See an audio slideshow of recent Bare Bones performance

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Pictured in this 1984 photo are (from left) Bill Kimmons, Mona Reed and Will Fanning, the Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet. The group was missing a person because Becky Kimmons had to stay home with a sick child.

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"I'm not going to be taking it easy," he laughed. "Oh, no. There's going to be a lot more promotion, a lot more booking and a lot more singing."

The bearded, bearish baritone is one-third of a cappella trio Bare Bones, the follow-up group to Bill and Becky Kimmons' long-lasting Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet.

Sitting around a table at Taylor Books recently, the Kimmonses and veteran singer Mark Davis talk about the end of one group and the beginning of another. The Kimmonses tell tales about their early days in music and switch back and forth with the comfort of a long-married (and happily married) couple.

Davis, often, just smiles and nods. The trio has a new name, he's still "the new guy" here.

Bill Kimmons grew up in Statesville, N.C. According to family lore, Bill was riding in the car with his Aunt Grace one afternoon. He was scarcely more than a toddler and drowsing in the back seat. She pulled in at a grocery store parking lot, rolled the windows down and left Bill to pick up a couple of items.

"This was back in the day when doing that was OK," Kimmons said.

When she returned a few minutes later, a crowd was pressed around the car, looking in. Immediately, she thought the worst.

"She got up to the car and there I was in the backseat," he said. "I was singing 'Jesus Loves Me' at the top of my lungs."

Bill grew up singing in every church and school choir whose path he happened to cross. He left home after high school for college, but ended up wandering the country from job to job for a few years until he came to West Virginia.

Becky, 58, is from Mabscot, near Beckley. She and her parents lived in a former coal company house. She remembers listening to the radio a lot and singing along.

"I knew all the songs on 'The Hit Parade,'" she said, "but I was sure glad when rock and roll came along. I was just so tired of 'Doggy in the Window'."

During summers, she visited her grandparents in Hinton, a segregated town in the 1950s.

"In Hinton, blacks and whites were separated street by street," she said. "At night, you could sit out and listen to the black kids across the street singing and harmonizing. It was beautiful."

She grew up listening, but not singing in public. Her own voice reminded her of her grandmother's, and she felt awkward. It wasn't until the 1970s that she started venturing out with her voice, singing old-time music.

"In 1979, I was at this film thing with the Kanawha Players," Bill Kimmons said. "That was where Becky and I met."

The two shared a love of music and Appalachian culture. They started dating, fell in love, then married in 1980. That same year, with some friends, they formed the Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet, which later became the Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet.

See an audio slideshow of recent Bare Bones performance

At 60, Bill Kimmons is ready to put down his calculator and put away his chalk. After 20 years of teaching eighth-grade math, he's looking to retire at the end of the school year, but not quite ready to settle down.

"I'm not going to be taking it easy," he laughed. "Oh, no. There's going to be a lot more promotion, a lot more booking and a lot more singing."

The bearded, bearish baritone is one-third of a cappella trio Bare Bones, the follow-up group to Bill and Becky Kimmons' long-lasting Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet.

Sitting around a table at Taylor Books recently, the Kimmonses and veteran singer Mark Davis talk about the end of one group and the beginning of another. The Kimmonses tell tales about their early days in music and switch back and forth with the comfort of a long-married (and happily married) couple.

Davis, often, just smiles and nods. The trio has a new name, he's still "the new guy" here.

Bill Kimmons grew up in Statesville, N.C. According to family lore, Bill was riding in the car with his Aunt Grace one afternoon. He was scarcely more than a toddler and drowsing in the back seat. She pulled in at a grocery store parking lot, rolled the windows down and left Bill to pick up a couple of items.

"This was back in the day when doing that was OK," Kimmons said.

When she returned a few minutes later, a crowd was pressed around the car, looking in. Immediately, she thought the worst.

"She got up to the car and there I was in the backseat," he said. "I was singing 'Jesus Loves Me' at the top of my lungs."

Bill grew up singing in every church and school choir whose path he happened to cross. He left home after high school for college, but ended up wandering the country from job to job for a few years until he came to West Virginia.

Becky, 58, is from Mabscot, near Beckley. She and her parents lived in a former coal company house. She remembers listening to the radio a lot and singing along.

"I knew all the songs on 'The Hit Parade,'" she said, "but I was sure glad when rock and roll came along. I was just so tired of 'Doggy in the Window'."

During summers, she visited her grandparents in Hinton, a segregated town in the 1950s.

"In Hinton, blacks and whites were separated street by street," she said. "At night, you could sit out and listen to the black kids across the street singing and harmonizing. It was beautiful."

She grew up listening, but not singing in public. Her own voice reminded her of her grandmother's, and she felt awkward. It wasn't until the 1970s that she started venturing out with her voice, singing old-time music.

"In 1979, I was at this film thing with the Kanawha Players," Bill Kimmons said. "That was where Becky and I met."

The two shared a love of music and Appalachian culture. They started dating, fell in love, then married in 1980. That same year, with some friends, they formed the Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet, which later became the Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet.

According to Becky, the group originally took their name from a show that Becky missed because her young daughter was sick. It stuck because the group often performed on short notice. Not everybody could make it.

"We just couldn't keep four people on stage," Bill Kimmons said.

Rather than admit defeat, they kept it a quartet, but amended the name to "Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet" or just "Soup Kitchen." They performed, traveled and recorded under that name for 27 years, but it always felt a little uncomfortable to Becky.

"People were always goofing it up," she said. "They got it wrong on the fliers. It didn't fit on signs and, besides that, it just didn't fit us."

People also got the wrong idea about what they did. While the trio had roots in the gospel tradition, sang old hymns and spirituals, it wasn't all they did. They sang blues, folk and traditional songs.

"Churches weren't always happy they booked us," he said.

After the new replacement for the third part of their combo didn't work out, Mark Davis was invited to join. Davis is one of the most recognizable faces in Charleston music, a singer or percussionist in several bands including the eclectic dance band "Voodoo Katz" and the Latin music group "Comparsa."

With the changes, Becky thought it was a good time to not just reinvent themselves, but to also change the name.

As the owner of Katalyst Business Strategies, a Charleston media and marketing firm, part of her mission is expanding ideas for her clients, creating messages. To her, changing the name was more of a clarification or correction of the group's musical message.

It was the kind of music that appealed to more than just one generation. It was this kind of music that helped hook their new third.

"I love the harmonizing," Davis said. "That kind of music is great for the ear and good for the soul."

The 34 year-old Davis looks at his participation in Bare Bones as part of his ongoing musical education. He's an adjunct professor of music at the University of Charleston, the music specialist at Elk Elementary School in Elkview and a former member of the African Drums and Dance Ensemble. He's also the only one of the three with traditional training in music.

"We don't hold that against him," Bill Kimmons laughed.

With Bill Kimmons retiring at the end of the school year, the trio plans to bring the group out on a larger scale. It's more than just a new phase in the Kimmonses' lives, it's the chance to more fully realize all of their musical dreams.

"Plus, I'll let my wife support me," Kimmons joked.

Already this year they've made an appearance on Mountain Stage and will release a CD of music in this new lineup in May. They're also planning on playing more local shows, including a benefit concert on March 1 for Manna Meal at St. John's Episcopal Church.

"We're just going to get out there," Bill Kimmons said.

To contact staff writer Bill Lynch, use e-mail or call 348-5195.