Upcoming Rector concert has big lineup

The Rector High School Helping Hands Foundation soon will bring to the Rector stage a powerful lineup of internationally-known artists, including: Dailey & Vincent, one of Nashville's hottest new bluegrass gospel groups; Guy Penrod, one of America's top gospel singers; The Isaacs, an extraordinary group whose music fuses bluegrass, gospel and country, and Russ Taff, multiple Grammy winner and gospel great, who was a part of the Foundation's first concert last year.

Announcement of the Foundation's second annual concert was made today by Foundation president Sherland Hamilton, board member Gregg Sain and concert committee member Mayor Ron Kemp. The event will be Tuesday, Aug. 4, at Rector High School's new air-conditioned gymnasium which features stadium seating.

Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, May 15, at $20 each at Liberty Bank in Rector and Paragould. Other tickets locations will be announced soon.

Those who purchase a limited number of premium tickets at $50 each will have preferred seating on the floor and will be invited to a "meet and greet" with the artists prior to the show. Premium ticket holders also will receive a gift bag filled with CDs, DVDs and other items valued at over $50.

All proceeds of the event will go to the Helping Hands Foundation.

"We are thrilled to be able to bring talent of this level to Rector," said Hamilton. "Our friend Bill Carter, a Rector native who is now a Nashville music producer, established the Foundation three years ago with his former classmate, U.S. Army Major General (ret.) George Barker of New York, and he has been able to use his ties to some of the world's top performers to bring artists like these to Rector --- and all are donating their time for the Foundation."

Penrod, Taff and The Isaacs have been a part of the Bill Gaither Music Group, and Dailey and Vincent have performed on Gaither Homecoming videos.

Kevin Williams, also a part of the Gaither Music Group, will return as emcee for a thrilling night of music to raise funds for the Foundation's much-acclaimed work providing assistance to disadvantaged Rector students.

Lighting for the concert will be by Allen Branton, who, according to Carter, is one of the top three lighting specialists in the world. "Allen has done the lighting for many of the world's top artists," Carter said. "Allen is a story himself."

In the three years since its inception, the Helping Hands Foundation has provided several college scholarships, new uniforms and instruments for the school band, athletic shoes and equipment for students who otherwise couldn't be a part of school athletic programs, money for field trips, new eyeglasses, dental work and much more.

Sain can hardly contain his excitement and enthusiasm about the concert lineup and already has been hard at work nailing down details surrounding the event. He immediately went out and purchased Dailey & Vincent's new album "Brothers from Different Mothers."

"It is a combination of emotion, surrounded by enormous talent," he said. "They pick you up, bring you down, and then literally try to save you. The final song on the CD, On The Other Side, is tremendous. It is a true, give-you-chills moment. If Dailey & Vincent could have done the background music for 'O Brother, Where Art Thou,' it would not have missed a beat."

Sain urges those who attended last year's concert to invite at least two friends to come this year.

"Bill Carter has lined up talent that will equal, if not exceed, last year's show," he said. "I have looked at all the artists' websites and they normally do not do shows in towns the size of Rector. They are usually in places like Jonesboro, and that is for a single event show. We have four talented performers at one show in RECTOR. Once these tickets are gone, they're gone, so we urge people to act quickly so they won't miss out."

Sain joined the Foundation board in 2008 and said he feels it is a "true honor" to be a part of the organization.

"I was a little bit guilty about not taking a bigger interest in Helping Hands right from the beginning," he said. "Living in Rector basically all my life, I can tell you that it is no small miracle when a group of successful people, most of whom do not live here now, want to try to figure out ways to raise money to help the kids that go to Rector Schools. The members are not reimbursed any expense money. The members of this board come to Rector from as far away as California and New York to attend meetings and the major fundraiser, which is the concert in August.

"The Helping Hands Foundation does the small things that can make a student's life better, such as paying for a pair of shoes or eyeglasses," Sain continued. "The Foundation can also give a student the life-changing asset of a four-year college scholarship. At the moment there are four college scholarships associated with the Foundation. I believe this number could grow to at least 10 in the near future if past graduates of Rector will read about what this Foundation is accomplishing; I believe it will spread and continue to grow. The members of the board have told me the main thing that has brought them back to Rector to help the kids is that someone in the past from Rector helped them. It may have been a teacher, a coach, or just a citizen of Rector.

"Please go to the Helping Hands website and see all that the Foundation is doing to help kids," he said. "If your heart is touched, get involved and help the Foundation come up with more scholarships to help Rector's students. You can do this in the memory of a father or mother or someone who changed your life. It could also be done as completely anonymous. The greatest asset that this Foundation will have is when the beneficiaries of the Helping Hands scholarships graduate from college. It will create a 'Pay It Forward' type situation that can continue for decades to come. The Moses Knight painting proves to me that anything is possible with the Rector Helping Hands Foundation."

The painting of Knight, a much-loved uneducated black man who lived in Rector in the first half of the 20th century, raised $10,500 for the Foundation in an auction held during Labor Day weekend last year. The stunning painting portrait was painted by Rector native Paul Frets of Radford, Va.

About The Concert Artists

Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent became the most heralded new act in bluegrass with their 2008 debut album "Dailey & Vincent," and the group took home seven awards at the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Awards Show, including Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year.

They remain true to their roots as bluegrass musicians, but, according to their website, "push the bluegrass envelope" and play to "wildly appreciative audiences." Carter said in a recent Nashville Hall of Fame performance they got a standing ovation from an audience made up of the nation's top country artists -- something rarely seen.

Penrod became a successful studios session singer in Nashville during the early 1980s, backing up a star-studded lineup of country and gospel music's best. He eventually became a regular performer on the weekly television program Music City Tonight until he joined the Gaither Vocal Band in 1994.

After stepping in as the Vocal Band's lead singer, he became a defining influence for the group. His larger-than-life presence and powerhouse vocals endeared him to audiences all over the world for more than 13 years.

Taff's music has won him not only a wide audience and critical acclaim, but a total of seven Grammy awards and an amazing 11 Gospel Music Association Dove awards.

Billboard Magazine has called him "the single most electrifying voice in Christian music." Those who met him at last year's concert will remember him as warm and friendly -- and tremendously talented.

The Isaacs' new album "Big Sky," their second for Gaither Music Group, is described as "stunning, eclectic and joyful." Vocalist and family matriarch Lily Isaacs helped carve the family's style out of a background that included off-Broadway theatre and a 1968 Columbia Records album as half of the folk duo, Lily and Maria.

Standup bass player and son, Ben Isaacs, has played with Tony Rice, Ralph Stanley, Aubrey Haynie, Rhonda Vincent and many others. Daughter Sonya Isaacs released several country singles on Lyric Street Records, toured with Vince Gill and has recorded with Dolly Parton, Stanley, Reba McEntire and Brad Paisley. Youngest daughter, Becky Isaacs Bowman, is an award-winning songwriter who has made guest appearances as a vocalist with Parton, Bryan Sutton, Paul Simon, Stanley, Mark Lowry and others. John Bowman, a world-class multi-instrumentalist who has worked and traveled with Alison Krauss & Union Station and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, is married to Becky.

More information on all of the artists will be provided in coming weeks.

The Helping Hands Foundation works closely with school teachers, counselors and administrators in the Rector public school system to identify students with basic needs that are not being met. Sometimes input is received from a family friend or neighbor.

The Helping Hands Foundation is chartered in the state of Arkansas and has a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt non-profit status from the federal government. All donations are tax deductible.