testimony starts like this: I was raised in church. I was too, but I wasn’t saved until I was 15. We had a revival, and the preacher preached on Hell, and I came down and got saved. I sure haven’t been perfect all these years, but I’ve sure tried, and the Lord’s been good to me, and he’s been true to His word, that’s for sure.
I’ve been blessed to have had a very good upbringing and never really, I strayed some here and there, but not a whole lot. And I’m thankful for that. God has been really good to me. Whenever I’ve strayed, he’s brought me right back with that shepherd’s hook, brought me back where I need to be. I’ve been blessed to be able to live my life in such a way that I could point people to Jesus through music and through preaching.
And so God has been really, really good to me. Married. My wife is Sherry Forbes, and she’s sitting over there in the chair. Anyway, she’s going to kill me for doing that. She said, “Yep.” And I’ve got two boys that are grown. One is 28, one is 25, and they’re both good kids. Never caused us a minute’s problem. And both of them helped us tremendously in our church when we were at the last church, and they were actually born in the first church that we pastored. Started two different ministries there in Elizabeth City and just had a great time, 25 and a half years of pastoring. So God has been good to me. I’m thankful in a lot of different ways, with music and preaching. So I’ve been pretty blessed.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, praise God for His faithfulness. He’s always faithful. So I would love to loop back to your preaching and talk about it in a few minutes, but just to move through your life chronologically, let’s go back to your childhood, if you would. What was your entry point into discovering Southern Gospel?
Dale Forbes
My family used to love to go to the mountains. My mom and dad loved it. They fell in love with it. They went up there one time with my cousin’s family and fell in love with it. And so we started going every year. Well, every year we would go back to the same area around Bryson City, North Carolina. Sometimes we’d go to Pigeon Forge, and we loved all of that. We considered that all one area, and we would go back and forth across the mountain from one to the other, but they liked the quiet side of the mountains more.
And so they liked Bryson City. Well, we kept seeing these concert posters for “Singing in the Smokies,” and we kept talking about it. Well, one year we decided we were going. So we went up there on the Fourth of July concert, and I fell in love with the Inspirations when they started doing the a cappella singing and it was ringing out across the hills and mountains. There was nothing more beautiful than that to me. I thought, I’m in love with this.
So I bought everything my mom and dad would let me buy. Used all my money and used as much of theirs as they’d let me. Bought every album I could of the Inspirations, but not only them. I mean, you know, name it, Heavenbound, Cathedrals, Gold City, Kingsmen, Paynes, I mean, on and on and on. I could go Florida Boys and just so many groups. And I bought everything I could get from everybody up there and came home and I listened constantly for the whole year long. And then the next year I would do the same thing, buy as many. We got to where we went every night and we loved it. So I fell in love with Gospel Music right there. I didn’t know anything about it until then. The only thing we’d ever had at my church was a local quartet that really was not good. But when I got up there on the mountain and all the pros were up there, I was like, my gosh.
I told my mom and dad, said, “One day I want to ride a bus like that.”
And so anyway, they said, “Well, if you want to own one, you better have a lot of money. They’re very expensive.”
I said, “Well, I don’t know, but I want to ride one and I want to sing.”
So I started singing in church and, like I said, got under conviction when they preached and got saved at 15. And I’ve just been singing ever since. I started singing with my family, and I sung there a couple of years, then went on to sing with a group called the Laymen Quartet out of Windsor, North Carolina. They were a regional group that really sung a professional schedule, a Thursday through Sunday night schedule a lot of weeks, and I made 50 bucks a week. I was really knocking it out, wasn’t I?
Daniel Mount
That’s busy.
Dale Forbes
Yeah. But I was working at a lumber yard at the time, and they were so good to let me off. I told them, said, “Look, I sing and I need to get off on the weekends at various times. I’ll try not to do it anymore than I have to, but when the schedule calls for it, I need to go. And I’m willing to quit the job if I can’t do it, or even not take the job if I can’t do it.”
And so they said, “Okay, we’ll work with you.”
I said, “Cause I told them I’ll come in early, I’ll leave late, work overtime, whatever you need. You know, I’ll be on time and I’ll be a good employee, and I get along great with people.”
So it worked out. And then I went on from there to the Telestials. Somewhere they heard me, I don’t know, I guess radio, and then they hired me. Stayed there for a little while, left there and went with Priority at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, with the host gospel quartet there for a couple of years.
And then after that, the Singing Americans called and wanted me to try out. So Charlie Burke flew me in, I tried out, and I got the job. And so I left Priority, went with the Singing Americans for a couple of years after I’d been with Priority a couple of years.
Then when I was there, the Anchormen called me and wanted me to go with them. And I’d always wanted to sing with the Anchormen. My mom and dad used to take me to Elizabeth City, to the A.L. Sheep Auditorium, to listen to the Anchormen all the time when I was growing up, and they were great. I loved them, and I always wanted to sing with them. And I’d keep in touch with Terry and say, “Terry, if anybody leaves, let me know. I want to come,” you know. And at the time, Biney English was the lead singer. I liked him a lot. So I sure didn’t want to do anything wrong to get his job, but I loved him, and if he left, I wanted to come.
So he called me when he did and said, “Hey, why don’t you come?” Actually, it was David Hill at the time that I took his place. But anyway, I loved the Anchormen, was there for a couple of years, and it wasn’t long, the Lord started a church. We pastored for 14 years at that particular church. And after that church was over, we felt led to leave, and the Lord allowed me to go back on the road with the Anchormen for two more years.
Then after that, we came back, started another church, and were there 11 and a half years, and just recently felt led to leave and move to Tennessee. The Lord gave me a dream and a word and gave me an incessant desire to move to the mountains of Tennessee, and I didn’t know why. Well, one day I said, “Lord, I’ve been here about a month and a half. I need to make some money for my family. Help me to make some money for my family, and I’ll preach if you want me to, but I really don’t want to. But if you’ll let me sing, I’d love to sing again.”
And I got home, and five minutes later I saw where Scott had left The Guardians, and I called John and said, “Hey John, I want the job.” At the time I thought it was the lead singer’s position, but when I got to learn the songs I figured out, I said, this is a baritone job.
Anyway, I was fine. I didn’t care. I told him, said, “Look, I just want to help y’all if I could. I’m not here to take over, to be a star. Whatever you want me to do, that’s what I want to do.”
