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THE STATLER BROTHERS STARTED IN CHURCH. WHEN THE GROUP ENDED, JIMMY FORTUNE WENT BACK TO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN — AND SANG FOR THE ONE AUDIENCE THAT NEVER LEAVES. He was a kid from Nelson County, Virginia — one of nine siblings, singing for nickels in first grade. In 1981, Statler Brothers tenor Lew DeWitt heard him at a ski resort and told the group: “This is the guy.” Jimmy Fortune was 26 years old. He joined as a temporary fill-in. He never left. In 21 years, he wrote three of the group’s only #1 hits — “Elizabeth,” “My Only Love,” and “Too Much on My Heart.” He sang at the White House twice. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Then in 2002, the Statler Brothers said goodbye. The other three went home. Jimmy stood alone on a stage for the first time in two decades — terrified. But he had one foot in country and the other in gospel, and he knew which direction to walk. He said it best: “I haven’t completed my mission from God to deliver music to people in need.” So he kept singing — not for charts, but for something higher.

Jimmy Fortune Went Back to Church After The Statler Brothers Ended — And Found the Audience That Never Leaves

Before Jimmy Fortune ever stood beneath the bright lights of a theater, before the standing ovations and the gold records, there was a small church in Virginia.

Jimmy Fortune grew up in Nelson County, Virginia, one of nine children in a family that did not have much money but had plenty of music. The first audience Jimmy Fortune ever sang for was not a crowd in Nashville or a television camera. It was a few people sitting in wooden pews on a Sunday morning.

Jimmy Fortune once joked that he started singing for nickels in first grade. But even as a child, there was something different in his voice. It carried the sound of the mountains where he grew up. It sounded honest. It sounded like somebody who believed every word he sang.

A Chance Meeting Changed Everything

For years, Jimmy Fortune played anywhere he could. Small clubs. Local fairs. Ski resorts. He was talented, but like so many singers, he was still waiting for the break that might never come.

Then one night in 1981, everything changed.

Lew DeWitt, the original tenor singer for The Statler Brothers, heard Jimmy Fortune performing at a ski resort. Lew DeWitt was sick and could no longer travel with the group full-time. The Statler Brothers needed somebody to step in for a few shows.

After hearing Jimmy Fortune sing, Lew DeWitt reportedly told the others:

“This is the guy.”

Jimmy Fortune was only 26 years old. He joined The Statler Brothers as a temporary replacement.

He stayed for the next 21 years.

The Voice Behind Some of The Statler Brothers’ Biggest Songs

Jimmy Fortune did much more than fill a spot in the group. Over time, Jimmy Fortune became one of the driving forces behind The Statler Brothers’ later success.

Jimmy Fortune wrote three of the group’s few number-one songs: “Elizabeth,” “My Only Love,” and “Too Much on My Heart.”

“Elizabeth” was inspired by Jimmy Fortune’s admiration for Elizabeth Taylor. The Statler Brothers almost did not record it. But once they did, the song became one of the most beloved hits of their career.

Jimmy Fortune’s voice helped carry The Statler Brothers into a new chapter. Together, the group sang at the White House twice. They became members of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. For millions of fans, The Statler Brothers sounded complete because Jimmy Fortune was there.

But nothing lasts forever.

When The Statler Brothers Said Goodbye

In 2002, after decades together, The Statler Brothers decided to retire.

For Harold Reid, Don Reid, and Phil Balsley, retirement meant going home. They had spent their lives on the road and were finally ready to stop.

Jimmy Fortune was different.

Jimmy Fortune had joined the group later. Jimmy Fortune was younger. And suddenly, after more than two decades of singing beside three other voices, Jimmy Fortune found himself standing alone.

The first time Jimmy Fortune walked onto a stage by himself, he admitted he was terrified.

There was no harmony behind him. No familiar faces standing beside him. For the first time in 21 years, every note depended on him alone.

Jimmy Fortune could have stopped there. Jimmy Fortune had already accomplished more than most singers ever dream of.

But something inside Jimmy Fortune would not let him quit.

Going Back to Where It All Began

Jimmy Fortune often says that his life has always had one foot in country music and one foot in gospel.

After The Statler Brothers ended, Jimmy Fortune slowly began leaning back toward the place where everything had started: church.

Jimmy Fortune began singing more gospel music. Jimmy Fortune recorded hymns, performed in churches, and shared the stories behind the songs. The crowds were smaller than the arenas. There were no television cameras. Sometimes there were only a few dozen people in the room.

But Jimmy Fortune did not seem to mind.

Because Jimmy Fortune believed he still had a reason to sing.

“I haven’t completed my mission from God to deliver music to people in need.”

That sentence explains almost everything about Jimmy Fortune.

Jimmy Fortune was never chasing fame for its own sake. Jimmy Fortune loved the songs, but even more than that, Jimmy Fortune loved what the songs could do for people. A song could comfort somebody who had lost a loved one. A song could remind somebody they were not alone. A song could help a stranger hold on for one more day.

And so Jimmy Fortune kept going.

Today, Jimmy Fortune still sings. Sometimes it is in a concert hall. Sometimes it is in a small church, not far from the kind of room where Jimmy Fortune first learned to sing as a boy.

The Statler Brothers may be gone, but Jimmy Fortune never really left the place where his story began.

Jimmy Fortune simply went home — and discovered that the most faithful audience is the one that never leaves.

 

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CASH SANG FOR PRISONERS. WILLIE SANG FOR FARMERS. WAYLON SANG FOR REBELS. KRIS SANG FOR THE BROKEN. TOGETHER, THEY SANG FOR EVERYONE NASHVILLE FORGOT. They called them “the Mount Rushmore of country music.” Four men who didn’t need each other — but chose each other anyway. Not because of a record deal. Not because of a marketing plan. Because of friendship. Pure, simple, stubborn friendship. Cash walked the line inside Folsom Prison when nobody else would. Willie threw Farm Aid concerts for families losing everything. Waylon fought Nashville’s control until outlaw became a genre. Kris gave up a Rhodes Scholarship and a military career to sweep floors in a Nashville studio — just to write songs for the broken. In 1985, they stood together in one room and recorded “Highwayman.” Four verses. Four lives. Four men who’d survived addiction, bankruptcy, heartbreak, and fame. The song hit #1 — and a supergroup was born from nothing but trust. Three of them are gone now. But at 92, Willie Nelson still carries that highway — for all four of them.

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