Jason and Karla Kelley with son Chase and daughters Reilly and Brooklyn.    


        "You never expect your father to pass away at the age of 58. You expect to have more years, and time to tell him what he has meant to you. It’s a good lesson that you don’t always have that time. It’s important to tell them. Don’t save the roses for the funeral." 
        In an interview with The Christian View, Jason Kelley recalled the eighth day of November, 2001, when he received a call at work that his father, Rev. Clifford Kelley, had passed out on the floor of his home. 
        "I knew it was more than that, to get a frantic call like that," he told this writer. "I rushed home, and when I got there, they were wheeling him out, and I knew he was gone."
        Kelley had been scheduled to sing a solo with the choir at his church for November 18, but his minister of music, knowing the hard time he was having dealing with his father’s sudden death, told him not to worry about singing that Sunday. 
        His pastor thought it best to not cancel the song, but to wait and give Kelley time to decide. “I said, ‘You know, it might be best if I do sing it.’"
       That song was “The Anchor Holds.” 
        “It was awesome for me," said Kelley, "because the words are -- no matter what storm you’re going through, the anchor holds. It’s a powerful message. Nobody else but the pastor knew, but that day I sang, I wore my Dad’s shoes, his ‘preaching’ shoes. The pastor told me, ‘I don’t mind you sitting by me before you get up to sing.’ And when he said, ‘Sing it, boy,’ I knew that he meant it, and that it was not just something to say. He meant, get up there and sing it like you mean it." 

                            
                                                Rev. Clifford Kelley



        A year later, while Kelley and his family were returning from the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, they survived a wreck in which their car had hydroplaned and spun on a wet interstate highway, winding up nearly upside down. 
        "We totaled our car, and the officer said it was a miracle we were not killed," he said. "Fortunately, all of us got out of the car like nothing had happened." 
    Kelley had been scheduled to sing “The Anchor Holds” the following day at his church. "It’s a lesson for me that, no matter what storms we’re going through, we’re hooked to a power higher than we realize," he said. He and his pastor had prayer in the pastor’s office that Sunday before he sang. 
        “As I get older," Kelley said, "I realize that the struggles and storms that we all go through are different, but the song is the same.” 
        Because that song is so special to Kelley, he plans to include it on a future album, the first in which he sings. 
        His first two albums were piano albums, as Kelley is an accomplished musician. His first, Noteworthy, included the songs “Oh, What a Saviour," “Amazing Grace,” “A Few Good Men,” “Hymn Medley," “I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb," “Send the Light,” “Love Will Be Our Home,” "Serenaded by Angels," "Triumphantly the Church Will Rise," and "How Great Thou Art." His second, The Story of Christmas, included "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen;" "Joy to the World;" "We Three Kings;" "O, Holy Night;" "Come On, Ring Those Bells;" "Silent Night;" "Mary, Did You Know;" "Still, Still, Still;" "Silver Bells;" and "There’s a New ‘Kid’ in Town." 
        In producing two piano albums, Kelley had come a long way from, as a child, having his piano teacher say he should stop taking lessons. "I started taking piano lessons when I was about five years old," he said. "My cousin and my brother were phenomenal at piano and won all kinds of awards. But my piano teacher asked my mother to please stop making me come to piano practice, that I would never be a piano player, that I was horrible, and that it would be a really good idea if she would let me stop taking lessons. She was really nice, but I think her point was, ‘Stop torturing this kid and stop making him come to piano practice, because he’s never going to be a piano player, and I think you’re just trying too hard.’"
      Kelley’s mother, Phyllis, told his father, "Let’s let Jason stop playing piano. He has no interest in it. We’re making him go."
      "My Dad said, ‘The only problem is we Kelleys never quit at anything. We’re just not quitters. Quitting sounds like such a bad word.’ And so my mother went to the piano teacher and said, ‘You know, I agree. He may never be a good piano player, but just keep teaching him. If I throw my money away, I throw my money away. We just don’t want to quit.’
      "About seventh grade, I had progressed fast enough so that somewhere it clicked."
      Kelley quit piano lessons and began playing on his own, but that piano teacher would become one of his greatest supporters. 
        His first musical instrument was a drum set, at which he was adept at an early age, beginning at the age of three and being a full-time drummer in his church in Chattanooga, Tennessee by the age of only four. "Starting with my drum set gave me rhythm and gave me a lot of background about how a song works from a rhythm standpoint," he said.
      "I started playing a lot of other instruments, guitar and banjo, and, as I got into high school, I could put together a 60-piece orchestra at our church and was directing it as well as the choir."
      At the age of 16, he was Minister of Music at the church his father pastored, Grace Baptist Church in Liberty. (Kelley’s brother, Jeff, is now the Pastor at Grace Baptist.)
      "One time, they counted 70 instruments that I could play," he said. "I didn’t know there were that many instruments in the world. But I’ve played everything at least once. In college, I played the organ at a lot of weddings. I later kind of honed into the keyboard." 


