Jimmy Barrier describes the upcoming performance at the local Salvation Army as a Gaither-style event.
If you don’t know exactly what that means, then by all means, come out at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 11 to “An Acoustical Christmas.” And if you enjoy that Gaither style of musical performance, then you already know you’re in for a treat.
Barrier will share emcee duties with the Salvation Army’s Capt. Joshua Keaton, but he will also be behind his familiar bass as he and the Sound Barriers fill the air with Christmas music and other favorites with that Gaither-style Southern Gospel feel.
The concert is free and open to the public and will be held at the Salvation Army, 2292 Ross Mill Rd.
A love offering will be taken to benefit the Anchor of Hope and the Red Shield Club, he told John C. Rose on Monday’s TownTalk. Anchor of Hope is a women’s ministry that helps individuals in need and the Red Shield Club is the after-school program.
“It’s all acoustic, all live,” Barrier explained, “so if you make a mistake, everybody hears it.”
It didn’t take much to get Capt. Keaton and his wife, Capt. Amanda Keaton, on board with the project.
“They were elated to have the Gaither-style Christmas program,” Barrier said, adding that he hoped to make the concert an annual event and name it for the late Gill Clopton, who originally had the idea.
“I want to do that and honor him in that way,” Barrier said. He recalled that Clopton was very happy that the program had been scheduled.
Barrier said he and his wife were out shopping for blankets to donate to the Anchor of Hope’s blanket ministry the day before Thanksgiving and he found himself in the presence of someone singing Christmas carols – right inside the store.
Before he knew it, and to his wife’s chagrin, Barrier was performing a duet with Evelyn Couch.
“We started singing Christmas carols in Rose’s at the top of our lungs,” Barrier said.
But the duets didn’t stop there. He invited Couch to come and sing with the group at the recent McGregor Hall community concert last weekend.
“It was wonderful,” Barrier said of last weekend’s performance at McGregor Hall, sponsored by the Vance County Arts Council.
She will join Barrier again at the Dec. 11 concert to perform “O Holy Night.”
“She sings the fire out of it,” Barrier said.
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