So I’ve been with The Guardians since June of last year, and it’s coming up on a year. So I’m enjoying myself. Those guys have been really, really good to me.
Daniel Mount
It is great to get the overview! And if you don’t mind, I’d like to go all the way back to Priority and ask a couple of questions about the different groups you were with. One of them is…
Okay, a little rabbit trail here. I was interviewing Josh Singletary a couple weeks ago about Tribute Quartet’s new album, and after the interview was done, he brought up Geron Davis, the songwriter. And I told him, you know, Geron did this amazing song that Truth recorded called “Holy of Holies” that somebody in Southern Gospel needs to sing sometime. And he told me, “You know what? Dale Forbes already is.”
And I noticed that, I don’t think it was the first album you were on with Priority. The album before that had the song “Holy of Holies” on it. Is that where you first came across the song and first started singing that amazing song?
Dale Forbes
Yeah, it was. As a matter of fact, it was nominated for a Dove Award. Mark Trammell produced that album for Priority. They did it right before I came, and actually Scott Crawley sang the lead on it at the time. I sing over him, which is crazy because the song is already high. So I’ve taken it back now. I fast forward years later, at Steve Hurst School of Music and really before that in church, I started singing it. But I would sing what Scott was singing and just sing the lead on it. It’s got all that orchestration and the big old track. It’s a great song.
We’ve actually kicked around me bringing the song back. So I’ve done that at a couple of groups with the Anchormen and now here, kicked it around, but I’ve never done it. So they’re thinking about having me do it on maybe the next project or, you know, some project. So hopefully that happens. It’s a great song. Yeah, I love the song.
Daniel Mount
That would be good. It is a special song. As much as I love some of the other amazing songs he’s written, that might be my favorite of his songs. And I was thrilled to hear you already had a connection to it.
Now, another thing that jumps out with Priority is you sang there with Kurt Young.
Dale Forbes
Actually, Kurt had already left. I know him; he would come up and visit, and we’d let him sing a song and stuff like that. And he came back after I left, but I was actually there with Terry Edwards. Terry Edwards was there. And yeah, so we did a recording called Wake Up Church there with Priority, with he and I and Scott Crawley and Brian Rose.
Daniel Mount
Okay! Somehow or another, I actually came across that recording years ago. I don’t remember where I came across it, but I actually have a CD copy of Wake Up Church somewhere around.
Dale Forbes
Cool, that’s neat.
Daniel Mount
Yeah. So the Singing Americans, they reached out to you? They had just heard about you, or did you go on audition?
Dale Forbes
They heard me. They heard me on Wake Up Church on the radio, and when they needed a lead singer, they called me and said, “Hey, would you be interested in trying out for the lead position?”
I said, “Sure.”
So Charlie flew me out, and we went to the funeral home, of all places, in their little chapel and got around the piano, David Sutton, myself, Larry Stewart singing bass, and Buddy Burton singing baritone and MC, and they hired me. And we had two great years there. We made the Singing News cover, and we had some great chart success, and God really used us. It was a good time. Met my wife while I was there.
Well, actually, she was trying to get up with me. She had heard me singing Wake Up Church on the radio. She looked up in Singing News. There was an article that month on Priority, and it listed the members, who was singing what and which one they were in the picture, you know how they do. And she said, “I want to meet him.”
So she came to convention, and we missed each other that year. Well, the next year she came back, and when I was with the Singing Americans, she met me, and I sold her some product and, you know, told her all the stuff I do, all the girls did back there at that time when I was single. And I said, “Hey, come see us sometime.”
And she showed up that Sunday night, I think around Knoxville somewhere, outside of Nashville, it wasn’t too far. And I said, “Well, it’s put up or shut up time,” cause I told her, “Come see us and we’ll go out to eat afterward if we can.” Sure enough, we got a chance. I think we went to a Shoney’s or somewhere like that. And anyway, she turned out to be the one, you know, so I was glad to be able to meet her. And we’ve been married 32 years happily now, so tickled to death. Yes. Thank you.
Daniel Mount
Congratulations.
So the Singing Americans already had quite a legacy by the time you came on the bus, with some really great landmark albums of the ’80s, some of the best Southern Gospel albums of the ’80s. At the time you joined the group, what were the songs that you just couldn’t leave the stage without singing? What were the songs that people had to hear?
Dale Forbes
Well, it’s interesting. We went in a whole other direction than what Michael English and Rick Strickland and all of them went. They were a little more edgy. We went back to the old-school stuff, which is kind of what Charlie wanted. And Buddy definitely wanted that, and Larry Stewart was all about it. And so David and I, we were young kids. We were just glad to be there. So we sang whatever they told us to sing. And so we kind of did those things.
But our crowd, we still maintained some of the Singing Americans fans, but our crowd kind of shifted to more of an old-school fan base that Buddy had when he was with the Statesmen. Although we did do some brand-new recordings and record some brand-new songs, “I Can Almost See Heaven” was one of the songs that they wanted to hear, and then “Christian Family” with David Sutton and “Roll Roll Them All Away, Lord,” you know, some of the old Rambos-type stuff like that and Statesmen stuff. It was a lot of songs like that. So “I’ll Not Turn Back” was another big song for us, you know, just some of those.
We didn’t do “Bowed On My Knees.” I did it during my rehearsal when I tried out, but we never did do it. I told them, said, “Guys, let’s make our own legacy. Let’s leave that with Michael. Some songs are just so good and some singers are so good, you just let them have it, you know?” Because people, they didn’t want to hear me sing it, although I did fine with it. They wanted to hear Mike, and then you’re always compared to them. So I thought, let’s just go on and form our own legacy, record some new stuff, some old stuff, and put together something and find our own identity. So that’s what we did.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, I came across, it’s actually on YouTube, I came across the On Stage video you recorded. A lot of my familiarity with the Singing Americans was those more progressive albums of the ’80s. And I love it all, but I probably love the traditional best. I probably love traditional best. And so I was like, it was a pleasant surprise how straightforward and traditional it was. It was good singing, a really good video. I really, really enjoyed watching that.
Dale Forbes
It was. You know, it’s still played a lot on various places on TV and on radio. Pretty interesting.
Daniel Mount
And then also the Live From Chicago video.
Dale Forbes
Yep. Man, I’ve got a great story about that, but you go ahead and ask your question.
Daniel Mount
I would love to hear it. Go for it. I’d love to hear that story.
