DESCRIPTION:
The Seventy Six Quartet was very popular, especially at Renfro Valley. Not many recordings of the group exists. Among the few that have been preserved in the archives in the music library at Berea College is a promotional demo that Renfro Valley put together as part of a sales pitch that won them a sponsorship deal with General Foods in 1950. This recording, probably the finest moment of this group, is a short medley featuring two very different songs, "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Give the World a Smile." The Seventy Six Quartet executes each with a refinement that could compete with any professional quartet recording of the time. The personnel on this recording is Ruel Thomas, who founded the group, and then most likely Edward Snell, Leslie Andrews and Morris Gaskins.