Wes Knox

 

Wes Knox, a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, has performed professionally for nearly forty years, starting in 1970. Before joining the gospel band Summer Church as a founding member in 1994, he had been in the Steve Mills Band and the bluegrass band Rural Free Delivery.

Summer Church traces its origin to 1993, when Dick Walker, a fiddler later associated with the Wedgwood Trio, enlisted Christian musicians Tom Macomber (banjo) and Knox to achieve his goal of witnessing to non-Christian studio musicians by inviting their help in recording a gospel CD. An outgrowth of this effort was a CD, Summer Church: Gospel Songs for Fiddle and Banjo, initially released through Chapel Records. It became an international hit and led to the formation of Summer Church. A fourth member, Pete Lorentz, bass player, was added as the new group was formed.

From 1994 to 2008, Knox toured throughout the U.S. with Summer Church, performing gospel songs and his own compositions. In 2004, the group played for the annual fall council meetings at the General Conference headquarters for the Seventh-day Adventist church in Silver Spring, Maryland. Since that first CD that launched the group, they have released four more under the Walkin’ on Water Records label.

Their follow-up CD, titled Walkin’ on Water, was released in 1996. It was even more successful than the initial CD and led to the establishment of a recording studio bearing its name. Heaven's Front Door was released in 1999 and featuring new member Vidal Hulbert on fiddle. This CD introduced six new songs written by the band and featured some of Summer Church's best work. A Compilation, featuring some of the best tracks from the first two CDs, Summer Church, and Walkin' on Water, plus three previously unreleased songs, was released in 2003. A fifth CD, Reunion, a compilation of tracks from Summer Church's four CDs was released in 2008.

Knox now resides in Southern California, where he continues to be involved in music.

ds/2009

Sources; Pacific Press profile of Summer Church; Walkin' On Water Records website; Adventist Book Center.com, Notes on A Compilation CD.