Dollywood Harmonies: Arthur Rice's Southern Gospel Legacy and Dolly Parton's Community Spirit

What if you could blend the magic of Dollywood with the timeless charm of Southern Gospel music? Join us on "Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan" as we sit down with Arthur Rice, the legendary lead singer of the Kingdom Heirs, who has wowed audiences at Dollywood for over 27 years. Arthur takes us on a nostalgic journey through his remarkable career, from performing at the Valley Theater to the grand Show Street Palace. Hear about the electrifying moments of drawing park visitors into their performances and the joy of spreading Southern Gospel music to a diverse audience. Arthur also shares his special connection with the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum and reflects on the incredible feat of performing for over two and a half million people, culminating in the unforgettable story behind his signature song, "How Great Thou Art."

In our second segment, we shift gears to celebrate Dolly Parton's monumental contributions to her hometown of Sevierville and Pigeon Forge. Discover how Dolly's initiatives, like the Imagination Library, and her generous financial support during crises like the Sevier County fires and COVID-19 pandemic, have transformed these communities. As Dollywood reopens and offers much-needed jobs, we discuss the challenges of navigating Pigeon Forge traffic and even throw in a recommendation for the Southern Gospel News Podcast. To top it off, I'll share my own journey to becoming the MC for the Kingdom Heirs and my role as Minister of Music at Trinity Baptist Church, where I focus on choir arrangements and congregational music. This episode is packed with heartwarming stories, community spirit, and a deep love for music that you won't want to miss!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Welcome to Hot Mic with Houston and Hogan. I'm Randy Houston.

Speaker 2: 0:16

And this is Dave Hogan, and we're happy to welcome Arthur Rice back on this portion of our podcast. And Arthur was a lead singer for the Kingdom Heirs for many years over 27 years at Dollywood and on our last podcast we said we want to talk about what it's like to work at Dollywood with Arthur and any experiences that you had with Dolly. Any programs you did with Dolly Seems to me like the first time I saw you guys at Dollywood you were outside.

Speaker 3: 0:53

Yes, when I started in 95, we were outside most of the year until Christmas, and then we moved inside and for the first two years that I was there we worked outside in the summer, which we loved. We had a great theater. It was the Valley Theater and it was kind of between roller coasters, and so what I loved about it was, you know, you would see people walking by the theater and they would kind of hear the music at the beginning and they would kind of turn their head and you could see them as they're continuing to walk. They would just keep watching and listening.

Speaker 3: 1:29

And then you'd see them. They'd get by the theater and then all of a sudden they would come back to the theater and they would stand there and listen to the program. So it was a great. You know, by the start of the program, you know our venue seated probably 250 people maybe, and then by the end of our program they would be 20 people deep standing around listening man. So it was a great opportunity to show off our music, because there's a lot of people that really don't know what Southern gospel music is. Their only reference for gospel music is maybe what they sing in church on Sunday.

Speaker 2: 2:09

And when you moved inside, how many people would the auditorium accommodate?

Speaker 3: 2:14

We moved into the Show Street Palace on my third year and for Christmas in our theater seat a thousand people.

Speaker 2: 2:22

Oh boy, and you did four shows a day. We did three and four shows a day, we did three and four shows a day.

Speaker 3: 2:26

We sure did Amazing.

Speaker 1: 2:28

That's a hard job.

Speaker 2: 2:30

It is. That's hard work. Have you ever sat down and figured up a rough estimate of how many people that you have done for at Dollywood?

Speaker 3: 2:40

One of the managers my last day there, one of the managers kind of did a rough estimate for me and she said over the 27 and a half years that I was there we have sung to a little over two and a half million people.

Speaker 1: 2:56

Wow, oh my.

Speaker 3: 2:57

And we could never reach that amount of people on the road. No way.

Speaker 2: 3:01

There's absolutely no way. Amount of people on the road?

Speaker 3: 3:03

There's absolutely no way and a lot of people, like you mentioned, are not, were not familiar with, perhaps not familiar with Southern Gospel music until they went to Dollywood and heard you guys, yeah, yeah, and our theater was right next, right next door to the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum, so they would come right out of our theater and would be directed kind of right toward the museum. And so they got to. Not only did they get to hear the music, they got to go next door, kind of go through the history of our music and how it started up until that time. And so it was a wonderful opportunity to not only spread our music but the message of Jesus Christ and what it's in.