Dale Forbes
Well, okay. So it was us and the Kingsmen, and a regional group. I pray they’ll forgive me, but I forget their name. But there were 18 of us singers and musicians there, and one person showed up, maybe two, from Chicago. Because it was in the middle of the ’93 blizzard. That was the very beginning of it that night. It started snowing there that day when we got there, and by the time we ended the video up, it was really getting bad.
Well, the 18 of us had to be the crowd for the other groups. So whoever’s on stage had that, and then there was about 18 or so people, and the cameraman said, “Don’t worry about it. All of y’all sit on the front three rows and sit close together, and we’ll get shots that make it look like a big crowd.” And they did, and they piped in clapping and all of that stuff along with what we offered out there as the audience. And that’s what happened.
We left there, went all the way to Knoxville, right out around Ringgold, Knoxville area, and on 75, they shut the interstate down. And so, interesting, I live right here by where they shut the interstate down now. But for two days we camped out on our bus. People were knocking on the door, “I want to use the restroom.”
I said, “You got to go up on the exit to the truck stop up there,” because we couldn’t afford to let everybody on our bus. You know, you never know.
But it was a very interesting live album. It was a good live album. It was different. We had the little Mexican song, forget the name of it. We all wore sombreros. Then we had some other stuff too. “The Blood Still Flows” was a big song off of that album. You know, we had some pretty cool stuff, some good stuff. Good times.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, I was really impressed by the a cappella songs you did on that album, both “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” to open it and then “Blessed Assurance” later. Now, one thing I was curious about on that project was, because it’s not just you’re doing a step-out line. Like on “Blessed Assurance,” I think you do a whole verse or something solo, no instruments, no harmonies, just you, and then the piano comes in. So it’s not like you can lose your key and be forgiven for it and just end flat or sharp. No, you have to be on when the piano comes back. Do you have perfect pitch or something? Or was it a little nerve-wracking to do a whole verse solo a cappella and hope you’re still on when the piano comes back in?
Dale Forbes
Well, you had to focus really good to make sure you stayed on it. And I did well 99 percent of the time. I messed up one time at convention and came in a hair under, but we fixed it real quick, got right back on. That’s not a good time to come in off pitch. You want to be your best there.
But I have pretty good pitch. I wouldn’t say I have perfect pitch, but I have real good pitch. And we would either do, like the ending of the song previous to that would be the note that I need to come in on, or the piano player would hit it right at the end of the song so I’d know where to go. But you get a lot of muscle memory too. You sing it night after night, and your voice remembers right where it is. So it’s a pretty interesting thing, you know, how the body works like that. It’s muscle memory. It’s kind of like athletes that work out. Those quarterbacks do those throws over and over and over again so that their body moves in the same rotation every time with their arm. And that’s kind of the way it is with singing.
Daniel Mount
So then the Anchormen reached out to you. They already were familiar with your singing with the Singing Americans and all.
Dale Forbes
Yes. Well, I’d kept up with Terry Carter for years. They would come to my hometown and sing. I got his number. I’d call him every now and then and just talk, just kind of hoping one day that they would need me because I love their music. I liked the kind of songs they sing. And they had some life and some drive and some punch at times, and yet they could sing some great ballads.
They had heard me with the Singing Americans, and they had heard me before that with the Laymen, though. That’s how we met. They heard me in Manteo, North Carolina, out on the beach one night at Manteo High School. And so they told me years later, they said, “Man, listen to this guy sing.” So I was really humbled that they told me that years later.
But anyway, they called me and said, “Hey, will you come and fill in for us?” What they did, they were going to, I think, Rome, one of the big auditoriums down there where they’d have a big thing. And we went down there and did that, but they had a guy that was going to take the job, but he kept showing up with his notebook, and that was not going to work, walking out on a stage with a notebook as a professional group when you’re getting paid.
So I went down there and sung, and honestly, it was incredible – myself, Terry Carter, Jeff Chapman, and Brian Routh. It came together. And there’s a funny story. My wife said, “Don’t you take that job without praying about it.”
So when I was coming off the stage, we had a standing ovation, had to go back and sing some more, and when I came off the stage, Terry Carter put his arm around me and said, “So, you want to take the job?”
I said, “Yes.”
So I came off the stage, called my wife, and she said, “How’d it go?” or something like that. And I said, “It went great.” I said something about “I took the job,” or she asked me if I took it. Well, yes, she was not happy with me, so much for praying about it. Yeah. But anyway, it was a great two years. I enjoyed it. And, you know, I love them.
In fact, I just ended a time right before I came with The Guardians singing with Port City Quartet, which is Terry Carter’s new group. They sing weekends. They sing two or three weekends a month, and it was a great time. And he pays his guys as well as he can and does a real good job of that. They’ve got a nice older bus that was given to them, and Terry’s got Brian Routh back. I was there with Brian Routh and Terry. We actually made a recording, and it was good, and we had a good bass singer. Yeah. So God blessed us. That song “Second Time Around” was just on the charts not too long ago.
Daniel Mount
I saw it. So it was a good recording. “Second Time Around.”
Dale Forbes
As a matter of fact, it did pretty decent and brought it back and just kind of got their name out there a little bit. And so it was interesting to be on that song on the charts and also have other songs on the charts. So it’s pretty cool. Had some good times with Terry. I love Terry Carter. Love all those guys.
Daniel Mount
Neat, neat! So one of the videos you did with Anchormen was called Spirit Live. And that one’s actually on YouTube also. Do you know who did the arrangement of “Revive Us Again”? Were you going to that minor key on the verse and come out of it? It’s just a really cool arrangement, if you remember.
Dale Forbes
Yeah, I actually do. Phil Huffman, who played piano with the Singing Americans when they did their homecoming live album. You remember that with Clayton Inman and Phil Barker and Ed O’Neal and Duane Birchett? Yeah, that was the piano player that was with them. Well, he played with the Anchormen before a couple of different times, played with the Laymen that I’d been with before. Anyhow, he did the arrangement on that song. A great, great, great arrangement.
And you’d mentioned that a cappella “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” with the Singing Americans. Buddy Burton’s wife arranged that. And every time when we did that song every night, by the time we got to the key change, “How Wonderful,” when it goes up, you know, half-step, man, they were on their feet. It was a great arrangement. A cappella songs are fantastic. I love them, and you’re doing those. Yeah.
Daniel Mount
There’s something special.
And then I believe you were on the Adoration album – that’s actually where “Second Time Around” was, that song, speaking of that, where it was introduced.
