Crabb Family coming for first time in decade | News

The Crabb Family will return to Owensboro on May 14 for the first time in a decade for a 6:30 p.m. event at Good Shepherd Church, 3031 Bittel Road.

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Kathy Crabb Hannah, the matriarch of the musical family, said, “We haven’t been back to Owensboro as a family in a long time. All the girls will be there and maybe all the boys. And eight to 10 of the granddaughters. They all turned into great singers. I think you have to be born with that gene.”

The Ladies Stronger on Tour begins April 8 in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and then moves on to 29 more cities, including Owensboro.”

Hannah said that starting in 2015, she hosted three-day Stronger retreats for women in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, four times a year.

The title comes from her autobiography, which was published that year.

Then, the coronavirus hit a year ago and events like that were prohibited.

So, this year, Hannah decided to take Stronger on the road.

“It’s for women,” she said. “We won’t turn men away, but they have to sit in the back.”

She describes Stronger as “an evangelistic event, a one-day revival for women.”

Hannah said, “When we get our women revived and renewed, it changes the home. We are weary and unhappy with the last 12 months. Isolation is the enemy of humanity. We need each other.”

The gatherings are free, she said, because ChildFund International — formerly the Christian Children’s Fund — is sponsoring the tour.

“Our family is raring to go,” Hannah said. “And people are raring to get out. This pandemic has stretched every woman in the country.”

Her tour group includes Krystal Lawing, Kelly Bowling, Terah Crabb Penhollow, Amanda Crabb, Hope Bowling, Katelanne Bowling, Ashleigh Crabb and Gracie Bowling.

Pop-up guests who will join the tour occasionally include Jason and Shellye Crabb, Aaron Crabb, Adam and Kaitlin Crabb, Eden Nicole and Karen Harding.

Journey began in PhilpotThe Crabb Family’s musical journey began in 1994 at Grace Chapel, a small Philpot church, where their father, the Rev. Gerald Crabb, was pastor.

The following spring, Kathy Crabb put on a small Southern gospel festival in Philpot.

That summer, she talked management at the old Executive Inn Rivermont into staging a Friday night gospel show once a month.

And soon, the 900-seat Showroom Lounge was packed.

In 1997, the Crabbs drew from 2,000 to 3,000 fans for the first Crabb Family Homecoming at the hotel.

By the time it ended in 2006, the festival, which had been renamed CrabbFest, was bringing between 12,000 and 15,000 people to town from across the country each summer and having a $2 million impact on the local economy.

The family musical act disbanded after that with members forming different groups.

Adam Crabb, lead singer for the Gaither Vocal Band, came to the Owensboro Convention Center in 2019 for a performance.

But the last time the entire family performed here was Nov. 25, 2011, at the RiverPark Center.

Jason Crabb, twin brothers Adam and Aaron Crabb and sisters Kelly Crabb Bowling and Terah Crabb Penhollow, stopped here on a Crabb Family Celebration/Back To The Front Porch Tour that night.

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