At a concert last night, Roger Talley mentioned that, following Lauren’s recent wedding to Brian Alvey, Brian will be joining the group (hat tip, DBM). [EDIT, 3/16/13: Broken link removed.] I caught up with him this afternoon:
Daniel: I heard you mentioned earlier this week that Brian Alvey will be joining the group. Is this true?
Roger: We’ve known for a long time that Brian is an extremely talented individual. He has been working with us for the past year, behind the scenes, doing marketing and promotion, and helping with a lot of things that we’re involved in. Now that he and Lauren are married, we’ve decided that we’re going to take advantage of his talents and have him join us in the road, on stage. We feel that he has real calling to share not only singing and playing, but through his songwriting and his speaking ability as well. We’re going to be having him fill a wide variety of roles. We are anxious and excited about what he will bring to our team.
Daniel: With four people on stage, will you continue to go by the Talley Trio?
Roger: We will just be The Talleys. Some songs will be trios, and some will be four-part, but it will not just be the Talley Trio.
Daniel: Brian is a tenor singer; will you be singing bass?
Roger: Now, obviously, I’m not going not to suddenly become a bass singer. There are a lot of parts that I can sing, but bass is not one of them! So don’t look for a traditional quartet sound.
Daniel: Could you tell us a little about Brian’s background in Southern Gospel?
Roger: He has sung with Southern Sound, Beyond the Ashes, and Tribute Quartet. He has played instruments on stage with Southern Sound and Tribute Quartet, and written several songs for Tribute Quartet, including the hit single “That’s Why I Love Him So.”
Daniel: Will Brian be playing instruments on stage with the Talleys?
Roger: Yes. He plays a wide variety of instruments, including piano, bass, and acoustic and electric guitars, and we’ll be doing more live music with him playing some. On some songs, we’ll do four-part harmony, and different trios on others. We’ll just have a much bigger variety on stage.
Daniel: And for the question everyone’s wondering, by this point: When will he start?
Roger: We have had a rehearsal or two already. We’re working on some of the songs that we are currently singing. We hope to be ready to debut this new sound by September 1st. This fall, we will begin work on a new recording with the four of us.