By AMY BANTON
A gospel band like no other is holding a benefit concert in efforts to help a local church rebuild.
The Old Gospel Ramblers will play later this month and accept donations to give to Hayden Baptist Church of Aiken.
Last month, the church was struck by lightening and lost to a fire - luckily, nobody was hurt. Currently, they're attempting to raise funds to build another place of worship.
The congregation held its first service the Sunday after at the Smith-Hazel Recreation Center and showed an unbreakable strength of faith that impressed Bob Schanhals, tuba player and organizer of the Old Gospel Ramblers.
Schanhals points to the front page of the June 16 Aiken Standard's headline, "Congregation's spirit high despite fire." He said after hearing of the tragedy and then seeing the congregation prevail, he felt inspired by them and wanted to use his talents in some way to help them rebuild.
"We're playing for the Lord - what better way to do that than playing for them and lifting their spirits?"
The Gospel Ramblers formed last December when the five musicians were brought together to play for Schanhals' best friend's funeral. After that, all of them continued to play as one.
"It was like we were meant to play together," Schanhals said.
Schanhals' instrument is obvious by his nickname Bobby Tuba; Lee Leyda, or Crazy Fingers Duncan, is a pianist; Royce Johnson plays the clarinet, flute and banjo; Jim Hopkins is on the trombone and Willie Hammett plays the trumpet.
The type of music the band plays includes hymns, gospels, ragtime and dixieland music. The band puts a little bit of its own twist to the hymns, playing them faster to jazz it up and make it fun, Schanhals said.
All of them are from Aiken except Johnson, who lives in Savannah, and Hammett, of St. Simons Island, Ga.
All five of the musicians are church-going men and Schanhals said God works in mysterious ways as they were all getting together the weekend of the benefit before it was even planned for other events. One of them was rescheduled and after hearing what happened to Hayden Baptist Church, Schanals decided to take that free time and have his band help the congregation in some way.
"This will be our initial 'public' debut," Schanhals said. "What a way to start - by helping fellow Christians."
The event will be held at the Aiken Electric Cooperative Community Room located on 2790 Wagener Road - Schanhals said it has donated the space for the benefit. Schanhals would also like to thank Allegra Printing for designing and donating posters for the event.
The event will be held Aug. 19 and starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free but donations will be accepted.![]()
A gospel band like no other is holding a benefit concert in efforts to help a local church rebuild.
The Old Gospel Ramblers will play later this month and accept donations to give to Hayden Baptist Church of Aiken.
Last month, the church was struck by lightening and lost to a fire - luckily, nobody was hurt. Currently, they're attempting to raise funds to build another place of worship.
The congregation held its first service the Sunday after at the Smith-Hazel Recreation Center and showed an unbreakable strength of faith that impressed Bob Schanhals, tuba player and organizer of the Old Gospel Ramblers.
Schanhals points to the front page of the June 16 Aiken Standard's headline, "Congregation's spirit high despite fire." He said after hearing of the tragedy and then seeing the congregation prevail, he felt inspired by them and wanted to use his talents in some way to help them rebuild.
"We're playing for the Lord - what better way to do that than playing for them and lifting their spirits?"
The Gospel Ramblers formed last December when the five musicians were brought together to play for Schanhals' best friend's funeral. After that, all of them continued to play as one.
"It was like we were meant to play together," Schanhals said.
Schanhals' instrument is obvious by his nickname Bobby Tuba; Lee Leyda, or Crazy Fingers Duncan, is a pianist; Royce Johnson plays the clarinet, flute and banjo; Jim Hopkins is on the trombone and Willie Hammett plays the trumpet.
The type of music the band plays includes hymns, gospels, ragtime and dixieland music. The band puts a little bit of its own twist to the hymns, playing them faster to jazz it up and make it fun, Schanhals said.
All of them are from Aiken except Johnson, who lives in Savannah, and Hammett, of St. Simons Island, Ga.
All five of the musicians are church-going men and Schanhals said God works in mysterious ways as they were all getting together the weekend of the benefit before it was even planned for other events. One of them was rescheduled and after hearing what happened to Hayden Baptist Church, Schanals decided to take that free time and have his band help the congregation in some way.
"This will be our initial 'public' debut," Schanhals said. "What a way to start - by helping fellow Christians."
The event will be held at the Aiken Electric Cooperative Community Room located on 2790 Wagener Road - Schanhals said it has donated the space for the benefit. Schanhals would also like to thank Allegra Printing for designing and donating posters for the event.
The event will be held Aug. 19 and starts at 6 p.m. Admission is free but donations will be accepted.