Growing up in Natchez, Mississippi, in the 1940s, Leroy Graves heard quartet singing in his neighborhood and his church, and he eventually began singing with The Natchez Tornadoes. A career military man, Graves was stationed at Fort Knox, where he joined First Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. “I thought that maybe I could get together a male quartet to sing four-part harmony, so I recruited some guys who sang in the church choir.” Thus The Golden Tones were born, featuring original members Leroy Graves, Gennie Wilson, Elwood Dody, Cecil Buckner, and Johnny Glover.
“Most of our singing was at the church, and then we began to venture out because people wanted to hear us sing. We sang in most of the churches in Hardin County, and then we spread out from there to Jefferson County, Nelson County, and other surrounding counties. Then we wanted to make a recording, put it on wax.” They met John and Wilma Clayborn of Louisville’s Grace Gospel Records, and they had the opportunity to record a 45 on Grace in 1971. “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” is the B-side. Although they were an a cappella group at the time of that recording, they later incorporated instruments and recorded an LP called I'm a Changed Man on Mt. Cavalry Records in the 1980s.
The Golden Tones sang together for over fifty years, and Leroy Graves is still living in Elizabethtown and singing at ninety years old.
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