Known for their flawless harmonies, homespun humor and impeccable delivery, the New Legacy Project tours about 180 dates per year, coast to coast.
Rick Price, owner and founder of New Legacy Project, began his 40-year career in Southern Gospel music with the legendary Blackwood Brothers Quartet. Price was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame with the Grammy and Dove-award winning group in the 1990s.
On Monday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m., the New Legacy Project, a group based in Nashville, will perform a free concert at Grace Community Church, located at 290 E. Main Street in Merced.
It promises to be a fun-filled evening.
Rick Price, the group’s founder, told the Times, “I was born in Michigan back in the 1950s. My dad was a coal miner and that played out, and my parents became auto workers.
“I’ve been singing since I was 19, 45 years.
“I’ve lived all over the world, and I ended up back in Michigan. I have two kids in Michigan.
“I sang with the group, Blackwood Brothers, in the 1970’s and 1980’s and into the 1990’s. The group won nine Grammy Awards and many other awards.
“One by one, all those guys passed away. I started as Blackwood Legacy in 2000, and a few years ago, I changed the name to New Legacy Project.
“The band went in the same direction but reflected more of my history. Our sound is a mix of Rascal Flats and more modern country, but it’s all straight Gospel music. We do a few traditional Gospel songs. There are five of us, and in this group there are singers, piano players and guitar players. All of us write, and we do several songs that we’ve written.
“I sing, I write songs and I tell stories. I weave the concert together telling stories about different things. I also sing some harmony.
“We do 150 to 170 concerts a year. The band is based in Nashville, but we go on 14 tours a year, and they are 10 to 12 days at a time. We tour year round.
“Our main feature song is ‘I’ll Stand’, which was written by a friend of ours. We liked it, so we recorded it. We’ve been singing it now for seven years, and that really touches and blesses the veterans that come to hear us.
“We’ll be doing a gospel concert, and we say that we are Christians, but our concerts are fun-filled and funny. We made a conscious decision a few years ago to present the Gospel in a light where we could all enjoy it.
“The main thing people say when we leave our concert is, ‘If we had known how great it was going to be, we would have told everybody.’
“They also talk about how much fun it was and how much they laughed. They tell me their face hurt from laughing so hard and not to change anything.
“It’s a real blessing to be part of this.
“Bobbie Frye is an integral part of it. She keeps us in ministry, and she’s our manager and our booking person.
“She’s the Administrative Pastor at the church we’re going to perform at, Grace Community Church. She is a singer and has had successful singing groups. I feel really blessed that we linked up 18 years ago. Her husband was my best friend, and we stayed close throughout the years.
“A lot of people who come to our concerts stay and decide to become part of the church.
“We think of ourselves as churchgoers and entertainers. I don’t shy away from the word, ‘entertainer’, because if you don’t entertain people, you won’t be able to present them with the message that you came to tell them, which is about Jesus. You draw them into the joy which is Jesus, and then you tell them the message. I think some of us have a dark picture of Jesus, and the Bible said that He came so we could have life, and have life more abundantly. I’ve tried life less abundantly, and it’s not nearly as much fun.”