Group Members Tenor Russell Guest (1948) Lead Clarence Heidelberg (1948) Baritone Melvin Redd (1948) Bass Manuel Battles (1948) Pianist Elmer Childress (1948)

Home State Quartet (1948)

History

The Home State Quartet was organized in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1948 by Clarence Heidelberg, who served as manager and lead singer. The other members of the quartet were Russell Guest, tenor; Melvin Redd, baritone; Manuel Battles, bass; and Elmer Childress, pianist. Guest and Redd were former members of the Hershel Foshee Stamps-Baxter (Melody Boys) Quartet. This was Elmer Childress’s first professional quartet. In September, 1948 the group disbanded when Guest, Redd, Battles, and Childress left the Home State to join with C. R. Melton in a reorganized All American Quartet in Carbondale, Illinois.

The Home State Quartet did not make any recordings.

(Larry Baker contributed this article.)