Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters

Wendy Bagwell and the Sunliters was a Southern gospel music and comedy trio that was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001. [ [http://www.gmahalloffame.org//browse-year-list.cfm?YEAR_ID=2001 GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame] (visited June 29, 1008).] The group originally consisted of Wendy Bagwell, Geraldine Terry (later known professionally as Jerri Morrison), and Georgia Jones; Jones was succeeded by Dot Pressley, Virginia Williams, and, ultimately, by "Little Jan" Buckner, who married Bagwell's adopted nephew Ronnie Buckner. [http://books.google.com/books?id=uqT-CJYcqskC&pg=PT41&dq=%22wendy+bagwell%22&sig=ACfU3U0lX2_Mw7qNqEE-Jyp6IF-Jtvj6Sg#PPT41,M1 W.K. McNeil, "Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music"] 21 - 22 (2005).] The group was the first Southern gospel group to play Carnegie Hall, in 1962, and the first to tour Europe, in 1965. Their 1970 comedy monologue, "Here Come the Rattlesnakes" (sometimes known as "The Rattlesnake Song," although it contains no singing or music), an account of their performance at a small church in Harlan, Kentucky that handled rattlesnakes, was the first certifiable million seller in Southern gospel history. [ [http://www.sgma.org/inductee_bios/wendy_bagwell.htm Wendy Bagwell] (visited June 29, 2008).] Buckner is the only surviving member of the trio. [ [http://www.littlejanbuckner.com/ The Official Site of Little Jan Buckner Ministries] (visited June 29, 2008).]

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