Williams family takes Ozarks gospel music to D.C.

Ozarks region performers will be featured for the first time at a festival to be held in July on the National Mall at Washington, D.C.

The Williams family of Poplar Bluff will take the stage July 6-9 at the 57th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Williams are pastors and worship leaders at Emmanuel House of Praise Church.

This year marks the first time the Ozarks region will be featured at the festival, the family shared.

Curators discovered the family and its unique gospel music through the internet.

Organizers heard Latoya Williams perform a song online, shared her father, Pastor Leroy Williams. The pair also performs together in a group with the pastor’s wife, Annie Williams and son Dewayne Williams.

“They looked us up and invited us to come and represent our area. We’re really honored to represent Poplar Bluff and the entire area,” Leroy said.

This year’s program is called “The Ozarks: Faces and Facets of a Region,” and will explore Ozarks identity and culture.

Leroy said the family learned a few months ago they were being featured.

The family has been involved in music “quite a while,” Leroy said. “My son started playing music when he was 5 years old. I got a chance to be a part of Three Rivers College Jazz Band back in the 80s and to be in the original Swingsations group.”

Dewayne formed a studio before he graduated high school.

He has produced CDs for each member of the family, including Leroy’s father, Johnny Williams, who had a gospel group. Dewayne created the music and produced the CD. Johnny Williams was a Poplar Bluff police detective.

Dewayne and Latoya played in the high school band and they also went to TRC. Dewayne attended Arkansas State and played in the band in that area.

The family believes participating will enable them to reach more people.

“My wife says this will help us to spread the gospel nationwide,” Leroy said.

The event will provide an opportunity for them to share their combined 21 commercially distributed musical singles, including “What About You” by pastors Leroy and Dewayne Williams, and “Don’t Look Back” by Latoya Williams, as well as a recently released book, “Honoring Heroes” by Annie Williams, which was edited by Latoya and Dewayne.

“Her book deals with her mom and my mother,” Leroy said. “They both were the heroes in our family. My mother’s name is Hattie Williams. She worked at the VA hospital for years and years.

“My mom had breast cancer about five different times. She finally passed away but she’s our family hero. She is where we get our strength from.”

Annie’s mom, Pearline Yancey, was a victim of domestic violence for a large part of her life. Annie’s sister, Pat Johnson, was a stroke victim.

“I’m hoping this will open doors for our family to be able to minister in different ways,” Leroy said. “We were blessed to purchase a historical church building (the former First Church of God) here in Poplar Bluff. It’s been around for forever. It’s on the east side right by what used to be Frosty’s Drive In.

“That’s where our ministry is based now. We’re restoring the building and we feel blessed.”

The family will perform a daily set throughout the festival’s second week, but were also chosen to perform at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 6, as part of The Ozarks Opry, on the Ralph Rinzler Stage at the National Mall, curated by Missouri State University.

While the Smithsonian will shine a national spotlight on Ozarks music, dance, food and other crafts, the family was first introduced to the national stage through the Build a Bridge concert hosted by Southern Gospel icon Bill Gaither and Bishop TD Jakes at the Potter’s House Church in Dallas, Texas, in 2003. Leroy sees many parallels between the two engagements.

“Bill Gaither and Bishop Jakes were highlighting the beauty to be found in our individual cultural expressions, and they invited us to be a part of it,” he said. “The Smithsonian is doing the same, showing the world what is beautiful about who we are and where we are from.”

For more information about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival visit: festival.si.edu.

To learn more about the Williams Family, their music, and their ministry in Poplar Bluff, visit: www.leroywilliams.org.