The Last few miles

Wes Cull is enjoying this ride.

The Roddickton native released his third gospel album, entitled The Last Few Miles, on Jan. 9.

"If the Lord blesses me with the talent to be able to sing then, well, I'm going to use it, for His and my benefit," said Mr. Cull, a paramedic during the day. "I can't really say I'm shy, but I kind of hold back a little, because I hate going out and blowing my own horn. I try to keep back and let it work itself out."

The album was produced by Doug Randall (Randall's Studio) in Paradise, and features a duet with his wife Myrtle, as well as the vocal talents of their nine-year-old granddaughter Cynthia Cull, who lives in Grand Falls-Winsor.

He hires local musicians to help provide the music for his albums, most recently hiring local Roddickton pianist Ben Adams.

Mr. Cull's previous two albums, the debut I Found the Missing Peace (2002) and his sophomore album Lord, It's Me Again (2003), which were both produced by Eldon Saunders of Lewisport, were major successes, having sold thousands of copies.

"I guess the first album was when I changed my lifestyle, and I found what I felt was the missing piece in my life, and from that, when I did the second one, the song that I also recorded, 'Lord It's Me Again,' I thought appropriate because I was coming back with a second album, and I wanted the lord to bless me while I was doing it," he said.

Mr. Cull's musical influence comes from southern gospel, while his church, the Apostolic Church in Roddickton, is also very musical.

Fellow musician and recent award winner Karla Pilgrim also cited the church as an inspiration.

"We have a choir there that I think is second to none, especially for just raw talent, and we have good musicians, and our choir director and pianist there do a real good job," Mr. Cull said, adding that copies of his album go to the church's headquarters in Portland, Oregon and are sent to churches in different states and provinces across North America.

"They go all over the world," Mr. Cull said.

He began playing in a band, which lasted 30 years and ended in 1998, and from there has gotten used to playing a variety of instruments, including guitar, piano, keyboard and accordion, each of which he keeps in his music room.

"I was getting a little bit old for it (the band)," he laughed. "In '99, I got involved more with my church, and leaned toward southern gospel style music," he added. "When I became a teenager of course, like most rebellious teenagers, you go your own way and do your own thing, but it seems eventually you come back to your roots."