Dale Forbes
Yes, I was. Right. That’s where it originated. We charted that song, and anyway, it was just some really good stuff off of that project. But, you know, that was myself, Terry Carter, Brian Routh, and Jeff Chapman that did that, and we had Joe Lane playing piano and Tim Bullins on the drums and Danny Johnson playing bass. It was great. Yeah.
Daniel Mount
So I did not grow up around Southern Gospel. I had the blessing of growing up in church, being raised in a Christian family, came to know the Lord as a child. But Northern Ohio, there’s just not that much Southern Gospel in Northern Ohio. So just 2003, mid-teens, late teens, just randomly borrowed a Cathedrals CD from the library in 2003. Like, why not? Let’s see what this is all about. Fell in love and started listening to the local radio station. And of course, that was about the time Jeff Chapman joined the Kingdom Heirs. So I was like, wow, what a voice. Like, what else has he done? And one of the first projects I found, I think it was the first project I got my hands on from his Anchormen days, was that one. And I still think Adoration holds up. I think it’s a very strong album to this day.
Dale Forbes
It is. Chris White did a great job producing that album, and, you know, he knows his music. He knows Southern Gospel inside and out, and he did a fantastic job doing that particular project. I really, really enjoyed it. Good, good stuff, man. That album is still quality. You can listen to it today and still enjoy it.
Daniel Mount
Yeah, definitely. It holds up. It’s good music to this day.
Before I move on to talking about pastoring, I think there are different strengths to different formats. Social media has its strengths. Singing News magazine articles have their strengths. Books have their strengths. I think the strength of a podcast format is capturing a little bit of the personality side of things. It can kind of come through in this context in a way that it’s a little harder in some other contexts. So I would love to talk about some of those great singers you sang with in those days.
You sang with several singers who are still on the road. Everybody knows them, loves them. But you toured with David Sutton, for instance, when he was a young fella, and people know him today for 20-something years with Triumphant Quartet after a number of years with the Kingdom Heirs. What was he like as a young man?
Dale Forbes
He’s exactly the same as he is today. He never changes. He’s very consistent. He’s always kind. He’s humble. He’s mannerly. He’s godly, and he’s a great guy. David is a great guy all the way around. He always treats you the same, hugs you, tells you he loves you. He’s just the same, and I love that about him.
And honestly, when I was trying to get this job, he was trying to help me, and some others I could name as well, but I appreciate that. And you never forget stuff like that. And the other week we were at a concert with them, and we’ve done quite a few since I’ve been here, just since June, with Triumphant and many other groups. But I said something about wanting to get on with a particular promoter, and he said, “Well, I’ll have to put in a word, put a little bug in their ear,” you know? And he does stuff like that.
And the one thing I love about David is if he says it, he’s going to do it. And wouldn’t you know, we come up working for that gentleman not so long ago and doing it again. So he probably had a hand in there. But anyway, it’s pretty cool. David’s a great guy.
In fact, we roomed together. We rented Charlie’s old house together the whole time I was there. And he’s a great guy. He’s easy to get along with. He ain’t a bad little cook. I mean, we both did a little cooking, but neither one of us were great. We didn’t do any big meals. It’d be spaghetti, a whole lot of macaroni and cheese, and we’d eat out, you know, and do whatever we could. But just simple stuff. But good guy, man.
Daniel Mount
Yeah. So what was a weekend like on the Singing Americans bus? Different groups had different personalities, just generally. And do you remember, I know you get this question every interview, but everybody loves hearing it, any funny stories you remember from the Singing Americans days?
Dale Forbes
Yeah, this is kind of a crazy story. We were off in Florida for a day, and we decided we were going to Disney World. So Buddy didn’t want to go, but David, myself, Larry wanted to go when we were all young back then. And we all threw on our white tennis shoes, and we ran all over Disney World trying to get it all in. One day, rode every ride we could think of. We did everything you could imagine, shows, all everything. We tried to get in as much as possible in that one day. That was one of the funniest things I remember. It’s not the only thing, but that was a great day that we had together where we just did something crazy, random, just right off the cuff. They thought about it and said, “Okay, let’s go.” So we all ended up and we went. It was cool. It was nice. It was a good time.
I’ve got some other crazy stories too, but…
Daniel Mount
If you think of another one, if another one comes to mind that you can share, go for it.
Dale Forbes
Well, yeah, I can do it, but he’s going to kill me. No, nothing embarrasses Buddy, I don’t think, no matter what I’m talking about. So we were in the Bahamas and we sung for this little church in Spanish Wells, Bahamas. You had to take a boat to get to the little island, about a mile long, about a mile wide, and it had one grocery store on the island and two churches, I think, maybe three. And it was pretty neat. So they’d put us up in a little house and we’d go over there and sing for them.
Well, they were going to have a little cookout at the pastor’s house one day. And so we were all sitting at picnic tables. The whole church was in on it, but he had told someone what he was going to do, and word had gotten around. The pastor’s wife was really fun, but she was scared of things. Didn’t take much to scare her.
Well, Buddy wore false teeth, and he’s not ashamed to take them out. If you know anything about the Singing Americans, he took them out all the time and did stuff like, “Judy, Judy, Judy,” like from Andy Griffith, you know, and the people would just die laughing. He’d say, “Well, I’ll do something you young people can’t do.”
So anyway, he did that. Well, he put his extra set of false teeth in the preacher’s wife’s cup of tea, and she went to take a sip. She screamed. She threw that glass way up, and the teeth all landed in the flower bed and all over the place. We never did find those teeth. The whole church was dying laughing. She wanted to kill us, I think, but she was a good sport, at least later. So there’s some crazy things that happen on the road. You know, it just is.
Daniel Mount
Oh my. Oh my, that’s something.
So then what was life like on the Anchormen bus? Also young people full of energy, or was it a little bit of a different feel on the Anchormen bus?
Dale Forbes
Yes.
Yeah, honestly, we were all young when I went there the first time. Terry probably was the oldest, but he wasn’t that much older than us, just a little bit. And he was probably there to keep us straight, but it’s probably more like the other way around, because Terry is a huge cut-up. You would never know it. Nobody in the industry would know it, but anybody that knows him personally, has ever ridden with us, knows he’s crazy. He’s a nut. He’s one of the funniest people you will ever meet in your life, and he’s naturally funny. It comes natural to him. Doesn’t even have to try.
