Monday, February 19, 2007

THE PROVERBS IN CONCERT




Back when i was much younger and attended Houghton Brethren in Christ Church in Frogmore, there were two musical groups I especially enjoyed when they came to do special music. One was the Nations Quartet and the other was the Proverbs. This past Saturday, Lauretta, Rachael, and I had the privilege of seeing the Proverbs in concert after all these years, at Burns Presbyterian in Feversham, about five minutes from Osprey School where Lauretta teaches. The church is tiny and quaint. There were only about 30 people in attendance, but the church looked fairly full due to the small sanctuary.

The current members of the Proverbs are Dave and Kathy Daw, and Neil and Karen Prins. Karen is Kathy's sister. Nowadays the Proverbs perform accompanied by soundtracks, but back in the day they brought instruments. Dave and Kathy continue to run Summit Sound studios in Westport, ON.

During the first set of music, Kathy Daw, who has been Female Vocalist of the Year for the Canadian Gospel Music Association several times, spotted Rachael. Rachael was easily the youngest person there. Kathy came down off the stage and said Rachael was brave for coming and then went to the merch table and gave Rachael a free copy of their newest cd "Release". That was cool! Later, i bought two more newer cd's of theirs.

Nowadays musically I would classify the Proverbs as a mix of easy listening and country. They performed many selections from "Release" including "Angels in the Room", and "Rest in Me". Another notable tune they did was "Who's Gettin' Ready?" which reminds us that Christ is coming back one day. Their stage presence was quite good, turning towawrds each other while singing sometimes, and at times coming off the platform to be closer to the audience. I missed some of the second set including a sermon/talk as we had to take Rachael downstairs as she was becoming too rowdy.

I had the pleasure of talking to Kathy for quite awhile. She noticed i was wearing a Petra shirt and told me her son was in Black Talon, a group that opened for Petra on their farewell tour, which was neat. Will we see a Proverbs/Black Talon tour one day??? Kathy also said there may be a reunion concert of people who have been with the Proverbs over the years. It would likely take place in Kingston. And apparently the Tomen's from the Nations are back in London and doing something musical with Ronnie. I hope to find out more info on this.

Let me say that Dave and Kathy Daw are genuine people. I got to talk to both of them, and also had a nice chat with Neil Prins. Dave Daw is the only original member of the group, dating back 40 years now. On Sunday, the Proverbs were to do two shows at a Presbyterian church in Waterloo, where current Feversham Rev Dr. Dwight Strain used to work.

If you would like more info on the Proverbs, check out theproverbs.com.