‘God Will Help Us Through Anything’: In Final Interview Before Their Untimely Deaths, The Nelons Reflect on Their Music & Legacy
In the world of Southern gospel music, few names are more revered than The Nelons . Family patriarch Rex Nelon began his career with The LeFevres before launching The Rex Nelon Singers in 1977, and following his death in 2000, daughter Kelly Nelon Clark continued shepherding the group. They enjoyed a successful new era with a lineup that featured Kelly; her husband, Jason Clark; and daughters Amber Nelon Kistler and Autumn Nelon Streetman.
On July 26, the music world was stunned by the news that Kelly, Jason and Amber , along with four others, were killed when their private plane crashed in Wyoming, en route from Georgia to Seattle. The only surviving member of the singing group is daughter Autumn, who had flown on a commercial flight from Nashville to Seattle with her husband, Jamie. While the investigation into the crash is ongoing, early reports have indicated there may have been a malfunction with the autopilot.
The Nelons were on their way to Seattle to board the ship for the annual Gaither Homecoming Cruise to Alaska. Bill and Gloria Gaither and Karen Peck met Autumn and Jamie at the hotel in Seattle to comfort them, then gathered other artists to tell them the tragic news, which rocked the close-knit Southern gospel community.
Inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2016, The Nelons are known for such classics as “Come Morning,” which was awarded Southern Gospel Song of the Decade in the ’80s, and “O for a Thousand Tongues,” as well as more recent hits such as “If God Pulled Back the Curtain,” which won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for bluegrass/country/roots recorded song in 2021, one of the group’s 10 Doves. Kelly is a 2024 inductee into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Autumn, who is expecting a baby boy in December, is left to continue the group’s legacy. In a stunning show of strength, she took the stage with The Isaacs to sing “Family Chain” at the Nelons’ memorial service in Roopville, Ga., on Aug. 6.
“People have asked me, ‘How did you get up there and sing at the funeral?’ And I told them, ‘This is what we do. We sing in good times and bad times,’ ” she tells Billboard . “The Lord just gave me the strength to get up there and do it.”
The Nelons’ final album, Loving You , will arrive Friday (Aug. 30) through Daywind Music. “Obviously, we had no idea that this was going to happen,” Autumn says, “but I know God had a plan, and he knew that this was going to happen even when we didn’t know. I think that this album was made for this time and each song will mean something to everybody. [It’s music] that anybody can relate to. I know it means something to me.”
On the morning of July 23,...