But we were all young. Yeah, we had a great time there. It was a very spiritual group too. We got to where we were having Bible studies on the bus, and we’d get to praying going down the road. The Spirit of the Lord would get moving so strong that we’d have to pull the bus off on the side of the road sometimes and just worship God until we got our wits back about us, because we’d get to crying and praising the Lord. It was really powerful, and God really worked through that group a lot spiritually. It was really a neat thing to see people getting saved a lot, and also that was a great ministry-minded group.
And Terry’s group is still ministry-minded, Port City. They still win people. We won a lot of people when I was there. I did the altar calls. Terry does the altar calls now, and he’s a great, great emcee. And that guy, not only can he sing baritone, was nominated for baritone of the year and all that years ago, but he’s a great emcee. He could actually have been with some bigger groups. At one time, some other people wanted him, but it just wasn’t to be. God had different plans. So he’s happy doing what he’s doing.
Yeah, that was a great group. The Anchormen was a great group, great, great bus to be on, a lot of pranks.
Daniel Mount
Mm-hmm. Do you have a favorite one that you remember?
Dale Forbes
Well, yeah. Well, there was a lot of, I’m trying to think what are some of the things that we did that I could actually tell.
Tim Bullins, listen, I don’t know. This was not so much a prank as it is that Tim is funny, and he’s funny at times that he doesn’t even mean to be sometimes. Tim was the drummer back the first time I was there. The second time he was the owner of the group. Well, Tim was really scary. But Tim would go to sleep sometimes and have nightmares and would trip you going down the aisle or something like that, just not mean it to, having a nightmare, start screaming.
Well, one night we were traveling in that old Buffalo bus that we had when I first got there, and it didn’t have anything but some seats up front, like the old Buffalos had when people traveled, just a commercial bus. And then they put in a coat rack where we could hang our suits. Tim tore it down one night having a nightmare, and then clothes were falling all over all of us. And Brian Routh, you know, talks just as high as he sings, which is amazing. It’s kind of a freak-of-nature high, you know, like Jay Parrack. And he was going, and Jeff was going, “What in the world is going on?” in his deep voice. And we were all screaming and hollering. It was pandemonium, just chaos in the back of that bus.
They were constantly joking, playing pranks, and it’s just an interesting time with them. Great guys. Had some of the best years of my life. You ask Jeff Chapman about those years, he’ll tell you they were some of the best of his life. Good time.
Daniel Mount
Oh my! So anybody who knows and loves Southern Gospel loves Jeff Chapman and what a voice he still has, all the years with the Kingdom Heirs and with Gold City. What was it like touring with Jeff when he was a young fella?
Dale Forbes
Jeff, well, he’s the same as he is now. He loves the Lord, always has, and he’s always been unashamed of Him. When we’d have those times when the Spirit of the Lord would move so strongly on the bus or even in a service, he was right there with us. He never shied away from the move of God, loved to see people get saved. That’s what it’s all about anyway, pointing people to Jesus and hopefully leading some to Christ.
Jeff was always, always, always sensitive to the move of the Spirit. He cried at the drop of a hat when God got moving on people and was not at all ashamed to go down and pray with somebody, lead somebody in the sinner’s prayer. He was a preacher’s kid. His dad, Carlos, was a pastor for years, and Jeff learned a lot from his dad because he’s not unlearned when it comes to scripture. And he loves the Lord, and he’s unashamed to talk about him at any time with anybody. And he’s just that guy. He’s always been that way. He’s humble to be around. He’s funny. He loves to laugh. And he’s just a nice guy.
I’ve stayed in his home I don’t know how many times when I was with the Anchormen. He and his wife had a trailer there, and I’d go spend the night with them and hang out with them and their kids. Just had a good time. Good guy. He’s a fun-loving guy, loves to laugh, which is fine with me because my whole family’s that way. We love to laugh.
Daniel Mount
Neat! One more Anchormen question before I move on. Brian Routh is such a high singer. Now, there are a lot of Southern Gospel singers who can hit high notes, but very few can hang out and just stay as high as he stays, verse after verse, chorus after chorus. As a lead singer, how did you hang in there singing the next harmony part under him?
Dale Forbes
I had to take voice. A lot of people are very proud of the fact that they’ve never had any lessons, but I think you’re better off to study your craft and become skillful. And when I was with Priority, I started to have voice problems because Terry Edwards was like Brian Routh. He was a freak of nature, just super high, and we were ending on G’s and A-flats every other ending.
And I called Steve Hurst. Actually, I went to Homeland to record Wake Up Church with Priority. And I was going through the hallway, and I stopped where they had some tapes of all their artists on the wall there, just some shelves, you know. Bill Traylor came behind me and said, “Hey, you see something you want, just take it.”
And I said, “I need a vocal coach.”
And I was looking at Steve’s tape.
He said, “Well, here, it’s yours.”
It was a double cassette tape set that Steve had put out, and I listened to it. I devoured it. And I went home and started practicing that, and I called Steve. I said, “Steve, would you be interested and willing to take me on as a student?” I was eight hours from him there in Branson, from there to Nashville.
He said, “Well, I really don’t need any students. I’ve got all I need right now.” He said, “But I’ll tell you what. You’re with a full-time group, you’re struggling a little bit, and you’ve asked, you’ve got my tape series. If you’re willing to drive to Nashville, I’ll put you up in a hotel and I’ll feed you, and we’ll work a little bit, and I’ll decide whether I want to take you on as a student or not.”
So I did all that. He did his end of the bargain, and he did. We worked for about an hour, and he prayed with me, and I had a life-changing experience right there in his dad’s church when we were having a vocal lesson.
And I can tell you, just with working on vowels and breathing and a lot of other things – he went through a whole list of things very quickly – one lesson took my range up a step and a half. But if I had to pick one thing that he taught me more than anything else, vowels helped me more than anything else, because they’ll put you on top of the pitch. Put you right here. And if you want to call it your mask – really no mask – but in your sinus cavity is where you want to be, right behind the eyes and in the head. And it took my range up because when you start singing right, you’re not scrubbing your cords the wrong way. You’re actually building them the right way.
And so that enabled me a whole lot to be able to sing under Brian, because he was freakishly high. I don’t have a lot of lows. I talk high, and so I actually am high. So singing baritone with The Guardians has actually been a real adjustment. I’ve been a lead singer my whole career, so I’ve had to learn to develop lows and learn to breathe and support with them just like I did with the highs. Because when I started doing this job, I found out how lazy I’d been with the low notes, supporting them. And I remember Steve telling me that one time. So I thought, you know what, practice what you preach, Dale. You teach this to everybody else. Learn to do it the right way.
