In the fall of 2025, two young musicians sat in the audience at The Mulehouse in Columbia, Tennessee, watching their fathers record a television special. Jack Reid and Davis Reid had no reason to expect anything unusual. They were simply there to support Wil Reid and Langdon Reid, the country music duo known as Wilson Fairchild.
What Jack Reid and Davis Reid didn’t know was that their fathers had already agreed to a surprise.
Before the evening was over, all four would stand together onstage and sing a song that their family had made famous 50 years earlier. And that unexpected performance would eventually grow into something much bigger.
A Family Name Country Music Fans Never Forgot
Wil Reid is the son of Harold Reid, the unforgettable bass singer and comedian of The Statler Brothers. Langdon Reid is the son of Don Reid, the group’s lead singer and one of its principal songwriters.
For millions of country music fans, The Statler Brothers were part of everyday life. Songs like “Flowers on the Wall,” “The Class of ’57,” and “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You” helped define the group’s unmistakable four-part harmony.
The Statler Brothers spent decades performing together, toured with Johnny Cash, and became one of country music’s most celebrated vocal groups. Their induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame came in 2008.
But Wil Reid and Langdon Reid didn’t simply grow up listening to those records. They grew up around the musicians who made them.
The cousins eventually formed their own musical partnership, first performing as Grandstaff and later taking the name Wilson Fairchild from their middle names. They spent nearly four years opening shows for George Jones, wrote original material, and recorded Songs Our Dads Wrote, honoring the songwriting of Harold Reid and Don Reid.
By 2025, Wil Reid and Langdon Reid had spent much of their lives making music together. Now their own sons were building musical careers, too.
The Surprise Nobody Told Jack and Davis About
During the 2025 recording of American Songbook: Country Classics and Gospel Favorites, Gaither Music executive Paul Sizelove approached Wil Reid and Langdon Reid with an idea.
Why not invite Jack Reid and Davis Reid onto the stage to sing with their fathers?
Both fathers liked the suggestion. But instead of telling their sons beforehand, Wil Reid and Langdon Reid decided to keep quiet. They knew Jack Reid and Davis Reid could handle the music, and they didn’t want the young performers worrying about an unexpected television appearance.
After Wilson Fairchild finished the planned set, Jack Reid and Davis Reid were called forward.
The surprise worked.
Later, while remembering the moment in an interview with the Staunton News Leader, Davis Reid joked:
“I would have showered that morning if I thought we were going to be on TV.”
It was exactly the sort of good-natured humor that longtime Statler Brothers fans would recognize.
The Song That Connected 1975 to 2025
The four family members chose “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You.”
Written by Don Reid and released by The Statler Brothers in 1975, the song became a major country hit, reaching No. 3 on Billboard’s country singles chart. Its memorable melody and closely blended harmonies made it a natural favorite for Statler Brothers audiences.
Now, half a century later, Don Reid’s son and grandson were singing that same composition alongside Harold Reid’s son and grandson.
It wasn’t the first time the four had sung Statler Brothers material together. But this particular performance was different because of how spontaneously it happened and where it was recorded.
The performance was included in the American Songbook television special and companion DVD, released by Gaither Music Group in April 2026.
Wil Reid later explained that the moment became the starting point for a new chapter in their family’s musical journey.
One Unexpected Performance Became The Statler Experience
Following the television recording, the four musicians began developing a joint stage presentation called The Statler Experience.
The format gives both generations room to perform. Jack Reid and Davis Reid open with their own energetic music, Wilson Fairchild follows with country classics and original songs, and the four eventually reunite to perform beloved Statler Brothers material in harmony.
By the summer of 2026, audiences were responding to something beyond the familiar songs. Davis Reid noticed that people started raising their phones to record whenever all four family members appeared together.
For longtime fans, the connection was easy to understand. The original Statler Brothers had retired from touring in 2002. Harold Reid died in April 2020. Yet the music remained part of the family’s life, and younger generations were finding their own way to perform it.
Jack Reid and Davis Reid weren’t trying to become copies of their grandfathers. Like Wil Reid and Langdon Reid before them, they were developing their own musical identities while embracing the songs they had grown up hearing.
And it all came together during one television recording when two young men arrived expecting nothing more than an evening watching their fathers perform.
They went home having taken part in a family performance that would lead to a new show.
Fifty years after Don Reid wrote “I’ll Go to My Grave Loving You,” the song was still bringing the Reid family together onstage. This time, the harmony included the grandsons.