Center For Cultural Events
Local quartet opens tonight’s concert
Written by By Dave Kurtz
Saturday, 20 June 2009 00:00
AUBURN — Take a pair of cousins, mix with two brothers and add childhoods
filled with the sound of Gospel music.
That recipe produced the County Line Quartet, which will sing tonight at the
Neighbors Helping Neighbors Gospel Music Fest.
The local group will open the concert, which features a nationally known
quartet, The Imperials. It’s a familiar role for the Auburn singers, who
already have warmed up audiences for the Blackwoods and J.D. Sumner and the
Stamps.
Auburn’s Heaven Bound Gospel group also will sing in the concert, beginning at
7 p.m. at the DeKalb County Outdoor Theater in Auburn. In case of rain, the show
will move to the DeKalb High School auditorium.
All four members of the County Line Quartet would feel right at home at the high
school, too. They all graduated from DeKalb and grew up attending the County
Line Church of God, south of Auburn.
Stuart Kruse now serves as associate pastor at the church. He started the
quartet 15 years ago with his cousin, Dane Kruse, and friends Darrin and Dirk
McKown.
“We put together a song for a Sunday morning special at our church. It went
over pretty well.” Stuart Kruse said.
After that beginning, “We said we’d be open to come and sing at anyone’s
church, and all we ask for is food,” he added.
Dane Kruse left the group after a year, and another of Kruse’s cousins, Randy
Moreland, filled the opening in the quartet.
“We’ve been friends our whole lives and grew up in the church together,”
Stuart Kruse said. “Not only do we enjoy singing together, we just enjoy being
together as friends. That’s the key to staying together so long.”
The group performs about twice a month in the Indiana, Ohio and Michigan area.
They sing at pageants, fairs and political gatherings as well as church events.
“Without a doubt, ‘This Old House’ is the one that people request the
most” from the quartet’s repertoire, Kruse said.
“We’re a little unusual, because we’re younger guys who sing the older
Southern Gospel songs,” Kruse said. “We bring a younger, energetic approach
to some of the older songs.”
The quartet has recorded two CD albums, which will be available tonight at the
festival, along with recordings by the other two groups.
“We don’t sell those to make any money. We sell them to get it in people’s
homes,” Kruse said of the CDs. “Our goal is just to encourage people and
uplift their spirits through song. We have a lot of fun on stage, too.”
The quartet will sing tonight to raise money for DeKalb County food banks and
St. Martin’s Healthcare Services.
At other times, Kruse said, “We just sing for freewill offerings, but we still
get a lot of good food.”
Gospel festival
What: Neighbors Helping Neighbors Gospel Music Festival
When: Tonight 7 p.m.
Where: DeKalb County Outdoor Theater, 301 S. Center St., Auburn. (Concert moves
to DeKalb High School gymnasium in case of rain.)
Who: The Imperials, Heaven Bound, County Line Quartet
Tickets: $5 at the gate; children under 12 free; proceeds to DeKalb County food
banks and St. Martin’s Healthcare Services.
Seating: Bring blankets or chairs.
Parking: On the theater grounds off Center Street and at the DeKalb County
Fairgrounds.
