Memories of Jim "Big Chief" Wetherington

I guess I was about 15 or 16 years old when I first saw the "Big Chief" in person. I had heard him sing on record but not in person. In those early days, most of the time my job along with Guy and Maurine Whitfield was to take and tear tickets at the door of the Singings that J. G. Whitfield promoted. A job the three of us had been doing for a few years. After seeing the Big Chief in person for the first time at a concert in Pensacola Florida, I thought the Big Chief was the greatest bass singer and the sharpest dresser I had ever seen. He had this coal black hair that was slicked down, wavey and shinning like black gold. He had a dark black classic mustache. His suits were silk and shiney; his tie tied perfectly at all times and his shoes, wow ! he wore the greatest looking shoes I had ever seen. His shoes were always shined to perfection. Mr. Class, Mr. Clean, and Mr. Bass. The Big Chief was all three in one. To me he was larger than life.

It was after I went to work in the Florida Boys Quartet office at the age of 19 that I got the opportunity to met the Chief in person. I was at a concert at Prichard High School near Mobile Alabama, I had already met Jake Hess and Jake was great. Jake became my frist friend in Southern Gospel Music outside of the Florida Boys. It was Jake that intoduced me to the Chief. Even though I was low man on the totem pole in this industry, Jake told the Chief I worked in the Florida Boys office and I was his friend. Man all of my buttons were about to pop. The chief stuck out his hand and with a warm, strong graps said, "any friend of Jake's has got to be a good man." Even his speaking voice was low and rhythmic. We were back stage and it was a while before the concert started so we had time to visit a little. The Chief never seemed to be in a hurry. He asked me questions about myself, and what I did in the Florida Boys office. I was hooked, now I was an even bigger Big Chief fan. That feeling has never died. The Chief and Jake became my friends, stayed my freinds through life, and are still friends in my heart.



This photo is CLASSIC Big Chief, handsome and dignified. He was always dressed to a "T". I believe he wore a suit and tie to bed.



The first group the Chief sang with was the Sunny South Quartet from central Florida. The year was 1946. Pictured L/R Horace Floyd, Lee Kitchens, Mosie lister, Big Chief and Quenton Hicks pianist. A young bass singer from Florida by the name of JD Sumner replaced the Chief when he left the Sunny South Quartet.



The Chief left the Sunny South Quartet to help start a new Quartet, the Melody Masters Quartet who originally started in central Florida. The group had trouble getting started and almost starved to death. They finally got a deal with a radio station in Nebraska that saved the group. Jake Hess soon joined the Melody Masters and was with them in Nebraska when he got the call to join Hovie Lister's Statesmen Quartet in Atlanta Georgia. It was Jake who talked Hovie into bringing the Chief to Atlanta to join the Statesmen in 1949.



While still in Florida the Chief met, fell in love with and married his wife Liz. Liz was with the Chief in his room at the Ramada Inn in Nashville Tennessee on October 3, 1973 when the Chief died of a massive heart attack.



Pictured are Chief holding his daughter Diana, Liz and their foster daughter Jean.



The Big Chief, Jim Wetherington was born October 31, 1922 on a farm in Worth County Georgia near the town of Ty Ty. He died at the age of 49 and was buried near the place of his birth. Some of the Chief personal features were due to his Cherokee blood line.



Pictured here is the Chief and a young lady fan, taken at a Church concert in the Fifties.



In the early days Quartets used only one mic. Here the Statesmen were really working to thrill the audience. Pictured L/R Jake Hess, Rosie Rozell, Doy Ott, Hovie Lister and the Big Chief.



The Chief was a prolific song writer and published hunderds of songs. He was involved in several publishing companies. He wrote "Lord, I Want To Go To Heaven," which was record by many quartets. One of the things he loved most was his church choir. Chief was the choir's director. He was a member of the Assembly of God Tabernacle and was very active.

In the early days before the Kingsmen, Eldrige"Foxie" Fox worked in the Statesmen's office in Atlanta. He was in charge of their publishing companies. Foxie told me he had found one flaw in the Big Chief. He said, "Playing golf with the Chief was like playing golf with JD Sumner, both were very innovative in the score keeping department." So nobodies perfect !