              


        Kelley once traveled with Ernie Haase, who sang for many years with The Cathedrals and then formed his group, Signature Sound, after The Cathedrals retired. "I felt very fortunate," said Kelley. "Ernie had heard me play and asked me to play with him on his solo dates. I felt honored that he would ask me, because he is an awesome singer. The first time I played "Oh, What a Saviour," it blew me away. I thought, This is incredible. This is the most popular song in music right now. What am I doing, sitting on stage, playing with him? How did I get from, ‘Hey, you need to take your son out of piano lessons because he can’t play’ to being asked to accompany this song and play over the track?’ It was quite cool. Most people would say it was a dream. To me, it was a whirlwind.
      "That started a serious friendship between us, and we still stay in contact with each other. He’s now on the Gaither tour. Every time I play "Oh, What a Saviour," I think of those days." 
        Kelley had received many requests for a piano album, and it was through the assistance of Haase that he was able to produce his first album, Noteworthy. Haase had also provided valuable learning experience for Kelley. "During those four years, Ernie was very instrumental in giving me the nuts and bolts of what it takes to record," he said. "It’s more than singing, even when you hear vocal trouble and you’re not playing the best notes in the world, as long as you’re ministering to people. I think my greatest strengths are chord progressions and song selection. My mother says I have a knack for that. I know there are people out there hurting, people with needs and serious problems. I love being able to put music right in their hearts. It reaches people. It changes people. Music will never take the place of preaching, but, to me, it complements preaching, very much so." 
        Kelley’s family is one dedicated to music as well as to the ministry. "Everybody’s a preacher except me," he said. 
        His father, himself a son of a preacher, was called into the ministry after many years as a businessman, a mortician, once the youngest licensed funeral director and embalmer in the state of Tennessee. "My uncle was going to be a partner with him," said Kelley, "but, one day, my Dad made a conscious decision and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I feel I’m called to be a minister.’" 
        The family moved to South Carolina when Grace Baptist Church in Liberty called him as the Pastor in 1980. 
        Kelley’s maternal grandfather, Dr. Milford Biddle, is still going strong in his 80's, traveling around the country, preaching. His grandmother, Martha Biddle, passed away in 1999. "Those two incredible people had a great influence on me," said Kelley, "because they had a very positive attitude toward life – that, no matter what is wrong in your life, something good can come of it. My grandfather preached all over the southeast, and he was probably gone, preaching, every night of the week outside of Sunday and Wednesday at his home church. People at Rock Springs have come up to me and said, ‘Wow, I didn’t know you are their grandson.’ They knew my grandparents and were really excited that I am their grandson. I was at an event at another church recently when a guy in a wheelchair came up to me and said, ‘I remember you playing the piano when you were six or seven years old at your grandparents’ church in Chattanooga.’" 
        When Kelley was a child and still living in Tennessee, he and his family sang the song "God on the Mountain" during a church service. "What’s interesting is the group that would make that song famous actually heard me and my family sing that song and asked about the words and music," he said. "Of course, we weren’t the writers, but it was incredible to know that we kind of helped --- we sang it and somebody heard it. "God on the Mountain" was the longest number one song on any music chart." 
        Other positive influences in Kelley’s life have included his aunt and uncle, Loretta and Dr. Jim Rolen, a pastor in Nashville, Tennessee. 
        "I’ve had a lot of positive influences," said Kelley, especially his pastor and his wife. "My pastor is incredible," he said. "He is a great guy. "The first time we met, it was like we knew each other because there were so many people he and I both knew. I travel with him to a lot of revivals. He preaches the same if he is at a 20-member congregation or if 5,000 people are there. He preaches the same Gospel, and that’s the only way to do it." Kelley often plays for Shirley Gallamore and her daughters when they sing. "I say that her girls are the sisters I never had," he said. "They’re really sweet people. I can’t say enough about them. Ms. Shirley is a great singer. I hold my compliments very close, when it comes to music, so when I say that, it’s very strong." 

            


         Kelley and his wife, Karla, and their children, Chase, Reilly, and Brooklyn, love being members of Rock Springs, where Kelley assists with directing the student choir. "Kids are pulled in all kinds of directions for music," he said. "And music separates a lot of people sometimes in a church. We’re fortunate to have a Minister of Music who has the vision of the Pastor and who is going in the same direction. I’m excited to be a part of it." 
        His father had the biggest impact on his life. Kelley attended his father’s alma mater, Bob Jones University, where he majored in business administration and minored in music, before earning his master’s degree in human resources from Clemson University. "My father was a huge influence on me, probably more than he knew," said Kelley.
      His father’s passing still fresh in his memory, he recalls words to the song he sang, a week after the funeral: "It was in the night, through the storms of my life, That’s where God proved His love to me, The anchor holds, Though the ship is battered, The anchor holds, though the sails are torn, And I have fallen on my knees, As I face the raging seas, But the anchor holds, In spite of the storm."
      That Sunday morning, after he had finished the song, his Pastor turned to him and said, "Jason, when you were singing, your Dad walked up to Jesus and said, ‘That’s my boy.’"