And so I did, and it’s really helped me a lot. But that’s what I did to stay under Brian Routh. I took voice from Steve, and I’ve taken from him for years off and on and even taught with him at Steve Hurst School of Music for years. In fact, that’s where I met John Darin and Pat Barker, and I’d already known Paul from being with Mullins Company. When I was with Priority, we did some dates with them, met him there. So that’s kind of how that all came about.
Yet Brian, singing under Brian, was a job. Brian is a freakishly high tenor. We’ve established that. But you’re right, he can hang out in the clouds, and it never bothers him. About the time you think he can’t go any higher, he goes higher, and it’s not even a strain. And some people say he’s singing falsetto. No, he’s not. He’s singing his full voice.
I’ve been around him, and his voice changed. And I called him one day, he was out in Washington state, and I called him. I said, “I want to talk to Brian Routh.” It had been years since I’d heard from him.
And he said, “Hello.”
I said, “I want to talk to Brian Routh.”
He said, “This is he.”
I said, “No, I want to talk to the real Brian Routh. He talks high like this.”
And he said, “Well, this is me. My voice has changed.”
But I can tell you one thing. When I was with him in Port City right before I came to The Guardians, he hasn’t lost one note. He is still as high as he ever was. He’s amazing.
Daniel Mount
What a range! So yes, I would love to move on from the singing to your pastorate for a couple of minutes. Was the transition to where you ended up as a pastor a sudden thing, or had God been working on your heart for a while, drawing you in that direction and the call to preach? Is that something that changed suddenly, or did it develop over your time with the Anchormen?
Dale Forbes
No, actually it was a drawn-out process, you know, where God began to deal with me and I had to deal with the fact that God was calling me and go through the little rebellious part where I don’t want to do this, and I’m not good enough, and I don’t speak well, and all of those things like Moses did, you know. And so God just kind of went through all my excuses one by one and took care of those things. And eventually he made it so obvious and so plain I couldn’t miss it. Yep, I couldn’t miss it.
So I was actually with the Singing Americans one night in a revival up in the mountains of Alabama, Fort Payne, Alabama, at a tent revival. And the evangelist was praying for people, and they were lining up, and he was laying hands on them. They were going out in the Spirit, and nobody else knew what to do, but I was raised in Pentecost. So I went up there and started catching them.
And when I got to the end, there was nobody else, and the evangelist looked at me and said, “Now it’s your turn.” Well, the evangelist told me some things that nobody knew but the Lord. And so God spoke through that man, and he really used him. And, you know, he was confirming the call of God on my life to preach. And so that was just one of the times, but right after that, it got pretty serious. And the Lord knows how to work situations to where you want to go, you know. He knows how to change your heart and your mind and your thinking. And he did that, and it was all a good thing. So he takes care of all of the details. He’s in the details, not the devil. He is.
Daniel Mount
That’s well said. So what a lot of preachers I have known either love the one-on-one ministry side, and that’s what comes naturally, and they have to build toward the preaching side, or they love preaching and have to build up in the one-on-one ministry. Was one of those the entry point for you that was easier for you and you had to build into the other, or did they both come pretty naturally to you?
Dale Forbes
Well, I was a singer that God called to preach. So the singing came natural. The talking to people and in front of people wasn’t too hard, but it took me a while to improve as a preacher. You know, the more you preach, the better you get. The more you study, the more you have to say. And the more you pastor and learn kind of what you need to do, and as God leads you, you get better. The Holy Spirit teaches you.
And so it took a little longer on the preaching side to get good at that. But, you know, I’m thankful I did improve because I look back on some of my very first messages, and one lady that loved me a lot told me, said, “It’s a good thing that you can sing because you really struggled tonight.” It was one of those nights that was hard to preach. And I did. I preached pretty bad that night, but somehow or another I survived it and improved. And there were a few things that happened along the way that helped me to really kick myself in the pants and get in gear and study more. And so I’m thankful that God didn’t give up on me. The people didn’t either. They were very forgiving at first, and things got better, a lot better as time went on. Thank God.
Daniel Mount
Great. So then you took a break from preaching and came back on the road with the Anchormen for a couple of years. How did that transpire? Was it like God working on your heart, drawing you back to the road, or did they call and say, “Hey, we need somebody,” and that came out of nowhere, caught you by surprise, you know?
Dale Forbes
Well, my time was coming to a close at the church. You know, when something’s over, you know when God’s leading you. And so we took a 60-day sabbatical at our bishop’s command. He told us to take a 60-day sabbatical. “I’ll make the church pay you and decide whether you want to stay or go.”
So we did. And the Lord the whole time was working on us and leading us. And in the meantime, I came back after the 60 days, stayed for a while, and the Anchormen called. I was talking with the Kingsmen as well at the time, and the Anchormen called, and they were going to pay me a figure that I needed. They asked me what I needed, and I told them, and they were willing to do it. So I went in that direction. I already knew them, knew the songs. It was a lot easier than going with the Kingsmen because I’d have had to learn 50 years of songs back then. Now it’s more like 70 years, I think. So I went with them and did that.
And that’s kind of how that came about. It’s kind of an interesting thing. But I’m thankful for that part of my journey too because even when God is getting your attention, even when things get a little rough and dicey, you know, the Lord told me after I left both churches – it’s so interesting, this happened twice in my life. It’s the only time it’s ever happened. He spoke to me and said, “If I hadn’t have made you miserable, you’d never have left.”
So I got to the place where I was miserable at the first church, second one too. But I can tell you most of the years at both churches were great. It’s just right at the end. But God had to do what He did. He had to twist my arm a little bit to get me to leave because I had a good salary package, had good people that loved us, and we loved them. But you know, you go through some tough times, and the Lord began to deal with us about leaving.
So when I left there, He gave me a dream about where to go, and I knew exactly where to move to. He had given me a word in Scripture, and he also put an insatiable desire in my heart to move to the mountains of Tennessee. And I didn’t know why except that I just loved it, and I’ve been going there my whole life on vacation. I always wanted to live there if I ever moved anywhere else besides home. And so when all of that transpired, I got up here, and that’s when I said, “God, you’ve got to give me somewhere to work.” And I got home and saw Scott had left and called John and said, the rest is history. And now I’m with The Guardians. So that’s kind of how that happened.
