Rhythm and blues singer Edwin Holt believes that even if it isn't broke, it's a good time to make it better.
Holt has invited the local Nacogdoches Interdenominational Youth Choir to join the return of his Rhythm and Blues Review at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Caldwell Auditorium at 300 S. College Ave. in Tyler.
Andrew Rogers/The Daily Sentinel |
Edwin Holt rehearses with the local Nacogdoches Interdenominational Youth Choir for a show at the Caldwell Auditorium in Tyler on Nov. 14.
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The Rhythm and Blues review show made its first appearance last year and featured Holt and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra.
The type of show was a first for the orchestra, but after the show did well, members planned to host the show again with Holt. This time, the Nacogdoches IYC choir was invited to join them.
"I wanted to keep the show fresh, so I wanted to remove some songs and add some songs," Holt said. "But I thought it would be neat to include the choir where we could get a much more full-body sound on some of these songs."
Determining which choir would make the right addition was an easy choice for Holt, he said.
"I've worked with the choir before in the past in a smaller capacity show," Holt said, "and they are, by far, the best gospel choir in East Texas, in my opinion."
The first show that Holt and the IYC choir performed together was a blues festival in the 1990s at the Nacogdoches Exposition Center.
Holt and the choir have worked together in a few shows since and even recorded music on one of Holt's CDs.
Some of the faces of the choir have changed as the years have passed, while others have been there for all of its 39 years.
"I am the last original member," Roy Benton, who refers to himself as the CEO of the IYC, said.
The idea from 39 years ago for the IYC was a simple one, according to Benton — bring people from different church denominations who love to sing together.
The choir has since won several competitions and performed at noted statewide events, such as the inaugurations of Texas Governor Mark White in 1983 and Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1991.
While the choir is constantly adding new talented voices, one of those impressive voices from the past can now routinely heard inside a courtroom.
"I left in '98 when I went into office and could no longer travel with them," Judge Dorothy Tigner-Thompson, justice of the peace, Pct. 2, said. "Edwin was such a good person to work with."
Life for Tigner-Thompson got busy, but Benton hopes that she will return to their ranks some day.
"We're trying to get her to come back," Benton said. "She has such a beautiful voice."
For more information about the upcoming show or Holt, visit edwinholt.com.
