Maria Von Trapp, whose story is immortalized in the beloved musical The Sound of Music, once said, “When the Lord closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” Nowhere is that truth more clearly embodied than in the life of arLst Gordon Mote.
Though blind since birth, it seems the Lord blessed Gordon with profound musical talent in lieu of vision. When he was just three, Gordon amazed his family on Thanksgiving by siPng down at the piano and playing “Jesus Loves Me” with both hands. “I was just passionate about music,” states the Atalla, Alabama naLve. “My music is so eclectic today because I listened to every album I could find. As kids, my brother (who is also blind) and I traveled and sang in churches of all sizes and denominations.”
As a young man, Gordon became one of the first blind students in the country to be mainstreamed into the public-school system and later received a full scholarship to Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. After three years at JSU, he transferred to Nashville’s Belmont University and graduated with honors. Two days after graduation, Country music legend Lee Greenwood asked Mote to join his band.
Greenwood became the first of many popular entertainers with whom Gordon has shared the stage over the past three decades, including Trisha Yearwood, Tanya Tucker, Porter Wagoner, Bill Gaither & the Gaither Vocal Band, and most recently, popular Southern Gospel quartet, Canton Junction.