Speaker 2: 3:47

Well, I have a friend who is a Christian, but in the faith tradition that he grew up in, Episcopalian, he was not familiar with the Southern Gospel music that you and I grew up with, and Randy, but he went to. Dollywood and he heard the Kingdom Heirs. The Kingdom Heirs, plus the Bill Gaither videos that he watched on TV, became a huge Southern Gospel music fan. And I don't mind telling you that's Carl Swan, my former co-host when I did talk radio on WJCW. Carl's an Episcopalian who loves Southern Gospel music.

Speaker 1: 4:30

Wow.

Speaker 2: 4:31

And in his church he did not hear that kind of music growing up.

Speaker 3: 4:37

We had a very broad audience because of that. They just came to Dollywood just to theme park and because we were a show there at Dollywood. A lot of times, especially as they get older, the kids were out running around. Well, the adults were like I'm going to find somewhere cool and dark so that I can sit down, and so we picked up a lot of that. And then Dollywood was closed January, february, march, and so we traveled during those months and so we actually that opened a lot of doors for us to go into a lot of different churches that we would have never gotten.

Speaker 2: 5:18

You did a wonderful concert that I remember at Central United.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Methodist.

Speaker 2: 5:23

Church in downtown Asheville. Yes. It was a great concert that night. I was there, my wife and I. By the way, one of your, I guess your signature song is how Great Thou Art Anybody ever time you on how long you would hold that note when you sang. Have a Great Hour.

Speaker 3: 5:46

Let me tell you how that all started. That started with Jim Hamill when I was with the Kingsmen. We were doing that song to end a lot of the programs and stuff, and so he would let me sing the second. He would do the first verse and then he would let me sing the second verse, and so we got to that note one day and it just kind of happened out of the blue. I just kind of held the note a little longer and it tickled him, and so the next night we did it, I held it a little bit longer, and then it became a thing of he would you know try to ag me on to hold it a little bit longer. And so that's kind of how that, how that became.

Speaker 3: 6:26

Uh, we had a steel guitar player by the name of gary dillard, uh, that lived here in asheville for so many years gary's passed on now but he, uh, he, uh, he would time me every once in a while and and there was a couple of times that that he timed it like over over a minute, oh wow.

Speaker 3: 6:42

I can't do it anymore, but I'm too old for that. But that was a fun time.

Speaker 2: 6:47

Isn't the internet wonderful? Because you can discover what we're talking about by just Googling Arthur Rice, how Great Thou Art, yeah, and it'll pop right up and you can listen to Arthur. Hold that note on a particular part of how Great Thou Art.

Speaker 3: 7:08

Yeah, I credit that to my voice teacher. People always ask me what my history is and how I kind of learned to sing and that sort of thing. My mom, when I was 14 years old, she found a voice teacher here in town called Julian Brookshire and he had moved from New York. He was a graduate of Juilliard. He moved from New York, came down here and this was his home and he taught voice and I started when I was 14. My mom took me every week until I was old enough to drive myself and then I took seven years of voice. Uh yeah, so by the time I was, you know, 18, 19 years old. It was kind of second nature to me.

Speaker 3: 7:55

And so but he, he kind of helped us with breath control, and so I always credit that to him. If it hadn't been for him helping me with that, there's no way we could have done it.

Speaker 1: 8:04

Breath control. I'm still on the air every day at WHKP in. Hendersonville, and I am on the air a lot and I talk a lot, and breath control is something that I still work on every single day, absolutely when do you breathe, how much do you breathe? That never ends, yeah everybody has the boss.

Speaker 3: 8:29

You asked me about dolly.

Speaker 2: 8:31

Yes, yeah well, uh, before we talk about your experiences recording or doing shows with dolly, who is your immediate boss there, to dollywood for the kingdom heirs well, really, really it would have been Dolly.

Speaker 3: 8:49

I mean, we had some managers and that sort of thing, that kind of facilitated our programming and our schedule and that sort of thing, but ultimately it came down to Dolly. I mean, dolly was the reason that gospel music was at the park.

