The newly formed — but very experienced — group of seven musicians were pieced together carefully to perform their spiritual harmonies.

"This group was organized man by man," said Marion Merck, who sings tenor for the group. "We first started off with a couple of us, some of us in the group (The Sunny South Quartet) retired, so then we wanted to get another group up."

Merck, Tommy Brooks and Winfred Floyd all were former members of The Sunny South Quartet. The three members picked up veteran musicians Scottie Holmes, Doyle McCallister, Matt White and J.J. Jackson before their first performance in June 2007 at Fountain of Faith Church in Flowery Branch.

"J.J. (Jackson) is an answered prayer," said Merck, also the Hall County coroner and general manager of Memorial Park Funeral Home. "It got down to one part, which is the hardest part to find, which is baritone. This group was put together by God himself; we didn’t put it together."

Lead singer Holmes began his music days with his family’s gospel group, known as The Holmes Family;

Jackson has sung in a few different groups ranging from Southern gospel, barber shop quartets and chorus lines on the stages of Broadway. Brooks, 51, has played piano most of his life and loves blues and jazz.

"We always have a live band at each performance," Merck said.

Floyd, who can play piano, steel guitar, banjo and harmonica, plays lead guitar and White, 33, plays bass.

As the church singings season kicks off, the Lanier Land Boys have much of the spring and summer already booked.

"Everywhere we go, we try to arrange things to target the younger generation," said Jackson, also an assistant coordinator for the domestic violence unit for the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. "To me it is an accomplishment when you are finished to see 90-year-old people and 19-year-old people that both equally enjoyed it the same way."

Jackson and Holmes have arranged each song on the current CD, "The Refuge."

The two also have written a couple songs for the group’s upcoming CD that will be recorded in March.

"Two of my personal favorites are actually two that Merck sings," said Jackson, 28. "Merck’s signature song is ‘I Know a Man Who Can,’ and every where we go we can’t get out the door until Merck sings that song. And then his other one is ‘This is Just What Heaven Means to Me.’"

Added McCallister, the group’s drummer, "I would say ‘Beulah Land’ and ‘The Lighthouse’ are my favorites. ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ also is a favorite."

McCallister, 40, has been a drummer for 25 years and played with T. Graham Brown and Merle Haggard.

"The drums hold the timing together," he said. "The tempo setting, tempo keeping and rhythms, it’s all on the drummer’s shoulders."

Timing and rhythm are important when performing "music that is unique and is a sound that nobody else can comprehend," Merck said.

Merck, along with Holmes, Floyd and Brooks, all grew up in families where their fathers were ministers. Jackson’s mother was a minister of music at several local churches; so the men have grown up surrounded by the energy and spirituality of Southern gospel music.

"Southern gospel music is gradually weeding out, you don’t hear that much ... and what we are trying to do is keep the old Southern gospel and the style alive," said Merck, who at 68 is the oldest member of the Lanier Land Boys.

"And we feel there is no way to do it than to have Southern boys to do it and that is what we are."