Is Elvis in the house?

The Matney Brothers -- Jonathan, Russ, Keith and Ken entertain their fans at First Baptist Church in Buffalo. Sherry’s Shots The Family Life Center at First Baptist Church Buffalo had a lot of toe tappin’ going on last Saturday night. The Matney Brothers, a singing group from Scottsdale, Arizona, were on hand to entertain their audience at FBC. Elvis made a quick appearance to begin the evening.

Three of the Matney Brothers are sons of Paul and Sherry Matney and one is a grandson. The brothers grew up in Garland and enjoyed singing with their family and friends. About twenty years ago the original brothers, Keith, Russ and Ken began singing together whenever someone was willing to listen. Then Russ was transferred to Phoenix and broke up the group.

Keith is a music minister and he and his family followed Russ to Arizona within a year when he took a position at The First Southern Baptist Church of Scottsdale. Then last year circumstances were such that the youngest brother, Ken, moved to Arizona to start his own business.

The result is the three are back together and have the opportunity to sing again. Most of the songs they have done in the past were for trios but their real love is Southern Gospel. The problem there is that best and most energetic Southern Gospel music is quartet.

It just so happens that Keith’s oldest son, Jon, is a great singer who attended college on a full voice scholarship. Although he wasn’t really into Southern Gospel he loved singing with his dad and uncles so the group decided to become official. They named themselves “The Matney Brothers” and explained that Jon is a Matney Brother -- just one from another mother.

The next step was to find someone to produce a CD so they found Billy Smiley who has done several of the Gaither Band CDs. The name of the CD is Gospel Ship and features that old traditional gospel song. Then, in this techy world, they decided to create a web site, which is www.matneybrothers.com.

The group made its debut tour at several churches in Texas last week with one of them being FBC Buffalo. Others were Crestview Baptist in Georgetown, Liberty Hill Baptist in Liberty Hill, First Baptist Brazoria and First Baptist Crosby.

The real concert began following Elvis’ brief appearance. Most songs were fast and peppy and some were slow and serious, but all were heartfelt. The boys and their parents are extremely grateful to the community for supporting this ministry.