ROBERT’S CONCERT RAMBLINGS – BALL BROTHERS’ CHRISTMAS TOUR
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The Ball Brothers wrapped up their 20-concert, ten-state Christmas tour recently. Their last weekend included their home church in Rock Springs, GA and Columbus, OH. The group currently consists of brothers Daniel and Andrew Ball, brother-in-law Chad McCloskey and Jon Epley.
When the group stated back in Illinois, it was four brothers including Steven and Josh. They toured with their Dad who was an evangelist  from 2001 through 2005. Dad started pastoring a church in Chickamauga, Ga and they moved south. In 2006, the brothers started singing full-time and have appeared on main stage at NQC,  Gaither videos, Silver Dollar City and Dollywood. They began doing a Christmas tour in 2007 and have continued each year since. Brother Steve had to leave the group because of a hearing loss and Josh later left the group for a Church staff position. They also had Cody McVay who was a brother-in-law as their pianist. Cody left the group when he was offered a position at Dr. Charles Stanley’s church in the music department.
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I had the opportunity to attend the Ball Brothers’ Christmas concert in Rock Springs. This was a great evening with a good mixture of secular and religious Christmas music. They kicked off the evening with a video presentation of the Ball Kids, where the kids were asked questions, which turned out to be very funny at times. The Awana Childrens Choir sang a song, and the Ball Brothers then hit the stage with “Go Tell It On A Mountain.”  Some of the other songs they included were: ‘Joy To The World,” “O Holy Night,” “Jingle Bells,” The Grinch song and “Mary Did You Know.” Daniel brought Steven and Josh to the stage and introduced them, explaining about the health issues that both of them had, and thanked everyone for praying for them.
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The group used a beautiful set with several types of lights and when they sang, “Let it Snow,” the snow machines worked full time, blowing snow all over the stage with Daniel kicking it and picking up some and wiping in on Andrew. As usual, Daniel and Andrew drew lots of laughs with their comedy during the program. They also had a game in the program called, Know It or Throw It. Participants  from the audience were invited to the stage and they drew balls with gift cards attached out of Santa’s bag and were asked a Christmas question. If they knew the answer they got the gift card, if they didn’t know the answer the ball was pitched into the audience and the person that caught it got the gift certificate.
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The Ball Brothers closed the program after a brief intermission with several Southern Gospel songs and then sang their signature song, “It’s About The Blood.”  You can keep in touch with The Ball Brothers on Facebook or their website www.theballbrothers.com. If you are interested in having the group they are booked by The Harper Agency.By Robert York
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