The Blackwood Brothers The 'Blackwood Brothers Quartet' is the famous American gospel music singing group. They formed in 1934 in the midst of the Great Depression when preacher Roy Blackwood moved his family back home to Mississippi. His brothers Doyle and James (only 15 at the time) already had some experience singing with Vardaman Ray and Gene Catledge. Adding Roy's 13-year-old son R. W. Blackwood to sing baritone, the brothers began to travel and sing locally.