Randy Reeves – Lead vocals, guitar, harmonica, mandolin, violin, good preach’in

Randy was born in 1955 in Baytown Texas. “We moved to Sweeney and West Columbia Texas before moving to Overton Texas where my father began pastoring his first church. Mom and Dad are the reason I have any knowledge of who God is and how His Son Jesus saved me when I was not worthy of His grace. They have had the most influence on my life. Being raised in a Christian home is without description. I could only imagine where I’d be without that most important part of my life”. His first opportunity to sing was there in Overton at the church his father pastored. “At the age of 4 my mother would put me up on the piano stool so I could see the crowd and she and my older brother would sing the verses to “Until Then” while she played. When they would get to the chorus I would take the lead part because I couldn’t yet read and it was the only part of the song I had memorized”.

They moved from there to a small community 26 miles north of Jacksboro Texas called Squaw Mountain. “Daddy took a church there and we loved it. It was like the old west and some of the fondest memories I have are of that place”.  It was there that Randy rode his first horse and fell in love with the cowboy life. He loves to tell the story of that first ride as it was not only his but also his brother’s. “It was a retired race horse and it ran away with my brother on it, all the way back to the owner’s house about a mile away”. It’s a hilarious tale that Randy loves to tell, so if you ever meet him just ask and he’ll be glad to tell it. Just be ready to laugh yourself silly.

As with most ministry families the Reeves were soon to be on the move again. From Squaw Mountain they headed back east to town of Sabine Texas. “Dad didn’t take a church there, we just moved and as a kid I didn’t understand why. From me earliest memory Dad was the pastor and I was the preacher’s kid. Yeah, I know..PK’s are the worst. But I was different. I was the worst and then some. Just ask my brother” says Randy. “At that time Dad led the singing at my uncle’s church in Chapel Hill, about 30 minutes from our house”. It was at that time that Randy began writing songs. “I remember the first time I ever wrote a song that rhymed because it got me in so much trouble. We were driving in the car and passed a man mowing his yard and I began making up a song. The next to the last line of the song ended with the word “grass” and it was the rhyming word in the last line that got me in hot water”.  In his defense Randy says that the word is indeed in the Bible. Randy’s brother Ronnie and their cousin began singing together at that same church in Chapel Hill. “We would practice on Sunday afternoons while driving around Chapel Hill and Tyler. It was great! Three part harmony. We even had matching blazers to wear. We thought we were the real deal”.

From there the Reeves’ were off to Grandbury Texas where Randy’s father had taken another pastorate. “What a relief”!! explains Randy. “My reputation as a mean little preachers kid was once again secure”. But it was a culture shock moving from the country to one block off the town square. Even if it was as small a town as Grandbury.  One Christmas there  he received his first musical instrument. “It was a snare drum and I beat the hide off that thing. One day I walked into the church and there was a whole set of drums. I thought I had died and gone to heaven” said Randy. Unfortunately, they belonged to another man and Randy wasn’t allowed to play them. Bummer, but it wouldn’t matter though as his drumming career was soon to be over.

Moving to yet another “too small to be on the map” town in Texas called Tarkington Prairie Randy was introduced to the instrument that would help kick start his songwriting skills. Randy’s brother Ronnie had had an accident in wood shop while in school in Grandbury, and had lost three of his fingers. Randy’s father bought him a guitar to help with therapy. “Dad played the guitar and piano, only in the key of C but could gin out some mean boogie woogie on them keys. One day a friend of mine picked up that guitar and showed me how play some funky licks on it and I said goodbye to the drums”. Randy spent every minute he could working on those licks and all this was for him the beginning of what God, in His time, would bring him to.

It was at Tarkington Prairie that Randy’s father would take his last pastorate. “The Lord had showed him this and as a fledgling teenager I was sick of moving, so when he shared this with the family I was so happy. We could finally stay in one place and I could quit taking a whooping for being the new kid at school.” Randy made new friends and settled in. Everything was going very well for the Reeves family when 3 1/2 years later God called his father home to heaven. “I was turned upside down. Having no house to live in, only the parsonage, we had to find a place to live. The church offered to let us stay as long as we wanted but momma knew the church needed to look for another pastor to replace Dad”. So the Reeves moved to Chandler to live with Mrs. Reeves’ sister.

After the death of Randy’s father, the family carried on in ministry. “Many times and in many churches after that we would sing to the glory of the Lord. I knew I was to sing for Jesus. I did have my rebellious years but never pursued trying to be famous or be a “singer”. I’ve always felt the call of music ministry and sang with different groups. All of whom were a growing experience of me. I guess I never felt conformed to traditional church music. It’s not that I don’t like it, I just feel a different beat and style in my heart and head. I don’t try to be different it just comes out that way. Singing some o the songs God has given to me in traditional churches makes some folks uneasy. But not me. All music is from God but some of it has been polluted to reach the flesh and not the spirit”. According to Randy ” to stereotype “church” music and say “this is how it should sound” is like saying “if you’re not working for Jesus the way am, then you’re just wrong. We all have a calling, if your serving Him”.

Randy met and married the girl of his dreams over twenty eight years ago. They have three children and four grandsons and Randy says “I know I am the most blessed man alive”.

Randy finished up things by saying..”I can’t say enough of how grateful I am to the Lord for choosing me to give these songs to. They come to me in the same way you feel the urge to eat your next meal. You get the sensation it’s time to eat and you eat. Sometimes I get the title and then the song and sometimes I get the whole song. I can no more take credit for these songs than the pen can for the writing of the constitution of the United States of America. It was in the hands of me, who were in the hands of God. My prayer is to glorify the Lord God for all He has done for me and to encourage, up-lift or inspire others to be all they can be for Jesus. If CrossFire can do that then……Praise God”.

Ron Pardue – Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Mandolin, Vocals, Exortation

Brad Allen – Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Vocals

Albert Garcia – Bass Guitar