June 8, 2005

You may have noticed that we’re gearing up for a little more than a week long trip to Texas and Arkansas. I’m heading into this one with mixed feelings. I’m excited to have the opportunity to sing, meet new people, and visit with old friends, but I’m burdened by the number of days I’ll be spending away from home and my wife.

This morning I was honored to be a guest on The Talk of East Texas with Chris Paddie. I enjoyed the interview and appreciated the opportunity to promote our upcoming concert in their area. While we spoke Chris asked about the number of days that Palmetto State Quartet spends on the road each year. I had to think about it because it changes quite a bit from year to year. The first year that I was here I think we did about 150 dates. This year we’ll do somewhere in the neighborhood of 170. That’s quite a lot of traveling, but not near as much as some groups are doing, which really makes my heart go out to those group members and their families.

Quite often we hear people make statements about how much of a sacrifice we make to be on the road, away from home and family. To be completely honest with you, I’ve never looked at it so much as a sacrifice but a privilege. No, I don’t enjoy being away from my family which is why Jennifer travels with me as often as her responsibilities will allow. But this lifestyle is what I dreamed of living when I was a kid. There’s nothing in the world that I wanted to do as much as I wanted to travel and sing. Now that I’ve been afforded that opportunity how in the world could I complain about it or call it a sacrifice? The opportunities that I have been blessed with are innumerable, and I’m thankful for each of them.

Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking with Paul Burroughs Jr. who is the son of Palmetto State Quartet’s founding bass singer. He provided a treasure of information about the founding of our quartet and about his father. From our conversation I’ve learned that some of the information that I have posted about our history may be incorrect, or at least partially so. As soon as I can piece together a logical set of events I’ll post the updated information on our History 101 page. Paul is going to take a look at what I’ve posted thus far and let me know where I got it right, and where I got it wrong. I must say that I enjoyed our conversation quite a bit and I’m looking forward to meeting Paul sometime soon.

John Rulapaugh

Palmetto State Quartet

john@palmettostatequartet.com