The Holy Hills of Heaven Call Me
There's Nothing That My God Can't Do (This Song was originally released back in the early '60's when the group was named the Gospel Echoes. Shirley Bivins sings in this group)
Too Much to Gain to Lose
Don't Let Me Walk Too Far From Calvary
When Buck and Dottie Rambo got married in 1950, life wasn't very easy for the couple financially starting out. Even though Buck and Dottie Rambo traveled and sang in churches throughout the evenings, they had to work day jobs to support their lifestyle. Buck was a butcher in a store and Dottie worked at a hosiery mill. I believe at one time he helped manage a store as well. Dottie said in her interview with Joanne Thompson that Buck never made more than $40 dollars a week. They were very poor in the early days. They didn't make huge dollars off of royalties in the early days. They didn't even record any albums until the early 1960's. They were basically robbing Peter to pay Paul in the early days of their singing ministry, according to Larry Ferguson, Dottie's future manager. Reba said in an interview that they would travel to churches at night to sing. She said if the church they would be singing at was within driving distance so they could come back in time to work the next day, they would go. They weren't concerned about coming home in time to sleep. They just wanted to make sure they could arrive home in time to work the next day. To them it was a joy and a privilege to travel and sing in churches. Reba said the opportunity to sing in churches was a privilege to them. They weren't even thinking about embarking upon a worldwide career at the time. It was just a blessing to sing songs about Jesus to the Rambos.
In 1952, Reba Faye Rambo was born. She was the only daughter of buck and Dottie Rambo. They desired to have more children, but complications in childbearing prevented Dottie from being able to bear more children. There has been speculation that Reba started singing with the family when she was three years old. From trying to piece things together, it is true that Reba would travel with her family from time to time as a young child. However, she wasn't a regular singer with the group. Reba didn't starting singing with the family full time until 1964 which I will mention more about later.
Reba mentioned that her home was a constant music jam session growing up. She said her mother would compose songs about anything. There would be guitars and notebook paper everywhere in the house. She said her mother would even write songs about making biscuits. Dottie was a very great cook. She would compile recipes together in a cookbook years later. Music was life to them, which was a result of the gift that God had given Dottie. With the Rambos being poor and living in a run-down trailer, they didn't have much money to purchase many things. I remember hearing Dottie saying in "The Dottie Rambo Story" on the Inspiration Network that she would go to a shop which would sell the most expensive dress. She would take a pen and a pad and would draw a picture of the most expensive dress in that shop. She would then go to the Dollar Store or some store of that fashion and would purchase the cheapest material to make Reba a nice dress. Dottie knew how to improvise and find a way to make nice dresses out of cheap material. She would dress Reba in those dresses and she would look like a doll, according to Dottie. Reba was also a good student in school. When Reba joined the group her mother and father formed in 1964, her teachers would have to give her assignments to her ahead of schedule as she would be traveling on the road extensively when she was a teenager.
Even though I haven't begun giving the background behind some of Dottie's most prolific songs, I'm going to give a background behind one of the children's songs Dottie had written when Reba was little. It was called "Germs." When Reba was approximately three years old, she had an imaginery dog named Germs and a playmate named Sally. One day Reba was eating cookies and she got crumbs all over the couch. The phone rang and company was coming. They were just around the street. So Dottie told Reba to help her vacuum the couch. Reba as a little child said that she couldn't because Sally and Germs would be sucked up into that vacuum cleaner. Due to the fact that Dottie had no time to waste, she went ahead and took the vaccum cleaner to suck up the crumbs. "Sally and Germs" were sucked up into the vacuum. Reba cried and said, "You sucked up Sally and Germs into that vacuum cleaner." She held her breath and fainted. So Dottie took out the bag and emptied the dirt and Sally and Germs along with it. Out of that experience Dottie penned the song, "Germs", which I'll post in part 6 next week. That song would later be featured in a children's album recorded by the Rambos in the 70's entitled, "Down by the Creekbank." As we progress deeper into Dottie's singing ministry, I'll devote more time covering the background behind some of Dottie's greatest songs.
When Buck and Dottie married, he wasn't singing with her at the time. Dottie later taught Buck to play the guitar and sing. I believe it was a few years after they married the started the singing group entitled, "Gospel Echoes." The trio started out with Buck, Dottie, and Judy Russell. I don't know for sure but I think Judy might've been the daughter of Buck and Dottie's pastor, Bro. Jimmy Russell, but I'm not for sure. In later years the lineup would include, "Little Joe Hatfield," Shirley Bivins, and Pat "Jones" Green to name a few. They would travel all over the country. Some of the states in which they traveled included Texas and Louisiana. I know there are many others but those are the states I know where they traveled. Next week I'm going to begin the post discussing Reba's bout with spinal meningitis
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