Speaker 2: 9:06

The French brothers is that right, yes, stephen Started the quartet, the King Damaris. They're natives of Sevier County.

Speaker 3: 9:15

They are yes, the group actually started. It was Silver Dollar City. The Herschend brothers owned Silver Dollar City, from Missouri and they owned the park and and every year they would have what's called a Young Christians Weekend. And so one of the managers saw the kingdom heirs they were just a local group there in the area saw them sing somewhere and invited them to come and sing at the park for that weekend. And then after a couple of years they really liked them kind of, wanted to have something, so they asked them to come and work at the park.

Speaker 3: 9:59

And that's when it just kind of it was right before it transitioned to Dollywood, and they would come and they would sing two months out of the year, june and July, in the hottest part of the year, on the back of a flatbed truck, and they would do six, seven, eight shows a day. Oh my gosh, it was crazy, flatbed truck and they would do six, seven, eight shows a day. It was crazy. And so, uh, then when uh, the park transitioned to Dollywood, dolly herself wanted gospel music at her park.

Speaker 3: 10:23

I mean it was such a, it was such a part of her um a life that she wanted that to be there. So she, uh, she made sure that the quartet was there and so, uh, at that time, you time, the park was only open about six months out of the year. We closed in the winter so they would work half the year there and half the year on the road and then that kind of grew and the park kind of grew and that sort of thing. Once I started it in 95, we did several shows with Dolly. We did a couple of TV programs, two, three programs, um, uh, outside, and did a couple of albums with her and I'm telling she is what you see, is what you get. She is one of the nicest, hardest working artist I've ever met. I mean, she's just super uh to work with and just a lot of fun to be around. She was a lot of fun their talent around, she was a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 11:15

Her talent, her talent is. I ran across a song and played it on the air the other day and it's the song the old standards. Save the Last Dance for Me. You can dance every dance with it.

Speaker 1: 11:29

And the version that Dolly did of that old song totally different from any version you've ever heard of that song. I heard a podcast the other day that delved into Jolene and the Gregarion chant on the guitar that she starts that song with. That she starts that song with and it creates a quandary in your mind of back and forth, back and forth, pacing back and forth. This girl is after my man and what am I going to do?

Speaker 3: 12:06

She's a genius. She really is. She really is a genius. And you know, a lot of artists depend on either the producers or the musicians when they go into the studio and record the soundtrack to the albums and of the arrangement and the creation of that music a lot of artists have to kind of depend on. I'm telling you, dolly does everything.

Speaker 3: 12:32

She's got it, it's all in her head. We did an album with her called Halos and Horns. Oh, I'm familiar. You Dolly does everything. She's got it, it's all in her head. We did an album with her called Halos and Horns.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Oh, I'm familiar with it.

Speaker 3: 12:39

And sang on several of those songs. And we came in and did the first song and we were just supposed to sing one chorus on one song. We came in to record that one song. We ended up singing on the whole song. We came in to record that one song, we ended up singing on the whole song. And then she actually rearranged three of the other songs so that we could be a part of it and it was like, yeah, it was right on the spot. I mean, she really kind of already had all that lined up and she just changed it right in the middle of the street.

Speaker 2: 13:11

She is incredible, she really is.

Speaker 3: 13:13

But she was great to work with.

Speaker 2: 13:18

She's a great, great person. I remember Dolly and Porter being on one of the shows I promoted at what's now the Civic Center or I guess the. Thomas.

Speaker 1: 13:30

Wood.

Speaker 2: 13:30

Auditorium and that was my first introduction to Dolly Parton on a personal basis and I could tell then that she was a genuine human being and a pleasure to be around. Unfortunately, other than one other time I guess, I never had an opportunity to be around Dolly except doing an interview, but Dolly did give me and a bunch of other disc jockeys a 20-year pass on the 20th anniversary of Dollywood, and it runs out next year.

Speaker 3: 14:10

Oh really, I've got one more year to use that 20-year past that.

