Kendrix Singletary

LUMBERTON — A beach music band with ties to Robeson County made waves recently at the Carolina Beach Music Awards, taking home three awards.

“We were shocked,” said Dale Edwards, who sings and plays trombone in Blackwater Rhythm and Blues Band and works as the band’s booking agent. “Honestly, we had no idea that we were winning anything. We had a great year and we had fun. Just to know we were nominated was amazing, but winning was phenomenal.”

The band is a crowd favorite among the performers at Lumberton’s annual Alive After 5 concert series. The group plans to hold a benefit concert in Robeson County in April to raise money for Shriners Hospitals. One of its members, Kendrix Singletary, is a Lumberton native, and the rest hail from Bladen, Columbus, Forsyth, Hoke and counties.

Singletary called the Carolina Beach Music Awards the “Grammy’s of beach music.” The event was Nov. 15.

Beach music fans were packed like seashells in the sand at the Alabama Theatre in Myrtle Beach, S.C., when it was announced that the band had not only received the Rising Star award, but also the Song of the Year award and Song Writer award for Gerald Robinson’s “Dance Tonight.”

Robinson is a performing musician from Memphis who has been a friend to many of the band members for years.

“He’s written songs for people like Johnny Taylor,” Edwards said. “He actually called me thinking I was someone else, but I struck up a conversation. He’s written a couple of songs for us and we have another song of his that we want to release and that we hope will be another hit.”

Singletary, a vocalist, works as the resident artist at the Carolina Civic Center in downtown Lumberton and the creator of the annual Robeson County Christmas show.

“I lost my father, my marriage and my kids were taken away to Atlanta all in the same year,” he said. “By the grace of God, this band literally fell into my lap. It’s been a tremendous blessing to have that creative outlet. Music is an incredible source of therapy for me.”

“We all have 9-to-5 jobs. We do this for the love of music,” he said. “There is no star. We all respect each other’s talents and we all click. All the gentlemen are very talented and genuine.”

He said that a family friend took him to meet the band which was looking for another singer. They sang together and “the rest is history,” Singletary said.

Other members of the band include Billy Little and Fred Cook on saxophone; Greg Elkins on trumpet, trombone and keyboard; Billy Prease on drums; Neill Singletary on bass guitar; Donald Jordan on guitar; and William Sellers on keyboard.

The band plays classic R&B, country, funk, soul and classic beach music.

“We have a CD coming out at the first of the year,” said Edwards. “We have three original tunes on there, one by William Sellers and two by Kendrix.”

The band has performed in South Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia and Georgia.

“We could not do this without the people who come out and support us at our shows,” Edwards said. “We don’t call them our fans, we call them our extended family. Just the band playing isn’t going to make us a success. It takes all the fans and the support staff to help with it.”

Edwards said the band expects a busy 2016.

“I can tell you in 2014 we played 38 gigs,” he said. “I’ve already booked 75 for 2016. We’re not some of the bigger names of course, but I think we’ll be able to hold our own. I think that people who we perform for like what we do.”

For information on the Blackwater Rhythm and Blues Band, visit the band’s website at BlackwaterRhythmAndBluesBand.com or find them on Facebook at Facebook.com/BlackwaterRandB.

By Gabrielle Isaac

gisaac@civitasmedia.com

Gabrielle can be reached at 910-816-1989 or on Twitter @news_gabbie. - The Robesonian

The awards show started soon after so I changed my clothes and Toni and I went over to the Alabama Theater together. We sat out front for a while and then went backstage. There were photographers taking pictures of all the artists. I have always hated taking posed pictures but I am starting to get more comfortable with it. So, I posed for mine and went back out front to watch. Long story short, the Male Vocalist of the year category came up towards the end of the night and a young man by the name of Kendrix Singletary won the category! He is the lead singer for Black Water Rhythm and Blues band and he is amazing! I’ve been listening to him for a while. It was his first time winning and the whole room shared his excitement, including me! I was lucky enough to meet him and he is a great person and yeah, he’s a cutie too. Take a look. - Miss Mini

Kendrix Singletary, an artist and production manager at the civic center, contributed a song to the film’s soundtrack. He signed autographs and posed for pictures on the red carpet with Johna Edmonds, a former Miss North Carolina and Robeson County native who plays a firefighter in the movie. - The Robesonian