Carrie Blackwood

So why am I spending so much time on my history in these blogs? Because our past is a great part of who we really are and why we do what we do. Our past serves as a foundation for shaping our views as to where we might be headed in the future and also helps determine our values as an individual. For me, the great legacy I received from the Blackwood family is significant because that family had several qualities that helped me get my start in music, and specifically gospel music. In the early 1900’s there was a Blackwood string band, made up of great uncles and cousins of theirs who just loved to sit around and play music until time for bed. They would spend their days in the fields, hoeing tobacco and picking cotton, and at night, since they had no television, they would assemble together and make music on guitar, banjo, harmonica and various other instruments. They weren’t polished or professional singers and musicians, but just played for the sheer enjoyment of playing. Their focus changed dramatically
when my little grandmother, Carrie Blackwood had a dramatic experience with Jesus Christ in a local revival there in Choctaw Co, MS one hot summer night.

The change in her life influenced the entire family. From a string band in the early 1900’s to a gospel quartet in 1934, the music was always sung and played with passion. That passion has never left me. Since that great revival that changed the lives of our family so much, it’s become more than just music to me. My faith in Jesus Christ is the prime motivator in what I do. Though my family had a gift to make music, it would have never taken me to where I am today because it was the gospel that transformed our lives and changed our focus from just making music to singing about the life
changing power found in gospel music.