Speaker 2: 14:14

Dolly passed along to a group of us down at Dollywood at the 20th anniversary.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Well, you brought up a special topic about Dolly there and you mentioned the word giving, Giving. That is another phase of Dolly. We talk about the musical genius and the promotional genius that she is, but we have to talk about her philanthropy.

Speaker 3: 14:41

Oh, my goodness, it's incredible. Yeah, absolutely, and she is so giving back to her community and back to her town. That was one of the driving forces of her being a part of Dollywood and being involved in that was to allow a place for her people to work.

Speaker 1: 15:04

Employment.

Speaker 3: 15:05

Employment, absolutely, and so much as she's given so much back to the city of Sevierville and Pigeon Forge and that whole area, she really has a heart for people. She really has a heart for people. She really has a heart for her home people. She has provided for them. Oh, yeah. You know the books Book club.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Book club. That she does. Yes, she gives out to all the children the Imagination Library.

Speaker 3: 15:30

Thank, you, dave, and that started just in Sevier County. That was because it was such a poor county when she grew up that so many children grew up without having to be able to read or have access to books to be able to read and to learn, and that's how that started. Was it started in that area and has grown all over the world. I mean, it's amazing. It's become an entity of itself.

Speaker 1: 15:57

And the fires. She just gave money to people. Yes, she just gave money to people whose homes were burned up in that forest fire.

Speaker 2: 16:07

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:08

And when COVID struck she was Johnny on the spot at Vander vanderbilt vanderbilt hospital with money to find a million dollars, I believe.

Speaker 3: 16:19

Yes, yeah, money she donated to the medical center at vanderbilt well, even when, when covet hit, you know everything was shut down and then dollywood actually opened. We opened the end of june.

Speaker 3: 16:32

We were, we were one of the only things that were open, because so much stuff was outside um and so we went back to work the end of end of june in 2020 and went back outside, kind of full circle, went back outside to the old theater that we were, we were at and, um, it was great. I mean, we were one of the only working artists in the in the world uh, actually working, yeah and uh, and so it was such a it was such a great. It gave the people in the county that worked there a job yeah a place to work, a place to earn their living, which?

Speaker 1: 17:14

was needed.

Speaker 3: 17:15

Greatly needed.

Speaker 2: 17:17

This sounds trivial, but if you're a DJ like Randy and me, you like trivia Most. Every time I've been to Pigeon Forge, dollywood.

Speaker 3: 17:30

I get stuck in a traffic jam.

Speaker 2: 17:34

What's it like having to drive to work from wherever you live to Dollywood every day.

Speaker 3: 17:39

You know, the wonderful thing about that area is there's a lot of back roads and you learn those back roads very quickly, I bet.

Speaker 2: 17:50

Draw us a map before you leave, arthur, so we'll know those back roads. People ask us all the time. Next time we go to Dollywood, what do you do?

Speaker 3: 17:57

How do you get around in Pigeon Forge? You just don't go to Pigeon Forge unless you have to. And then if you, you know, especially in the summertime, you know. And then if you, especially in the summertime, then if you're going, you just know what it's going to be and you just kind of set your mind to what it's going to be.

Speaker 1: 18:12

You're a big listener to podcasts? Yes, and you're in that traffic jam listening to podcasts.

Speaker 2: 18:18

That's what's going on, that's right.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Speaking of, let's plug another podcast that you are involved with, Arthur.

Speaker 3: 18:25

Yes, we started this podcast back in 2019, I guess it was something like that. It's called Southern Gospel News Podcast.

Speaker 1: 18:34

Okay.

Speaker 3: 18:35

You can look that up and the Lord has kind of blessed that. It's kind of like this format we just kind of sit and talk and we talk to artists and we've done probably 150 programs or something like that, I think. So you can look that up. Southern Gospel News Podcast Fantastic, I love listening to that and, like this show, we really don't have a format for it.

Speaker 2: 19:04

We just start talking like we're sitting on the porch and yeah and uh just talking about whatever comes up um you're about out of time, yeah at some point you became, in addition to being the lead singer of the kingdom heirs, the front man or the mc. How did that come about?

