NJR Digital March 2022

P A G E 1 1 | N J R D I G I T A L
globe of Planet Earth. It was called The Gospel
Music World of Wendy Bagwell and the
Sunliters. That night, they tried BOTH out their
hometown crowd. It was wonderful!
I sat attentively during their program, taking in
every bit of it - the comedy routine; their small
Kustom PA set; their matching handmade
Moserite guitars; the heartfelt singing and yes,
there was even some old-time shoutin’! If I
close my eyes, I can still hear Mrs. Trudy
Etheridge’s shrill ‘war whoop’, and my
PawPaw’s “Bless’Em Good, Lord”.
I remember Jerri kneeling down, microphone
stand in hand, crooning her newest feature
song: “Another hill, and sometimes a
mountain. Another road with rocks to hurt my
feet. But, if He walks along beside me, I can
take it. There’ll be no retreat…” Talk about
powerful! I get ‘Holy Ghost Bumps’, just
thinking about that song even now. Folks, I
was in Gospel Music heaven, but in the back
of my mind, I was hoping and praying that my
Mom had enough money to buy me that new
record album. Finally, after the service ended
– and I had conned Mom out of $4.00 – I
timidly approached Little Jan out near the
sales table.
“Well, hey there, Baby Charles!” (She’s still the
ONLY one that can get away with calling me
that.) “Come’er, baby! I’ve got something for
you!” She took me aside, and presented me
with my very own copy of “Here Comes The
Rattlesnakes”. I was speechless. I almost cried.
I looked down at the little disk. I looked up at
her. Instinctively, and without a second
thought, I squeezed her with all my might and
said to her, “When I grow up, I wanna be just
like you!”
I saw her smile broaden, and she gave me
that trademark wink. I’ll never forget it as long
as I live. Ever since that summer night in 1968,
I’ve prayed that God would allow me to play
His music. I’ve always hoped that I could just
be half the inspiration in the life of some little
blonde, toe-headed kid, that she has always
been to me.
Over the past 30 or so years, I’ve shared the
concert stage with Jan several times. We’ve
done live TV together here in Atlanta on
numerous occasions. Way too often, we’ve
wept together, standing along side caskets
that held the lifeless bodies of many, many
precious loved ones. We’ve leaned on one
another as life threw tumultuous events our
way. We’ve rejoiced when she found a new
love in our mutual friend, Dr. Jerry Goff. To
this day, Little Jan is a class act, and will always
be the Princess Of Gospel Music, as far as I
am concerned.
Oh, yeah. There’s one last thing I forgot to tell
you. Somewhere, over in the flatlands of
Alabama, there’s a cute little kid with tossledup
hair, who walked away one cool, February
morning with her very own autographed copy
of one of New Desire’s CDs. I trust that she
will forever cherish it, like I do my little 45 rpm
record.
Postscript: This was first written sometime in
2004. Since then, the little girl mentioned in
the story tragically passed away in a house
fire. Her family contacted me, and I was
honored to read this at her Memorial Service.
What an honor.