HAROLD REID PITCHED IT TO EVERY DOOR IN NASHVILLE — KENNY ROGERS SAID THE SUBJECT MATTER WAS TOO RISKY. EVERYBODY PASSED. SO IN OCTOBER 1970, THE STATLER BROTHERS RECORDED IT THEMSELVES — THE VERY FIRST SINGLE ON THEIR NEW LABEL. IT HIT #9 AND CHANGED EVERYTHING. Nobody in Nashville wanted to touch it. Harold Reid had written a song about a scarlet woman who showed more kindness to a hungry orphan boy than every righteous churchgoer in town combined. The story was too honest. The message was too

HAROLD REID’S FINAL PERFORMANCE — SINGING BESIDE HIS SON WILL ON FAREWELL NIGHT: The Statlers’ last show became sacred ground when Harold and his son Will took the stage together in a duet that felt as though it came straight from heaven. - Tung

The 10 Best Statler Brothers Songs, Ranked

Harold Reid, Statler Brothers Singer, Dead at 80

Harold Reid, Bass Vocalist In The Statler Brothers, Dies Aged 80

HE WAS 80 YEARS OLD WHEN THE DEEPEST VOICE IN THE STATLER BROTHERS FINALLY WENT QUIET. FOR DECADES, HAROLD REID HAD STOOD THERE WITH THAT LOW, UNMISTAKABLE SOUND — PART MUSIC, PART HUMOR, PART HOME. AND WHEN THE END CAME, COUNTRY MUSIC UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS GIFT WAS NEVER JUST THE BASS NOTE — IT WAS THE HEART BEHIND IT. He didn’t need the spotlight alone. He made the whole group feel bigger. He was Harold Wilson Reid from Staunton, Virginia — a hometown boy with a voice so deep it could shake a ro

Remembering Statler Brothers founding member Harold Reid

Langdon and Wil Reid, sons of Don and Harold Reid, of the legendary Statler Brothers, pay tribute to their roots and honor the legacy of their fathers with heartfelt renditions of hits including “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You,” “The Class of ’57” and more. Watch Wilson Fairchild: Statler Made tonight at 10:30 on #WKNOChannel10, stream live at wkno.org. | WKNO

Harold Reid, founding member of Statler Brothers, dies at 80