Golden Memories    SWD Chapters


Previous Page		 GREATER EAST TEXAS
Sound Connection 
by Bill Rogers
Next Page


The Sound Connection - Keith Houts, Director
 The Greater East Texas chapter materialized in 1984 with the merger of the 20-year-old Longview chapter and the much newer Tyler chapter. A centrally located meeting place was found at Kilgore and an appropriate chorus name, "The Sound Connection," was adopted.
Shortly after the "new" chapter was established, Keith Houts, tenor of the 1983 International Champion quartet, The Side Street Ramblers, moved into the area and was recruited as chorus director. The "connection" paid off and the chorus was Division VI champions every year from 1984 through 1993. In 1989 The Sound Connection placed fourth in Southwestern District competition and was ranked in fifth and sixth several other years.
  Because it was a regional organization, the chorus scheduled annual chapter shows in both Longview and Tyler and presented shows sponsored by other organizations in other East Texas communities.Maintaining a membership of 50 to 60		  members, the chapter drew singers from 12 East Texas counties and one Louisiana parish, a territory spanning a distance of about 120 miles north-to­south and 110 miles east-to-west. Although the majority of members lived in the Tyler-Kilgore­Longview area, some made a round trip of up to 140 miles every Monday night to sing.
In the spring of 1994 a number of the members from the Tyler area made the decision to start a new chapter in Tyler with Keith Houts as director. Dwain Brobst of Shreveport became the director of The Sound Connection and remained In that position until he returned to Shreveport in early 1995 as director of the River Cities Jubilee chorus.
For a few months The Sound Connection continued to meet in Longview. Finally, decisions were made by members to go to the Shreveport chapter or to the new F.U.N. chapter in Longview, and the Greater East Texas Chapter, for all practical purposes, ceased to exist.

The Sound Connection 1992 - Keith Houts, Director



Previous
Page
Table of
Contents
Next 
Page
Sections:
How It All Began  Chapters  Chapter Histories   International Quartet Champions   ChorusesAdministration
Contests and Conventions   Registered Quartets   Publications   Recognitions   In Conclusion