The Blackwoods
RW Blackwood
RW Blackwood Jr, known to some as Winston, is the son, grandson and nephew of founding members of the Blackwood brothers quartet established in 1934.
Born in 1942 to RW Blackwood Sr an Elaine Whitehead Blackwood, Winston was raised in the musically world renowned group and singing was expected of him.
He found out just how true that was at the age of 10 while sitting in the backseat of the car on a family outing when he began to sing. Upon hearing his son’s beautiful voice, his father, RW Sr, stopped the car, turned around to the child and said to him “You’ll be singing at the next Blackwood Brothers concert.” And he did several times. READ MORE
Donna Blackwood
Donna Blackwood likes to say she is one-half of the dynamic duo, the other half being her husband, RW Blackwood of 52 years in April of 2017.
Donna was raised in Houston, Texas by her parents and had one brother but her family realized that at an early age she had a talent for singing. At the age of 3, her grandmother stood her on a piano stool in the adult Sunday School class and had her sing. Donna’s mother wanted her to be able to play the piano like her gifted grandmother but unfortunately Piano was not Donna’s gift but singing was. So after several years of piano Donna begin taking voice at the Houston Conservatory of Music as well as singing in the choir at school and church. Because her father was a pastor, she sang numerous solos, duets, trios, & quartets at churches all over the Houston area and at the age of 16 sang with the James Robison Crusades. READ MORE
Denny Yeary
Denny is known as “Mr. Entertainer” and Branson’s best and lowest bass singer, having spent over 26 years with the famous Blackwood Quartet and the Foggy River Boys. Singing hits like “Big Bad John,” “Ghostriders In The Sky” and “Elvira,” his voice will shake the rafters.
With over 20 years performing in Branson, Denny has become a Branson legend. He also plays guitar, banjo, fiddle and keyboards, and records back-up vocals on many of Branson stars’ recordings.
If you enjoy rich laughter and great bass singing like the Oak Ridge Boys and the Statler Brothers, then Denny Yeary with The Blackwoods is a must see. The harmonies and
vocal styles range from classic country to golden oldies to even hand clapping Gospel, and you’ll enjoy this stroll down Memory Lane that will thrill your heart.
Andrea Blackwood Carter
Andrea is the daughter of RW and Donna Blackwood. Born 1965 in Memphis, Tn. She has one sibling, a brother, Robert Winston III, aka Robbie, who is 8 years younger.
Being born in a singing family, naturally singing became her gift and passion as well. She traveled with her parents as a young child all over the United States, met many celebrities, and entertained in just about every major amusement park and state fair in the country.
Home base was Nashville, Tn for quite a few years until 1979 when her family moved to Memphis where the rest of the Blackwood family lived. Andrea was a freshman in high school at that time and her mom, Donna started staying home at that point as well.
Andrea began singing in high school choirs and youth choirs at church, and competing in vocal competitions. But basically integrated into a normal way of life as a high school student and cheerleader.
After graduating in 1983 she attended Evangel University in the fall semester for a short stint but soon resumed her passion of singing and traveling with her family again for a couple of years.
At various times while not out traveling, Andrea and two very talented friends formed a local “backup” singing group called The Blackwood Connection. Their only purpose was to sing studio vocals in the Memphis area. They were very busy with this endeavor, mostly with local entertainment but two important experiences that came for them was recording background vocals on 5 songs on Al Green’s album entitled “Trust In God” recorded in 1984 and then singing background vocals with Jimmy Jamison on several projects. (Jimmy Jamison would later be the lead vocalist for the secular group Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”). Andrea was performed a United Way jingle with David Jones of The Monkeys, in the middle 80’s.
In May of 1989 she began dating her soul mate, Todd Carter, whom she had ironically enough met briefly during her short time at Evangel. He had graduated college and moved to Memphis to take a position at Federal Express and also attended the same church, First Assembly of God/Memphis, which is how they renewed their friendship. Later that same year in September they were engaged and married in December. Andrea stopped traveling to focus on being a wife and mom and the couple had 2 sons and one daughter while living in Memphis.
In the meantime Andrea’s parents and brother had moved to Branson, Mo in 1991 to begin entertaining in a theatre, where fans and tourists would travel to hear and see them perform. Their traveling days would finally come to a halt.
In the year 1993 Todd and Andrea moved to Ozark, Mo as Todd took a different opportunity and position with FedEx of Springfield, Mo., and significantly enough was only 35 miles from Branson. Andrea began singing again with her parents and other group members to form a daily show of entertainment in the Branson theatre arena. It was very successful for many years. During this time Todd and Andrea had two more girls to add to their clan.
Also her brother, Robbie, was a rising musician as a drummer in town and has since become the best of the best as a phenomenal drummer, sought out by many. Might I add he married in 2000 and has 6 children!
In 2000 her parents, RW and Donna, moved again, this time to Pigeon Forge, Tn to perform in a theatre there. They would remain there the next 15 years.
This prompted Andrea to again focus on her family and be a stay at home mom. She was heavily involved in her kids school and sporting events as well as a soloist and choir member of her church, James River Assembly. She and Todd birthed a marriage ministry as well, Marriages by Design, which has grown over the years to touch many lives through counseling, classes, speaking engagements, and/or retreats.
Andrea would visit and fill in at her parents show in Pigeon Forge, Tn when needed but that fed her passion to once again sing with her family regularly. Not being able to move her husband and children there, she just had to pray for the opportunity to open up for her parents to move back to Branson.
In January 2016 that prayer finally became reality! RW and Donna moved back to Branson and reformed a group, created a show and opened up at Starlite theatre in March performing all the way thru December as a morning show. Andrea’s dream had once again been fulfilled.
During that 15 years of her parents being in Pigeon Forge, Andrea and Todd’s kids graduated (all but one yet), went to colleges, got married (3 weddings in one year), and November 2016 a granddaughter was born, and in December another granddaughter was born. RW and Donna were able to celebrate with all of us as they became great-grandparents.
Andrea not only performs with her family but helps with the business side as well and Todd is the business manager for the show. It’s definitely a family affair to make our dream work and we are so excited to be opening our show at The Dutton Family Theatre in 2017 season.
Todd and Andrea reside in Ozark, Mo, as the family grows, loving and living life as new grandparents. At last we are all together!
