The music community is grieving the tragic deaths of members of the award-winning Southern gospel quartet, The Nelons, who perished in a plane crash on Friday, July 26.

Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark, and Kelly’s oldest daughter Amber were three of the four members of the family gospel group and were aboard the aircraft that crashed in rural northeastern Wyoming. Their youngest daughter, Autumn Streetman, who completed the group, was not on the plane.

Traveling on the plane with Kelly, Jason, and Amber, were Amber’s husband, Nathan Kistler, the group’s assistant Melodi Hodges, the pilot Larry Haynie, and his wife, Melissa.

The Nelons were a well-respected and beloved group with a decades-long history in the genre.

The Nelons were started in 1977 by Rex Nelon, father of Kelly Nelon Clark, and were first known as The Rex Nelon Singers. “Come Morning” was the group’s first No. 1 song and was named Southern Gospel Song of the Decade for the 1980s.

Over the course of the Nelons’ near-50-year career, they earned numerous awards and award nominations from the Grammys, Dove Awards, Christian Voice Awards, Singing News Awards and Absolutely Gospel Awards.  In 2016, The Nelons were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

While the Nelons were primarily known as gospel artists, they shared numerous country music covers online.

Those include a rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Coat Of Many Colors” and a cover of Glen Campbell‘s “Gentle On My Mind.” Their take on the Glen Campbell hit has seen a resurgence in popularity since the tragic plane crash. The Nelons released an official music video for their performance that showed footage of them in the studio recording the song and some candid clips of them behind the scenes. Amber is seen singing lead vocals while Kelly, Jason, and Autumn sing background vocals and harmony.

Released in 2020, “Gentle On My Mind” was included as a track on The Nelons’ album, The Nelons: The Americana Sessions. The album also included covers of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Mama Tried,” and more.

“Gentle On My Mind” was written by John Hartford in 1966 and released on his second studio album, Earthwords & Music, a year later. But it wasn’t until Glen Campbell’s version was released in 1967 that it found great commercial success. In 1968, the song won four Grammy awards. The song has since been recorded and released by numerous other artists. According to BMI, all radio plays of every version of the song made “Gentle On My Mind” the second-most played country song on radio.

Hear The Nelons’ incredible cover of “Gentle On My Mind” in the video below.