Speaker 3: 19:24

well, uh, steve, french, uh, one of the founding members. He and his brother, chris, steve, passed away in 2016, and so that kind of opened up a void there. Steve did all the talking, he was the MC of the group, so that kind of opened up a void for the front line. And his brother, chris, played bass guitar. So when we hired a baritone singer, we thought, well, we're going to have to have somebody to talk. So that kind of transitioned into that and it was something I really never. Jim Hamill was the best emcee. He and George Yontz, and there's been a Jerry Goff there's been a few. There's been a Jerry Goff, there's been a few. And to fall into that area it was difficult, but I enjoyed it. After a while, I kind of enjoyed it.

Speaker 3: 20:17

What are the now that you're at Trinity Baptist Church as Minister of Music what are the responsibilities of a Minister of Music at a rather large church like trinity? Well, I I came in and you know they, we have a. We still have a choir. Uh, you know, a lot of churches don't have a choir. It kind of dwindled down and so it's pretty large choir, it is it is.

Speaker 3: 20:41

You know, we have about 100 and 120 members, something like that, and so I love arranging, I love parts, and so when I came in, I love working with people, teaching them parts and teaching their arrangements and that sort of thing, and so when I came in we started building the choir back up, and so I do that and lead the congregational music, that sort of thing, and then we do some different events out. Of course, brother Ralph Jr is known for his tent ministry and he's kind of starting that back up this fall and he's kind of starting that back up this fall?

Speaker 2: 21:29

Does Trinity have a gospel concert series during the summer months at some point?

Speaker 3: 21:37

No, well, they did it one time that kind of, like I said, covid kind of changed the whole world and that sort of thing kind of got out of it and kind of got out back. But we have a huge history. Squire Parsons was a member there, ernie Phillips was a member there, mark Trammell, who is with Mark Trammell Quartet now, used to be with the cathedrals. He was a member there. There's so many artists that kind of came out of that church. Of course the Primitive Quartet are big. We love the old Primitive Quartet and love the guys and we have a great service.

Speaker 3: 22:14

We do one service on Sunday but we do two services on Wednesday. We have a service Wednesday morning called Heritage Keepers at 10 o'clock and that's kind of what it is. It's kind of more of a, you know, our generation. They get to come in and you know we do some older stuff and do the old hymns and that sort of thing. So it's kind of a way to keep that alive, the heritage alive.

Speaker 2: 22:38

I love congregational singing when I need a lift, when I need to be, you know, if I just need, I don't need caffeine, don't need anything to drink, anything to smoke, I don't need to take a pill. I just pull up one of Gerald Wolf's congregational hymn singing on the Internet In about 10 minutes of that I'm ready to go.

Speaker 1: 23:05

Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3: 23:06

Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 23:07

So I look forward to coming over to Trinity at some point. I live in late June, alaska, now not too far away, and sometime when you're going to have a good congregational hymn sing, let me know I'll do that, I sure will.

Speaker 1: 23:23

Arthur I can't tell you how much of a pleasure it is to meet you and to talk with you on our Hot Mike with Houston and Hogan program. I thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule. You've got a lot of irons in the fire and we appreciate so much you coming to talk with us today.

Speaker 3: 23:42

Well, I thank you for letting me be a part of it. It was such an honor. The old saying is don't meet your heroes. You guys, I love you Seriously. You guys were my heroes growing up and such a part of my life and I just want to thank you for that. I can't convey the love in my heart for you guys and the work that you have done. Oh bless your heart and I believe I speak for a lot of people.

Speaker 1: 24:12

Thank you.

Speaker 3: 24:14

A lot of times you don't see that, sitting in a room by yourself behind a microphone how you touch people. And so I just want to give those flowers while you're still alive. I really appreciate it and I appreciate how God has used you guys over the years to be such a ministry to people, and it really has been. You've touched a lot of lives, thank you, arthur, and we were talking about the.

Speaker 2: 24:38

English character on the. Andy Griffith Show. I followed his name it's Malcolm.

Speaker 3: 24:44

Malcolm. His name is Malcolm.

Speaker 2: 24:46

And Malcolm always said aren't you nice, Arthur? We appreciate you. You are nice, Thank you.

Speaker 1: 24:55

Thank you, guys. Have a great week. Be sure to click the subscribe button for another episode of Hot Mike with Randy Houston and Dave Hogan.