SOUTHERNAIRES, THE

SOUTHERNAIRES, THE. Entertainer group (fl. 1930s-50s; orig. in New York). The male quartet was organized in 1929 for the purpose of singing in local churches and practiced during its early period at the Williams Institutional CME Church. The group included lead soloist and second tenor Lowell Peters (at Cleveland, Tennessee), first tenor Homer Smith (at Florence, Alabama), baritone Jay Stone Toney (in Kentucky), and bass William Edmondson (at Spokane, Washington)...