Though country fans may know The Blackwood Brothers mainly through their influence on Elvis Presley, or their albums with Porter Wagoner, the group was the most influential and popular South- ern gospel act in the country in the 1950's and 1960's. Coming from a family of Mississippi sharecroppers, the basic group consisted of three brothers-Roy (barn December 24, 1900), Doyle (barn August 22, 1911) and James (born August 4, 1919}-and Roy's son R. W. (born October 23, 1921). They began sing- ing in the early 1930's, working at times for the Stamps-Baxter publishing company, and singing over stations as diverse as KWKH in Shreveport and KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa. In 1950 they relocated to Mem- phis, where their shrewd promotion (they were one of the first acts to have their own record company) and ability to adopt black gospel quartet music to their own style won them a nationwide reputation. Many of their records became models for arrange- ments later used by Elvis Presley, and at one point Presley actually auditioned for a Blackwood "farm club" group, The Songfellows. Signed to RCA Victor in 1952, they produced hits like "Have you 'talked to the Man Upstairs,"  "Rock My Soul" and "Swing Down Sweet Chariot" After a series of personnel changes (par- tially as aresult of a tragic plane crash in June 1954 that killed tWo of the group), the act continued to record a long of series of albums for RCA before turning to the Skylite label. -C. W.