Current And Past Kingsmen Members Reunite For “Is That The Old Ship Of Zion”

 

March 13, 2026 — “Brandon [Reese] and I were brainstorming in the back of the bus one day,” recounts The Kingsmen’s Alan Kendall, talking about the origin of the Southern Gospel quartet’s latest single for Horizon Records. “With all of the tracking done for the 70th anniversary album, and with us about to record vocals, we both agreed that we needed something just a little extra special, and from that visit blossomed the idea to have a Kingsmen Choir of members past and present re-record ‘Old Ship of Zion’ together.”

Written by Conrad Cook, “Is That the Old Ship of Zion” was first recorded by the legendary group more than 50 years ago, and remains one their most beloved a capella numbers.

“We invited every former member that we could reach to come record with us,” Kendall continues. “Not all were able to be there, but we were blown away by the response. Greg Fox, Ray Talley, Arthur Rice, Garry Sheppard, Jerry Martin, Bryan Hutson, Bob Sellers, Josh Horrell, and Chris Bryant all joined Ray Dean, Harold, Cole, Brady, and myself in the studio on September 29th last year for a very special mini-reunion, full of laughs and tears. Chris Jenkins was not able to be with us that day, but graciously recorded vocals in Nashville and sent them to us. To sweeten the recording, we lifted vocals from a past version of the song featuring Squire Parsons and Ernie Phillips, and then discovered that Nick Bruno’s voice was also in the mix. What a neat added surprise!

“I hope everybody listening to this cut feels the Spirit we felt that day,” Kendall concludes. “I won’t forget it as long as I live.”

“Is That the Old Ship of Zion” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music and TIDAL. Listen to it HERE.