Published: December 24, 2007 12:49 pm         

Group finds pleasure in playing for others

By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



“When we do my music and somebody likes it, that’s an extra treat for me,” said Buddy Camp, lead guitar player and songwriter for The Camp Meeting Singers.

The three-piece gospel group from Morris has been playing together for three years. According to Camp, his band “plays gospel music with a taste of bluegrass.”

Rounding out the group are Sharon Brown on bass guitar and Jerry Green on rhythm guitar.

The group is just one of many bluegrass and gospel bands hailing from north Jefferson County. Brown said the burgeoning number of bands has to do with the geography and a regional love of music.

“Bluegrass is a great type of music,” Brown said. “You get to know a lot of people and you have different jamming groups going on. ... It’s fun.”

Brown said the band plays at least two engagements a month at festivals, churches and are regularly featured at the Covenant Place retirement facility in Gardendale.

Camp said playing for the seniors who live there is a great thrill for him because he can tell the residents truly enjoy the music. He also said seeing their enjoyment is rewarding mentally and spiritually for him.

“They participate and sing along,” he said. “I tell them, ‘If you don’t know the words, just do like I do and make them up as you go along.’”

So far, the group has made two CDs, which contain a mix of traditional gospel songs and originals by Camp. The group will return to the studio in January to record a new CD.

Camp, 59, said he’s been playing guitar since he was 10, but has only been writing songs for the last several years. “What I write is gospel music, with a touch of the scriptures,” he said. “If you look around, you can find inspiration anywhere.”

He said his mother, a gospel pianist, was instrumental in his early music training. “It’s in the genes and gets passed down,” he said.

Brown said Camp taught her how to play bass five years ago. Camp described Green, a Blount County native, as “one of those guys who sat around at home and played all his life.”

The group is scheduled to play Covenant Place on Jan. 6 and will also take part in the Alabama Bluegrass Festival, held at the Bessemer Civic Center on Feb. 16.

For more information on the group, visit their Web site at www.campmeetingsingers.com