Lorie Watkins Bio 

COMING SOON!

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Hey Y’all! While sitting here writing my article, the day before deadline as usual, I looked out my window to find a beautiful day. Finally! After spending the last few weeks fighting the weather just to get to sing, it is so nice to see the sun shine. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m one who truly loves all four seasons of the year and what makes each of them special. But, I just love playing, singing, and most importantly doing God’s work more. Enough about weather now. This month’s article is about someone who is widely known in both the southern gospel and bluegrass worlds. Tim Surrett is a name that is recognized no matter which venue you may go into. His name became well known in southern gospel music when he was singing and playing for The Kingsmen and now in bluegrass for his current band Balsam Range. But the story of his musical journey begins long before then.

Tim recalls traveling around with his dad, who played bluegrass/country music. His dad played guitar and then some mandolin in later years, but Tim talks more about his being a really good singer. Never having met Tim’s dad but hearing so much about him from other musicians as well as Tim, I don’t believe that I’m wrong in saying that he had a lot of influence on many of the pickers and singers from that area. With that being said and knowing that Tim, like me, recently lost his dad, we’ll move on.

The Kingsmen was not Tim’s first full time position. That honor went to The Carolinians, which was a group of young men who along with Tim formed the group and did pretty well for themselves. It was while touring here that Tim recalls meeting a lot of the people that he’s worked with through the years and still today. When they decided to disband, Tim mentioned to Eldridge Fox that he was looking for another position and Mr. Fox put him in touch with Squire Parsons where he stayed for a short time. Now Tim had started working in the studio quite a bit during this time. Then came The Kingsmen where he stayed for seven years before going with The Isaacs, entering bluegrass sounds once again. After six years with The Isaacs, Tim made his way back to The Kingsmen for another three years. It was at that time that he made the decision to come off of the road for health reasons to get himself back healthy and ready for the road again or whatever God had next for him. Now we had met Tim several times throughout these years but it was during the last several years mentioned here that the friendship grew closer and stronger. Tim met with us several times helping us out when we started our “Darkness Wept” project. We’d work and talk music some but inevitably the conversation went to Tim and our dad talking about hunting and planning a trip. Tim could have paid us or our dad no greater honor than when he sang “Wish You Were Here” being accompanied by only his “special” guitar at dads’ funeral. I’m sure that dad was in Heaven smiling and it was such a comfort to us at such a hard time. Now that Tim is doing better, he’s back on the road with his new band Balsam Range, and having heard and played with them let me say they’re Awesome!

During our conversation we talked about some of the most memorable people that he’s worked with through the years. He mentioned some bluegrass greats such as Tony Rice and Larry Cordle, but kept going back to many of the guys from his Kingsmen days like Jim Hamill, Eldridge Fox, Anthony Burger, Squire Parsons, and Ray Reece. The Kingsmen band that Tim was a part of won seven straight Singing News Fan Awards for Band of the Year while Tim himself won Musician of the Year in 2004 & 2005. When I asked Tim about his favorite kind of music, he gave an answer that I hear very often from many of the really good musicians. He listens to and likes a lot of different styles. While being an excellent musician himself playing several different instruments including bass (both upright and electric), dobra, guitar, and mandolin, Tim names Tony Rice, Rob Ickes, Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, & Anthony Burger as some of his favorites. You can’t talk with a great vocalist like Tim without asking about his favorite singers. He said that he’ll always find a way to take the time to sit down and listen to Paul Williams and as for female singers you still can’t beat Karen Peck.

I was told once that it was too heavy of a question but I’m always curious as to what any successful musician/singer’s philosophy. Tim thought it might be too simple, but he always believed that you should find something that you love and go after it. And when you’re playing in a band, you have to listen and be in tune with one another. Great pickers out doing their thing will not be nearly as good or have as much impact as good pickers listening and playing together. At the end of our conversation we got to talking about the future of gospel music and Tim had obviously given it some thought before I mentioned it. He’s noticed the lack of young people at many of the concerts and believes that it is imperative to attract younger fans to gospel music for it to be okay. You need your audiences to be diverse and full of all ages. He also stated that he believes bringing back live bands like they used to have will play a big part in achieving this goal.

At the end of this article I’m going to list some of Tim’s most used gear for all of you musicians out there who are curious. I hope that you have enjoyed getting to know a little more about Tim Surrett. I sure have. Remember that this life is full of ups and downs, highs and lows but with the Lord guiding us we will make it through on the winning side.

Check in next month to see who’s gonna be next!

Lorie Watkins
The Watkins Family
www.watkinsfamilymusic.com
watkinsfamily77@yahoo.com

Tims Gear:

1945 Kay Bass (that was given to him by Randy Millers uncle, Wayne), 3 Frank Harlow Dobros, Acoustic Image Bass Amp