Ernie Haase and Signature Sound...

... is another of my favorite Gospel groups. Ernie sang tenor during the final 10 years or so of the great Cathedral Quartet as I posted here. Upon joining the quartet, Ernie met George's family, was smitten by one of his daughter's, Lisa, and married her. After the Cathedrals retired due to health issues of the two founders, Glen Payne and George Younce, Ernie decided to begin his own group, and with the assistance and guidance of his father-in-law, George Younce, he created Signature Sound with superb bass Tim Duncan, lead Ryan Seaton, and baritone Doug Anderson. The photo below shows them performing with guest singer, George Younce.



I had the privilege of attending a live performance in a small church in Lake Zurich, Illinois, in the early days of Signature Years. A couple of my buddies in the tenor section of my community chorus knew I loved the Cathedrals and told me Ernie and his new group was coming to their church, so I attended and was blown away by their performance, instantly becoming a fan. I met the four fellows after the concert and purchased their available CDs.



They are now regulars on the Gaither Homecoming Tours and we got to see them live again at the Orlando "Lovin' Life" Homecoming in February as I posted here.

Ernie, Doug, and Ryan are all Indiana natives and huge basketball fans. All three are over 6 feet tall and often play hoops to relax when on the road. Tim is a Mississippi native and not over 6 feet tall. It surprises many when first hearing him that such a huge rich bass sound comes from his compact frame!

Here is their rendition of "Then Came the Morning"



Here's a clip with their previous piano man, Roy Webb, who was a master at supplying humor along with his marvelous accompaniment...



While on a Gaither Homecoming cruise last month, they performed a medley to honor their friends, the Oak Ridge Boys, combining "Jesus, Come and See Me" (the Oaks first Gospel hit), "Y'all Come Back Saloon" (their first country hit), and "Elvira" (their biggest hit.") Ernie says, "Here we are out in the middle of the Caribbean singing on the Gaither Cruise. We had a whole concert to ourselves one night and we did some Oak ridge Boys songs. The sound is a little distorted but you'll get the gist."



And here's the title song from one of their albums, "Stand By Me" with Bass Tim Duncan singing the lead...



Their first DVD release soared to the top of Billboard Magazine's music video chart as well as the Christian Contemporary Music video chart, and they received two 2008 Dove Awards for their second DVD release in the categories of Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year and Southern Gospel Album of the Year ("Get Away Jordan").