A Sullivan Introduction
by Robert Gentry

If you are a fan of bluegrass music, and almost everyone is, then somewhere along the line you have seen or heard the Sullivan Family of St. Stephens, AL. The year 1999 marks their 50th year in the bluegrass gospel music field.

Music was a big part of he early lives of Enoch Sullivan and Margie Brewster early on.

Enoch's father, the Rev. Authur Sullivan, played string band music back in the 1930's and 40's. They pattered their music very much like Wade Mainer and the Mainer's Mountaineers.

And over in Winnsboro, LA., Margie Louise Brewster loved country and old-time music. She loved Molly O'Day, Kitty Wells,  and Martha Carson. Her father purchased a guitar for her at an early age and the mold was cast. She left home at 13 to be the singer guitarist for an evangelist named Hazel Chain.

Her work was more than a job for her. It was also a ministry. And it has remained so all these many years. It was through this ministry that she and Sister Chain went to Alabama where she met her future husband.

Earlier something happened to Brother Arthur that would forever change his life and that of his family. They had been playing what they called "frolic" music at dances in the southwest Alabama area. Brother had a near-death illness and when he recovered, he devoted the rest of his life to preaching, praying, and singing the old-fashioned way.

Both Enoch and Margie now look back and say their meeting was love at first sight. They were married December 16, 1949 and later that month with Brother Arthur started their first radio program on WRJW in Picayune, MS. That was the beginning of the Sullivan Family.

This was the beginning of their professional career and they have stuck with it through thick and thin for 50+ years.

In early 1950, Emmett Sullivan, Enoch's brother joined the group playing banjo and remained an intricate and important part until his death.

Brother Arthur was in church one night and had finished his sermon. He turned from the pulpit, humbly knelt at the alter, had a heart attack and died. If he could have had a choice about his death, he wouldn't have done it any differently.

His death left a big void in the Sullivan Family and for a while Enoch and Margie wondered whether they should continue the work. They though about it. They had a radio broadcast scheduled the following Sunday and had to make a decision.

Enoch took the bull by the horns and said, "We're gonna do it." And they did. It was the right decision and has led them across the world with their music and their work for the Lord.

They have recorded, played concerts in almost all states and many foreign countries and made television appearances. They were voted into Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Hall of Fame. They have on the world-famous Grand Ole Opry. They've played for governors, congressmen and others of prominence. They have worked in the smallest churches and in the largest. They played with some of the top stars in the fields of country, bluegrass and gospel.

The Sullivan's will tell you right off that their hero is the late-great Father of Bluegrass Bill Monroe. They are proud of the help they feel Mr. Monroe gave them through the years. Even now they speak of Mr. Monroe with reverence, with dignity and with honor. But you'll read in their book that maybe the Sullivans had a lot to do with helping Mr. Monroe back in the days when rock and roll had almost chocked country and bluegrass music.

It's true the Sullivans were playing bluegrass gospel music even before it had a name. They called it "string band music" early on. It was Mr. Monroe who named the music years later after his band "The Bluegrass Boys"., which had been named for his native state of Kentucky, the Bluegrass State.

And it was Mr. Monroe, sometime later, who named the Sullivan's music "Bluegrass Gospel". Enoch and Margie are very proud of that distinction and very proud the head man decided to give it that name.

The Sullivan's music is emotional. It carries a message. It comes from the heart. It always has and always will.

I think you would enjoy reading about the happy times, the trials and the tribulations and the music and the work of this 'First Family of Bluegrass Gospel Music."