Daniel Mount
You’d been off the road for long enough that coming back on The Guardians bus was a big adjustment, or were you pretty able to easily fall back into the routines of road life?
Dale Forbes
I loved road life. I always loved bus life, love being out there with a bunch of guys, you know, cause you’re going to cut up, you’re going to have a good time, you’re going to laugh. It’s a good respite. You know, if you’re leaving any stress behind from work or whatever or anywhere else you’ve been in life, you’re able to go out there, and laughter is like a medicine. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.”
And so for me, it was an easy transition back to road life, back to bus life. But I will tell you, the industry has changed a lot. You know, a lot of things are different. For one thing, like you say, podcasts. We didn’t have those 30 years ago. You know, the internet’s a big thing. Everybody’s got a cell phone. Well, back then, nobody even had those. Car phones were just coming out when I was with the Singing Americans, or maybe a little before that. My wife – my girlfriend back then – she had her boss’s big bag phone. You remember those big bag phones about a foot long, you know, great big old things. Looked like a walkie-talkie.
Daniel Mount
I actually do remember those.
Dale Forbes
Yeah. So a lot’s changed, you know, since I left, even 16 years ago. I hadn’t been on convention stage in 16 years when I got there this past September. And we walked on the stage with the number one song in the country, “Kick Up My Heels and Sing.” And I hadn’t been there in 16 years. I cried on stage every night when I got up there. I just couldn’t help it. It was full circle for me. God brought me back, and I was enjoying it.
Things were different. People wearing earbuds now where they weren’t before, you know, years ago. Most of the groups have sound men now, whereas we didn’t before years ago. There’s a lot of differences. And I had never seen things done at this high level with The Guardians and this quality. They do everything first class. I mean, when they mastered this project that we did, the guy that they sent it off to had a machine that costs $250,000, more than most people’s houses, that mastered our record.
And Mark looked at me one day, he said, “Dale, this is what separates the men from the boys. This is why our records sound so good.” They’ve got a unique polish on them because we put that extra into them. And it’s a pretty neat thing to be involved in a ministry of this quality and this high level.
John Darin Rowsey is one of the absolute all-time best songwriters ever. And he writes with everybody. I mean, he writes with different ones all the time. But he’s cranked out over 600 songs, and to be with a ministry that has an endless supply of great songs – he knows the words to about all of them too, by the way. I said, “John, do you have any songs for another project?”
He said, “Yeah, I’ve written over 600. I’ve got songs nobody’s ever heard. I’ve got some good stuff too.”
And I believe God’s going to bless it and use it, and I believe that’s going to be the case. And so to be here at this time is very different from last time. Crawling back on the bus was very easy. I get along with these guys. I’ve known them all for a long time, and we’ve always liked each other and got along great. I had Paul Lancaster in my church at my first church when he was doing solo work. So I’ve known them all for a long time.
And when I got on, they thought I was just filling in, but I was after the job. So I’m thankful for that. It’s been a great blessing to be able to come in. And I told them, “Hey, I’m not here to be a star. I’m not here to take over. I’m just here to do whatever you need and be involved in this ministry and make it whatever God wants it to be.”
The fans kept telling them, “Hey, hope y’all keeping the new guy. Hope y’all keeping the new guy. Hope you keeping the new guy.” So Paul Lancaster will tell you the fans spoke. They basically got me hired. But I will tell you, there are a couple of people that really went to bat, several. I mentioned David Sutton. Gary Casto and Josh Singletary both went to bat for me, and Mary Ann Oglesby-Southerly that heads up the Veranda ministry for seniors in Goodlettsville, Nashville, that area. They all went to bat for me big time. Gary went up to Daywind and talked with them on my behalf.
So, very, very blessed to be back in this ministry with these guys at this level, but it was a very easy transition. Probably the biggest thing was the earbuds. I’d never done that before. You just have to figure out what sounds good to you. And with a sound man like Mark, Mark Hale is the best. I mean, he’s amazing. We get these concerts and all these other sound men are gathered around him. He’s doing a tutorial class. But that’s Mark. He’s just a teacher. He loves to talk about sound, and he’s so good at it. Yeah, that was an easy transition for me.
Daniel Mount
Neat. Neat. So one or two broader questions and then we’ll move toward wrapping up. What are your favorite live moments you’ve been there for? And that could be something when you were on stage or whether you were a young fan in the audience listening to Inspirations on the mountain or anything since. What are some of just the defining live moments that stick out to you as you look back over your years in this music?
Dale Forbes
Well, there’s been a lot of them. I’ve mentioned some of them already, but obviously when I was back on stage this year, it just hit me at convention. I was crying, you know. That was definitely a great moment. Being on a number one that I was actually on and singing on is just, you know, it’s going number one in April, and I was already out singing. So that’s a bucket list for me. I’d never been on one before. Never been on one before. The other groups I was in always had top-charting songs, but nothing number one. And so that’s pretty cool.
We’ve had two in the last six-month period. So I’m just extremely blessed and honored. A lot of the concerts I’d never been on, like the James Vaughan thing, I’d never done that. Getting ready to do the Battle of the Songs – they’ve changed the name of it now to Texas Gospel Music Show, I think – and we get ready to do that. Some of the other dates that we’ve been on that I just had never been, you know, Jackson Sings, never done some of these dates. And the cruise, I’d done one cruise with the Anchormen, but John Darin does his own cruises. So we did that. It was great.
And I actually got to do it with my wife this time. The first time she didn’t get to go. So when they took your picture when you first walk on, the first time I was in the middle of the bar, I had a scowl on my face, you know. But this time I actually got to go with my wife, so it was a lot of fun. I had somebody to talk to because all the guys get up with their wives and they’re off shopping and doing their own thing, eating and all of that. So it’s good to be able to go with my wife and do those things with her.
But a lot of great moments, being able to be back with Bill Bailey on his sings after all these years and Duane Garren and just all of them, Josh and them, Josh Franks, just some great people in the industry now, pretty big, Landon Beene and his wife, Taranda, doing stuff with them. And so it’s been a pretty neat thing.
To be involved in this ministry, the quality that they have is incredible. We have a great bus driver. He’s been there 37 years. Our sound man’s been there 14 years. And the singers have been there a long time. I mean, it’s an amazing thing. So the guys have a want-to to stick around, and honestly, I want to retire here.