He loved his big Buick, and would sometimes drive himself and Liz to concerts near the Atlanta area.



If you were a Statesmen you always dressed proper, even in a recording studio. This is the Statesmen during an RCA Victor recording session listening to playbacks. Hovie believed a Statemen was always on stage, and should present himself as such.



Again gathered around one mic, the Statesmen, L/R Jake Hess, Denver Crumpler, Hovie Lister and the Big Chief were no doubt working on out singing the Blackwood Bros. This nightly Quartet battle went on year after year. Doy Ott was an accomplished pianist and would take over the ivories when Hovie jumped up to add impact to the Statesmen's performance.




The photo became a classic in it's time. The first and maybe only Quartet photo taken inside a huge frame. The Statesmen thrived on doing many things first. Pictured L/R Denver Crumpler, Jake Hess, Doy Ott, the Big Chief and Hovie Lister in the center.



This is one of my treasures. An autographed photo of the Statesmen with Cat Freeman. Pictured L/R The Big Chief, Jake Hess, Hovie Lister, Doy Ott and Cat Freeman. Cat sang tenor and is the brother of Vestal Goodman.



An eary color photo of three Statesmen, L/R Sherrill Nelson, tenor for the Statesmen at that time, Doy Ott and seated is the Chief, note the shoes.



This photo was taken while the Statesmen were singing their big hit of the day "Get Away Jordan." Hovie always jumped up from the piano and into the group to really pour the coal on this big hit. This is the kind and style of singing McCray Dove and the Dove Brothers have done such a wonderful job of bringing it to this generation of fans. Pictured L/R Jake Hess, Denver Crumpler, Hovie Lister and the Big Chief.



I will close with this photo. This is the Statesmen of my day. L/R Jake Hess, Rosie Rozell, Doy Ott, Big Chief and Hovie Lister at center. It would he hard to put into words all of the attributes of this Quartet. Some were tangible and some were intangible. Hovie had chosen the name Statesmen for many reasons, some of which were class, dignity, style and a feeling of awe and respect. He achieved all of these. Keeping in mind all of the great Quartets before and after the Statesmen, one must still put the Statesmen in a very special slot, there has only been one Statesmen Quartet. Hovie was a Baptist preacher and believed his quartet, being proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ should sing, look and conduct themselves as children of the King. All of the Statesmen contributed to the success and par excellence of the quartet. I believe Jim "Big Chief" Wetherington was the visual symbol of what Hovie was trying to convay with his Statemen Quartet. What was a Statesmen? He was a proclaimer, a man of talent, dignity and a special air about him, ie he was Jim "Big Chief" Wetherington.

Copyright by Jerry Kirksey 2005

Mr. Kirksey,
Thank you for your article on "Big Chief." Yours is the first that I have seen that mentions his pride in his "church choir," which is where I have my memories of him--although I saw the Statesmen perform only a few times, from the time I was seven years old until Chief's death my family and I enjoyed his direction of the old "Golden Stairs Choir" at the Assembly of God Tabernacle in Atlanta, Ga. As the pastor, Jimmie Mayo, Sr. used to advertise--the church was just "two blocks north of the Federal Prison..." and I am sure that the power of that choir could be heard all the way into the cell blocks!

Chief was the most dynamic choir director I had seen to that point or have seen since. His arrangements, some tooled from traditional arrangements of northern choirs were absolutely riveting. I particulary remember, as a child, the swooping dynamics of "Just a Little While"---with a great ending that got very quiet then crescendoed through the rafters--all the while with Chief directing it with by crooking his little finger toward the appropriate section of the choir. When they sang, the listener truly knew that "soon this life will all be over...and we'll take a heavenly journey."

They are memories that I cherish deeply--and think of often...He was not only a "Chief" for quartet singing, but also of a great and anointed choir that blessed many people over the years.

Posted by Jerry Kirksey at 9:00 AM - Send Comments - Email This Post