Peaceful Valley Quartet

The Peaceful Valley Quartet was originally organized about 1963 by Aubrey and Carol Brooks. Both are natives of the Ennice, North Carolina area. Carol grew up singing with her brothers and sisters in a family quartet, The Edwards Family, that performed a cappella and sang in local churches. She is the only one of her family to carry on with music. Aubrey went to an old-fashioned singing school at Elkin, North Carolina, but continued to play a wide variety of music, including bluegrass. He developed a rather unique guitar style "pretty much" on his own, and within a few years the quartet had developed an extensive repertory that featured Chuck Wagon favorites and many of Aubrey's original gospel-sentimental songs. They toured extensively, travelling as far as Akron, Ohio, and appeared in local radio stations, with regular shows on WBOB (Galax) and WCOK (Sparta). About this time they began to experiment with producing their own records and found they could sell enough to help meet their travel expenses. They eventually produced two LPs and three 45s on their own. A fourth single was issued commercially on Arthur Smith's Pyramid label. Carol Brooks, who sang soprano in the group and was responsible for much of its distinctive sound, underwent surgery on her throat in 1968. Complications forced her to curtail singing, and the group broke up in 1973. After a few years' retirement, Carol and Aubrey began to sing again, this time with their two teen-aged sons, and their success led them to recreate the Peaceful Valley Quartet in 1979.