John Willoughby
reporter2@greenepublishing.com
Get set to worship with some of the biggest names in the region, presenting to you Chuck Day, Joyce Croft and others, the 2020 two-day Gospel Jam will take place in Madison, at the Ragans Family Campground, on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18.
North Carolina-native Darrell Luster will take the stage on Friday, Jan. 17, to kick off the 2020 Gospel Jam. Luster, an in-house producer and now the artist and relations department head for Malaco Music Group, was honored in 2017 with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Gospel Image Awards. Luster is known for his inclusion in the Luster Brothers quartet and for his work with the Sensational Nightingales, filling in for longtime members Bill Woodruff and Jo Jo Wallace in 1982.
Luster will share the stage with Joyce Croft, of Valdosta, who has sang for over 30 years. Also, enjoy the presence of Chuck Day, a small-town Georgia boy who has won numerous awards with the International Country Gospel Music Association. Day, with his brother, Greg, is responsible for the birth of gospel hit, "Midnight Cry." The music begins at 6:30 p.m.
On Saturday, Jan. 18, The Buckley Family, of Perry, will ring in the second night of foot-tapping good Gospel music. Additionally, The Byrd Family gospel group, of Dothan, Ala., will share the stage during the night. A family of nine, the Byrd family consists of Jamie and Holly, and their children: Elli, Jolie, Annie, Lucie, Titus, Asher and Libie. With a variety of instruments, and talents, the family will bring bluegrass gospel to the Ragans Family Campground. Additionally, Gospel Strings, a three-person trio also from Perry, Fla., will accompany the bluegrass group. The concert is also slated to begin at 6:30 p.m.
A $10 offering will be collected at the door for entry per night. For more information about the event, call (850) 973-8269. Ragans Family Campground is located at 1051 SW Old St. Augustine Rd., in Madison.