Mally Jones honored by GMA at Bobbitt's
Auto in Salem NJ :
Tues. April 24, 2018 Salem, NJ- Mally Jones, age 90 and formally a founding
member of the Salem County Country Gospel music group “The King’s County
Men,” was honored tonight at the recently revived Bobbitt’s Tuesday Bible
Studies at Bobbitt Auto on Rt. 49 between Salem City and Quinton. John Keith
Davis, a local Gospel musician from Salem, presented Mally with a framed
proclamation from the Gospel Music Association in Nashville, TN. Davis read
the proclamation which outlined Mally’s musical biography and
accomplishments as a regional Gospel musician with an emphasis on his 30
years of service with The King’s Country Men. For more information see the
contents of the award printed below these pictures from the evening.
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1.Mally receiving the award ...
2.-3.Telling about the "Good Old" times ...
4.With his wife, Eppie
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GMA PROCLAMATION TO HONOR MALLY JONES OF “THE KING’S COUNTRY MEN”
WHEREAS, Mally Jones learned to sing, starting at the age of 3, as his
mother played songs like “O Where, O Where has my Little Dog Gone” to him on
her piano, and
WHEREAS, Mally Jones, at the age of 6, impulsively jumped up on a YMCA stage
in his childhood hometown of Connellsville, PA even though he wasn’t part of
the show that evening and was both “frozen” and “stage struck” until his
mother came and rescued him, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones in or around 1962 became curious about a revival
movement that had begun in at the Presbyterian Church in Salem, NJ where he
had relocated and begun raising his own family with his wife Eppie, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones, at that time, influenced by the ministry of Pastor
Chuck Murray and joining one of the new prayer and fellowship groups that
had sprung up in Salem gave his heart to Christ and began singing with and
then playing the upright bass for fellow believer and guitarist John
Bobbitt, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and John Bobbitt in 1968 were invited to play at a
Bluegrass Gospel Night at a Community Church in Elmer, NJ and met Warren
Purdy who sang baritone and played lead guitar and his brother, Andy, who
sang tenor and played banjo, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and the other three men decided to play together for a
while behind the Community Church there in Elmer after that concert and
found that “something clicked,” and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and the others all agreed that night to form the Country
Gospel Group to be known as “The King’s Country Men,” and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” practiced weekly from 1968
to 1997, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” in their nearly 30 years
together performed over 1,400 concerts for churches and at Country Gospel
Music festivals in the Greater Delaware Valley at their own expense and
without charging a set fee, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” released 4 independent
Country Gospel LP’s, each being professionally recorded and having a local
distribution of approximately 500 copies, namely:
Someone Up in Heaven (1971),
The Sweetest Songs We Know (1973),
The King’s Country Men (1975), and
finally The King’s Country Men II
(1977), and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” developed stirring versions
of many Country Gospel favorites such as “I heard My Mother Call My Name in
Prayer” and originals such as Andy Purdy’s “Please Mister” and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” became regular performers
at the “Shindig in the Barn” concerts in Lancaster PA where they opened for
and had the opportunity to meet Dolly Parton, The Goodmans, and many other
top Country Gospel performers, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones and “The King’s Country Men” comforted and inspired
local and regional audiences, church congregations, and other Gospel
musicians for 29 years, and
WHEREAS Mally Jones has remained active in Christian music ministries and
served his Church, Community, and Family faithfully throughout his life,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT PROCLAIMED that the Gospel Music Association of
Nashville, TN here records its appreciation to Mally Jones for his part in
the success of the Southern New Jersey Gospel Group “The King’s Country Men”
and his dedication to the art and ministry of Gospel Music.
Jackie Patillo, President and Executive Director
Dated February 2018
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Back to our Interview with Mally Jones _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________