By James and Ellen Perry
As an acorn sprouts and grows into a sapling, then matures into a large oak tree, so did the growth of Paul Roark’s family.
This story begins in the coal mining town of Coxton, Kentucky, which is in Harlan County. Paul was born into a family that had mined coal for generations, as did most boys and men in the region. Paul’s father, after seeing an accident where a miner was killed, decided to move his family north where jobs were more plentiful and safer.
The South had not industrialized at this time because northern politicians and industrialist still did not trust the southern folks. So the good jobs were in the north. There was a migration of good workers with family, God and country values heading north. The northern companies gobbled up the men and boys from the South that at the time had loyalties to their employers and brand loyalties to their products.
The same type of migration had happened a decade earlier during the thirties. The terrible dust bowl days caused small farmers and ranchers to lose their properties and migrate to what they thought was the land of plenty that was California. They didn’t find a paradise but most found terrible living conditions, worked for very low pay and the work was grueling.
These two migrations from the mid-south and lower midwestern states spread the love of their religions, music and traditions. The northern migration brought forth entertainers like Cowboy Copas and Roy Rogers from Ohio.
It started the Chicago’s Saturday afternoon WLS Barn Dance, which brought stars like Red Foley, Jennie Lou Carson, George Gobel and Patsy Montana who recorded the first million seller for a woman in 1935.
The California migration of the thirties brought entertainers like Buck Owens, who later started the Bakersfield sound that gave us entertainers such as Merle Haggard, Bonnie Owens, Dwight Yoakum, Jean Shepard, Ferlin Husky and many others.
The Roark family moved to Dayton, Ohio, that was a supply hub for the Detroit, Michigan, automobile companies. The Roarks, like most southern migrant families, looked like the Beverly Hillbillies.
Paul Roark was twelve years old and was heartbroken over leaving his dog, named Rover behind in Kentucky. Paul’s heartbreak was soon repaired by his lifelong heartthrob who he first laid eyes on at the school bus stop on his first day of school in Dayton, Ohio. Her name was Jetta and she was nine years old at the time. Paul told his new friend he was going to marry that pretty girl. They started dating later and married in 1958 when Paul was 18 and Jetta was 15 years old.
Paul started work for General Motors in Dayton, Ohio, and being from Harlan County, Kentucky, he had gospel music in his soul. Paul was searching for a place on earth to settle and start a gospel ministry, so in 1977 he moved his young family which now included his two sons, Travis who was 10 years old and Shane who was six years old, to Alaska. They lived in Alaska for three months.
The next move was to Houston, Texas, which didn’t work well for his plans. In 1979 Paul moved his family and gospel ministry to Townsend, Tennessee, which is a very beautiful area on the western side of the Smoky Mountains. This location was very nice but still wasn’t what Paul Roark wanted.
The last move came in 1980 to a property the Roarks bought in a hollow across from the old Bill Graves Store in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee. This was the place Paul had dreamed about. There was a beautiful old house at the head of the hollow and also a barn, which was later turned into a gospel music barn. The two boys, Travis and Shane, after graduating from school, went into the gospel music business full time.
When the Roarks moved to their property in Sharps Chapel, they had to live in their tour bus while improving the old Graves house. The house had no electricity, no indoor plumbing and had wood stoves for cooking and heating. For convenience there was a two-holer outhouse nearby. They soon changed all of this and today the house has been transformed into offices and the largest recording studio in the South, and they record gospel groups from all over the US and Canada.
Soon after graduating high school while still touring with the Roarks, Travis and Shane opened music stores in Tazewell, Tennessee, and Middlesboro, Kentucky. The Roarks were still having their Gospel Music Barn on Friday nights and attracting large audiences.
Paul started a ministry in a church he pastored in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and later bought and pastored another church in Middlesboro where they started Church House Studio for recording in the church annex. At this time Travis and Shane closed their music stores in Tazewell and Middlesboro because the family gospel touring had greatly increased and the new venture in the Church House Studio was growing rapidly.
In the year 2000 the Roark family started gospel music cruises through Sonshine Promotions to Alaska, the Bahamas and Mexico. This has been a very successful venture and their cruises sell out almost every time. The entire Roark family, including grandchildren, work in the family businesses.
In 2010 the recording studio was moved to the Graves house on the Roark’s property in Sharps Chapel. It is now known as Chapel Valley Studios and records albums for gospel singers and gospel groups from all over the United States and Canada. To show how the Roarks treat employees, all of the original sessions musicians still work for them. Their musicians are Burton Akers, Johnny Presnell - drums, Tony Dingo - steel, David Castle - lead guitar, Greg English - rhythm guitar, Travis Roark – bass and engineer, Shane Roark – piano, organ and producer. Quite a lineup of talent.
The Roarks now sponsor through Sonshine Promotions a week long “Christmas in the Smokies Gospel Extravaganza” in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, November 30 through December 5 each Christmas season. To contact Sonshine Promotions for either a cruise or to attend “Christmas in the Smokies” call 865-278-3681.
At present, Chapel Valley Studios has 19 gospel groups in the top 80s on the gospel music charts. One group has a number one hit on the gospel music charts. Shane Roark has been recognized as the top producer of gospel music for the last five years.
The Chapel Valley Studios and Sonshine Promotions presently employs 10 family members and 10 other employees in music production and gospel cruise positions.
Paul Roark’s idea in his young years has grown into a major force in the gospel music world. Paul is gone now but his wife Jetta, their sons Travis and his wife Cheryl with daughters Kaycee and Courtney, Shane and his wife, Jaquline, daughters Madison and McKinna and son Branson are continuing to work as a family and building on Paul Roark’s dream of long ago.
Rest in peace Paul. You have left it in good hands.