The Palmetto State Quartet has its roots firmly planted in Greenville, South Carolina. Sometime between 1946 and 1947 Jamie Dill, Woodrow Pittman, Clarence Owens, Malone Thomason, and Paul Burroughs, all Greenville natives, joined together to form a Gospel Quartet. This part of the groups' history is a bit cloudy as a majority of the original members of the quartet have now passed away. Not long after they started singing together these men were able to secure a thirty minute program which would air live on WFBC Radio in Greenville. Legend has it that they held a contest, through their radio program, to name the group. Contestants would mail in their suggestions for the groups name. The votes would be tallied and the name which received the most recommendations would be chosen. Thus, the Palmetto State Quartet was born.

The group remained unchanged until 1952 when Jack Bagwell replaced Malone Thomason as baritone singer. So at that time Jamie Dill played piano and managed the group, Woodrow Pittman sang lead, Clarence Owens sang tenor, Paul Burroughs sang bass, and of course Jack Bagwell sang baritone. In 1954 Jack Earl Pittman replaced his first cousin Woodrow Pittman as the lead singer. Later that year Ellison Jenkins replaced Paul Burroughs as the quartet’s bass singer.

It is unknown at what point Jack Bagwell and Jack Pittman switched parts. With most quartets the lead singer and baritone are mostly interchangeable on a majority of the arrangements the group performs, and that seems to be the case here as well. According to Jack Bagwell, at first the two would only switch occasionally. Eventually the exception became the rule and Jack Pittman somewhere along the line officially became the groups baritone singer.

A couple more personnel changes would take place between 1959 and 1960. Clarence Owens was replaced by Claude Hunter on the tenor part and Ken Turner took over the bass from Paul Burroughs. Many Gospel Music fans will recall that Ken went on in later years to sing with the Dixie Echos and the Blackwood Brothers Quartet.

In 1964 Jerry Hovis became the quartet’s tenor singer, replacing Claude Hunter. Then in 1968 Jack Pittman began suffering from some sort of vocal problem and had the leave the road. Laverne Tripp replaced Jack Earl and sang lead for about a year.

At some point in 1968 the group decided to leave the road, but apparently the decision was not unanimous because the group continued to travel under the leadership of Jerry Hovis. It is unclear who else sang with the group during this period or how much singing they actually did, but in 1971 the group under the leadership of Jamie Dill returned to the road.

Jack Bagwell, Jack Earl Pittman, and Jamie Dill were joined by past tenor singer Claude Hunter and new bass Cliff King when the group reunited in ’71. This group of men sang together for ten years. In 1981 Joel Duncan started singing bass for the group, Cliff King had decided to leave the road. Eddie Broom came along in 1984 as bass guitarist and from time to time would be given the opportunity to sing. When Claude Hunter left the road in 1986 Eddie became the groups full time tenor singer.

A major change took place in 1987 with the death of Jamie Dill, he was 69 years old. Jamie was the founder, manager, and pianist for the group from its inception over 40 years earlier, and would not be easily replaced. With Jamie’s death there were several pairs of shoes that had to be filled. The group found a new pianist, David McCabe. The managerial duties were handed over to long time businessman Jack Earl Pittman. The group would go on despite their loss.

Two memorable individuals joined the group in 1989. First was Mr. Gospel Music himself, Hovie Lister. Hovie of course was the founder and manager of The Statesmen Quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. Hovie would play the piano for the group for the next three years. Later in ’89 came the addition of Woody Beatty. Woody would play the keyboard synthesizer in accompaniment to Hovie’s piano work. Hovie left the group in 1992 and Woody moved over to accompany the group full time at the piano.

1993 brought the retirement of Eddie Broom from the group and thus the addition of Brion Carter as the tenor singer. Harold Gilley would become the groups bass singer in 1994 when Joel Duncan left. Joel and Eddie would go on to sing together again a little while later in the Trav’lers.

The retirement of Jack Bagwell, Jack Pittman, and Harold Gilley in 1997 brought a major restructuring to the group. Woody Beatty and Brion Carter had decided to carry on with the name and tradition of the Palmetto State Quartet. To fill the lead, baritone, and bass singer positions that were left vacant would be a daunting task. Woody didn’t have to look very far however to find a lead singer. Kerry Beatty, Woody’s eldest son would fill that position. Tony Peace, formerly of The Wilburns and later Masterpiece would sing baritone for the group, and Jeff Pearls would sing bass.

With the development of vocal trouble Brion Carter would be forced to leave the road in late 2002. At the same time John Rulapaugh was undergoing a transition as well and was employed to fill in until the group could find a suitable tenor singer. John later accepted the position and officially became a member of Palmetto State Quartet in January 2003.

When Jeff Pearls left the group in mid 2003 it left another major void in the Palmetto State Quartet lineup. The group looked long and hard for a bass singer that would fit the mold and be able to aptly fill the shoes of the groups past bass singers. They found such a vocalist in Aaron McCune who has come to be known by his nickname “Tex.”

2004 brought yet another personnel change to Palmetto State Quartet. Tony Peace, baritone vocalist since 1997 and manager since 2002, resigned his position with the group on November 1, 2004. To fill the baritone position the group enlisted the very capable Rick Fair. Rick had formerly sang with groups such as Hovie Lister and The Statesmen Quartet, The Rebels, & The Senators.

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