The Petra Zone

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for welcoming me into the community. My name is Emilie Arnold from the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, and I’m currently curating an exhibition that involves the history of Bee Jay Recording Studios, where Petra recorded “Washes Whiter Than.”

I have an email address for Dan Brock that unfortunately bounced back, so I'm hoping you guys can help me. I've attached two photos to this post. One is of a single artist performing for the "Artists Alive" radio broadcast, and I understand he's a member of Petra. The other features the Petra members, one of whom is wearing a Bee Jay t-shirt. What do you think?

I truly appreciate your help! I also hoped you'd get a kick out of these photos.

I think that is John DeGroff wearing the t-shirt, with Bob Hartman on his left and Greg Hough on the far right. Not sure who that is with the mustash.

The guy beside DeGroff in the last picture looks like Chris Bechler. Someone posted another picture of him a while ago...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57280

Cool pictures! If you find more, please post!

Those identifications for the second photo sound correct, but I'm kind of confused what the connection to BeeJay is. When they recorded WWT they used the studio crew (Chip Meyers, Joel Balin, Randy Nichols and a few more), and at the time of the release of the album Petra only had three members: Bob Hartman, Greg X. Volz and Rob Frazier. Both Volz and Frazier are not featured on your pictures. And I believe DeGroff, Hough and Bechler already weren't a part of the band anymore when they started recording at BeeJay, so I'm not sure why DeGroff would be wearing a BeeJay tshirt. But maybe you can find out/clarify!

I have no idea who's on the first photograph.

You could contact Bob Hartman through his site houseofbob.com.
Dan Brock is on facebook and is quite busy there: https://www.facebook.com/danrbrock
John DeGroff is also on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.degroff.1
They might be able to help.

You know about the Xavier album? http://trodland.com/petraspective/xavier1982xavier.html
That one was also recorded at BeeJay, but I'm sure you've been in touch with Eric Shabacker, who used to own BeeJay during this time.

Thank you so much for your help, guys! It's very possible that these photos were from a year or two before "Washes Whiter Than" since Bee Jay and Eric Schabacker were involved in "Artists Alive" and recording other Christian musicians for years before. Maybe that explains why the group shot doesn't feature the WWT lineup.

In any case, the photo of musician with the guitar is still a head-scratcher for me. Eric told me he thought it was a member of Petra and that he thought his name was "Sonny," but I can't find anyone associated with Petra named Sonny. Of course, you guys are the experts.

I really appreciate all of the contact suggestions! Thank you!

So sorry to bump this thread without any new information about the photos -- I received a private message from one of you, but since I'm very new on the forum the private message reading/sending capacities are disabled for my account. If you have any information for me about these photos or if you'd like to touch base, please email me at [email protected]. Thank you!

ETA: Apparently 3 forum posts is all it takes to unlock private messages. I'm all good now.

This is from John DeGroff. Yes that is Chris Bechler in the picture. It was taken in 1977. As far as the T-shirt that DeGroff has on, it's simply a t-shirt. There is no reason to read anything into it.

I got a Gibson t-shirt at a trade show, nice shirt... but a few asked if I worked for endorsed/Gibson. Amazing the impact a t-shirt can have.

John DeGroff had no clue who the guy is singing by himself.