A set of grandparents who took their twelve old grandson to a Southern gospel concert gave Nathan Potts a new outlook on the music.
Here is his story, as told by Nathan Potts, the new lead singer for the Dixie Melody Boys. Nathan makes his home in Yale, Virginia, along with his wife, Megan, and their children.
“Gospel music started for me at the age of twelve years old. I remember it like it was yesterday, with Ivan Parker and The Harvesters Quartet. It was a cold October evening, and my grandparents Hugh and Carol Mayes asked if I would like to go with them to a gospel concert. For the first time ever, I went, and life was never the same. That night was a ticketed event and I walked into the auditorium with over a thousand people inside. I was in awe. From the time they started singing, ’til the end of the service, I was on my feet; and the incredible thing is, that night they did a ticket drawing and you could have guessed it –I won. It was a CD of the Harvesters Quartet.
Nathan Potts
“From that point, I started a solo career, that I continued until 2008. At that point, I, along with Thomas Nalley (Gold City) and two others, began singing as Calvary Calls Quartet.
“After the group disbanded, I joined a group for the next five years, called Promise Land Quartet, and those were some of the most special moments of my career, where I learned a lot.
“To make a long story short, years later, I started with Ed O’Neil and the Dixie Melody Boys.
“There I have been able to share the gospel in song on a national scale, and I thank God every day for giving me talents to sing, and I will forever use them to uplift his name.
Nathan and Megan Potts
“A lot of people have asked when and where I sang my first song. This would be in Petersburg, Virginia, with the Harvesters Quartet. When they pulled me up to sing, it was a wonderful time.
“I would have to say, my biggest influence singing gospel music would be between two people, and that would be Allan Hunter of the Harvesters Quartet, and Ricky Carden of The Down East Boys. Allan was always pushing me to keep going even when things got tough. And Ricky, well I’ll put it to you this way, when he let me travel with them he kept me in line; I couldn’t get away with anything. I am very thankful for people like that and everybody who has stuck by me as true friends. I truly could not say thank you enough.
“If I wasn’t singing, I would most likely be doing carpentry work.
“I’d have to say, if there was an embarrassing moment — and really it more comical than embarrassing — it was New Years Eve, when Promise Land Quartet was performing in West Virginia, and I did a song which I did some choreography on, and I decided to have Joey Wilson the tenor do a 360 with me. He did, but could not stop spinning and just fell flat on his back! Needless to say he never did it again.
“I couldn’t have made it this far if it wasn’t for my family, mainly my grandparents, Hugh and Carol Mayes. Hugh is no stranger to gospel music. For many years he helped the Hoppers with different things, and has been a big help to several different groups. We are from a little town called Yale, Virginia, which is currently where we all make our home.
“In closing, my favorite bible verse is, ‘I am crucified with Christ and yet I live; not I, but Christ who lives within me.’”
As told by Nathan Potts to Robert York, regular contributor to SGNScoops Magazine.
Read more about The Dixie Melody Boys in an upcoming issue of SGNScoops.
For more Gospel music features, read the latest SGNScoops Magazine HERE.
A set of grandparents who took their twelve old grandson to a Southern gospel concert gave Nathan Potts a new outlook on the music.
“If I wasn’t singing, I would most likely be doing carpentry work.
“In closing, my favorite bible verse is, ‘I am crucified with Christ and yet I live; not I, but Christ who lives within me.’”
