The Deep River Song Birds were originally organized as an a cappella group and were one of Louisville's earliest and longest-lasting quartets. Robert Smith recalls that:
The Original Deep River Songbirds sang a cappella. But when I reorganized the group, we decided to sing with music. The old guys quit because they didn’t want to sing with music. Then the group was Leroy Ferris, Paul Adams, Dave Mitchell, Louis Andrew and myself. A man named Rev. William Curry sings the lead on “12 Gates to the City.” Rev. Curry was from the country. I met him when traveling with the old members of The Deep River Songbirds. He was a young man. We lost touch with him for a while when he went into the service, but when he came back, he moved to Louisville. And by knowing him, he wanted to sing with The Deep River Songbirds, and we tried him out and we liked what he did. So we allowed him to sing with us.
