| Sources |
- [S52] Miller Funeral Home, (http://www.millerfuneralhome.org), 1 Feb 2010.
Cora Mae Simerly obituary
- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 4 Nov 2011.
HisVoice adds member, releases new CD
By Melanie Tucker | (melt@thedailytimes.com)
With a lengthy solo career in Southern gospel music that has now taken flight with a familiar trio, Blount County’s own Corky Long has prepared herself for the next phase of her faith.
Long, the daughter of a longtime pastor (the late Eugene Simerly) here in this community, has been singing since the age of 4, mostly as a solo artist in her adult years. This past June, however, she accepted an invitation to join HisVoice, a gospel group loved by many in East Tennessee. The other members are Allen Davenport and Kelly Henderson.
The trio has been working feverishly on a new CD, entitled “All Things New,” which is now available. To celebrate its release and let fans get a taste of the new project, HisVoice is presenting a concert at 6 p.m. Sunday at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in Maryville. Long said most if not all of the 10 songs on the CD will be included in this celebration.
Spreading her wings
Long said she felt God was moving her in a new direction, as long ago as last December, but she initially didn’t know just what that would involve. She decided, she said, to let go of her community concerts and just sing at her home church, New Hope Baptist, while she awaited further instruction from God.
“I just felt like God was changing my ministry,” she explained. I told him, ‘Lord, whenever you are ready for me to do whatever it us you’ve got in store for me, just show me.’ That is what happened.”
Long was familiar with both Davenport and Henderson as they all have made the Southern gospel circuit here. She said she got a phone call from them on a weekend that was itself a big milestone. Her youngest son was graduating from Maryville College.
There had been lots of change and adjustments to make for Long, who lost her mother last year. She said the timing for this trio coming together just seemed right from the beginning.
“It was an immediate connection for all of us,” she said of HisVoice. “From the first rehearsal, the harmony was very, very tight. We just blended.”
A plan comes together
HisVoice lost one of its members and that’s why Long was asked to join. She said they had plans to make a new CD so the new HisVoice got to work quickly. Of the songs on it, Long brought some of her favorites to be included, “He Brought Me Out” and “Through the Fire.”
There is even a bluegrass song on “All Things New,” called “Two Coats.” Long said bluegrass is definitely a step in a new direction for both her and the group. Other songs on the new CD include “I Might Go Home Today,” a favorite of Long’s, and “Shelter,” a song dear to this singer’s heart. As a special touch for this project, the choir at Mount Lebanon Church is featured on “Through the Fire.”
As it turns out, “All Things New” has a personal meaning for each of these singers. For Long, it’s been about a new, fresh start in the gospel singing world and becoming an empty-nester. Davenport has seen his own struggles with his daughter’s health and the miracles of healing. Henderson has also come through some tough emotional times because of an abusive relationship.
The liner notes of this CD have a Bible verse that ties in with the theme of new beginnings — Isaiah 43: 18-19 which states “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (KJV).
You may have already seen them in action. HisVoice performed during Dollywood’s gospel music festival recently and also at New Hope Baptist. Long said the group may also do some out of state traveling in coming months.
It still makes Long smile whenever she shares the story of her first singing ‘gig.’ She said it was in the church she grew up in.
“There was a man in the church who told me, ‘I’ll give you a 50-cent piece if you sing Jesus Loves Me,’” Long remembers. “He gave me that shiny, new 50-cent piece. That is where it started for me.”
Getting sidetracked
But there was a time when Long said she didn’t feel much like singing. At the age of 34, this mother of two was divorced. It was a time in her life when she said God was not her focus.
“I was so angry and bitter with God that I turned my back on him,” she said. “I thought surely the Lord was done with me. I didn’t think He could take something so broken as me and use me again. But He did. He has done above and beyond what I saw for my life. I have been able to reach out to a lot more people in those years since I came back to the Lord than ever before.”
Sharing the message
Long is now thrilled to be singing gospel music again and with talented singers who have become friends. She said they are poised and ready for where God takes them next.
“We all feel like God has great things on the horizon for HisVoice,” she said.
But Long also remembers what her pastor and her father told her about being a Christian spreading God’s message. Be ready for spiritual warfare, they have told her. “If the devil’s not on your tail, you better check yourself,” Eugene Simerly told his daughter.
It’s a message she has wrapped her faith around.
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name Bride's First Name Bride's Maiden Name County Date of Marriage File #
BREWER BILLY W CORNELIA S [NOT GIVEN] BLOUNT 10-27-1984 41767
- [S131] Divorce Record.
Husband's Name Wife's First Name Wife's Maiden Name County Court Date of Divorce File #
BREWER BILLY W CORNELLA F SIMERLY BLOUNT CIRCUIT 05-07-1999 12004
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Groom's Name Bride's First Name Bride's Maiden Name County Date of Marriage File #
LONG JAMES E CORNELIA F SIMERLY BLOUNT 02-16-2002 05569
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Abt 1964 - (~ 60 years)
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