But those were some of the great moments. I mean, I could go all the way back to being on convention with the Anchormen for the first time and then the Singing Americans and the Anchormen again, and the Ark. Singing at the Ark, you know, that’s a big moment for me. And we’re getting to do the Creation Museum this year. I think we’re doing the Ark twice. So some bucket-listers for me, just some of those types of things, you know. Very, very cool. Singing with all my friends and a lot of heroes, you know.
So now I’ve been nominated. I’ve never been nominated for nothing. Now, it’s not me personally, my name, but the group with The Guardians. That’s a pretty neat thing that came out today. So that’s exciting. Yeah. Thanks. Thankful. Thanks.
Daniel Mount
Congratulations! I saw that.
So pivoting in a bit of a different direction, one other big-picture question. You’ve sung hundreds of different songs on stage between different groups you’ve toured with, singing in churches. Of all the different songs you’ve sung in different groups, what are some of the ones that have ministered to you the most, that are just closest to your heart?
Dale Forbes
Yeah.
Well, we mentioned one, “Holy of Holies.” There’s several more with the Anchormen. Some of these with the Anchormen were not recorded by me originally, but they became my song because everywhere we went, people wanted to hear me sing them and the way that I sung them. So they became my song, like “I Feel Like Running,” “Behold the King,” “I’ve Been Touched.” Those were three we couldn’t get out of the building without singing, either with the Anchormen or with Port City.
Then “I Can Almost See Heaven” with the Singing Americans, it’s one of those. I just recorded that and some other songs on a solo project that I’m doing, along with “Holy of Holies.” Let’s see, “I’ve Got a Feeling,” we do that with The Guardians, a little bit different arranged, but I’ve just recorded it on a solo project as well. That’s always been a great song for me. I’ve enjoyed that down through the years.
And anyway, those are some of the songs. Those are some of the ones that, there were a lot of them. I always loved doing “Blessed Assurance” with the Singing Americans, you know, that a cappella thing that we did. Still do that. In fact, I recorded that again on that solo project. So I just took some songs from on the road with different groups and some other songs that I hadn’t done with groups. But those are some songs that I’ve done over the years that I really enjoyed.
I really enjoyed “Second Time Around,” a great song for us. Just so many good songs down through the years that we had a chance to be a part of. Excited, excited about that. I really love the ones that we’re doing now. One of them, I do a couple of songs, you know, on the new Guardians album. “What Kind of Life” is one of my favorites. We’re not doing it yet, but we’re getting ready to start doing it. We’re doing the fast song that I do on there, “God Is Doing Something Good.” When I was at convention, that’s one of the songs that really got to me because all I’ve ever wanted to do all my life is sing. And God called me to preach, and I went and pastored for 25 and a half years, but all I ever really wanted to do was sing.
And so now I’m getting a chance to do that, and I pray that I’ll be able to do that till I retire. Those are my plans. But anyway, and hopefully I’ll be good and old when that happens. But I’m enjoying that. “God Is Doing Something Good” – when I was standing on stage and singing those lyrics, it just hit me, you know, God’s doing a good thing, and it’s something good. It’s a great thing. He’s brought me full circle, and I’m enjoying that.
But the other song, “What Kind of Life,” parallels a person that walks away from God, decides they don’t want to serve him, and somebody that says in the second verse, “I’ll never leave you,” and is determined to serve him. That song really does a lot for me. And it speaks a lot to people that have wayward children, which I have one right now, believing God to bring him in. So when I sing those lyrics, practice and get ready to stage it here in the next little bit, it makes me tear up thinking about him. And then I think about myself, you know, I don’t want to ever turn away from Him, you know? So it talks about that in that second verse. So that’s a powerful song that’s current and is something that really moves me a lot. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get away from it.
Daniel Mount
Neat. The solo project, is that released yet or is that coming soon?
Dale Forbes
It is not. It’s coming soon. My wife and I’ve got to just do some, I’ve got about five or six fixes I want to do. You know, you listen to a project a while after you do it, try to fix some things if you can. I was able to do that this time, which is great. And my wife and I are going to go do some background vocals on it, and then I’ll send it back down to be mixed and mastered, and we’ll be good to go. We’ll release it then. I’ve got everything else done pretty much.
Daniel Mount
Neat. All right, as we wrap up, where can people keep up with you and The Guardians? You can mention the T-shirt company, anything else you’d like to shout out.
Dale Forbes
Yeah. We have a T-shirt company that we share, and I started about two years ago, called Beagles and Bling Christian Apparel. And you can find us on Facebook there. Right now we’re in the last throes of putting our Facebook page together for that. We’ve just had a horrible time with that – websites, both getting to where the money could come back from the people to us and all various other problems. But we’re starting to get it all figured out, and we’re loading pictures and stuff like that. So hopefully that will be out soon.
But right now the easiest thing to do is get with us on Facebook, or you can message us or call us either one. And I tell people all the time, 919-738-6305. My wife takes all our orders, and right now we’re doing it kind of old school until we get all of that up. But I sell those T-shirts with The Guardians on their table, and we do T-shirt shows and various things, stuff like that. And we sell them online to people.
Sometimes we’ll put shirts up. I do beagle shirts for the hunters and stuff like that. I never could find them, you know, when I go in stores, and I’m a hunter, I like beagles. And I said, “You know what? I can’t find these in stores. I’m going to be the man to change that.” So we started that T-shirt company. And she likes bling, so she said, “You can do beagles and I’ll do bling.” So that’s how it got its name.
And we do that right now and sell them to hunters and sell the bling to the ladies and flat prints to the ladies and the men out there on the road as well. The Guardians is guardiansquartet.com. And then, you know, daleforbes45@yahoo.com. You can get with me like that, or sforbes98@yahoo.com for my wife.
So anyway, that’s how you can get in touch with us. And we’re pretty accessible. People message me all the time, and I message them back.
Daniel Mount
Well, thank you so much for your time. I have really enjoyed getting to know you this evening.
Dale Forbes
My pleasure! I’ve enjoyed our time, Daniel. Thank you so much for the interview.
Daniel Mount
My pleasure! And to the listener, I would say thank you for listening to Southern Gospel Journal. You can keep up with the latest episodes on YouTube, Facebook, your favorite podcast platform, or at southerngospeljournal.com. Thanks for listening.
Dale Forbes
Amen.