- Four girls, born and bred in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, have been singing together their entire lives.
Lee, Pryor, Sarah, and Donna are grandmothers now, but to the standing-room-only crowd that has filled the first floor of the Alluvian Hotel for their annual Christmas Concert for the past 23 years, they will forever be “The Buford Sisters.” Four girls, born and bred in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, have been singing together their entire lives.
Though they were raised on Classical music, they have in recent years performed a mix of original songs alongside rock, country, blues, folk, jazz, and everything in between at venues like the Bologna Performing Arts Center and the Mississippi Grammy Museum.
But they have also been known to entertain as a cover band for events and parties, and even played a bar or two. Not your usual grandmothers, by any means. Unique girls from a unique family with artistic and musical gifts that run deep.
In 1955, the Mississippi Delta’s eligible and sought-after bachelor, T.C. Buford of Glendora, persuaded a young beauty queen, 13 years his junior, to marry him instead of pursuing a career with the Metropolitan Opera that everyone agrees she could have had quite handily. No one knows whether Gwin Pryor of Calhoun City hesitated in saying, “Yes.” But judging by the history that followed and the legacy she and T.C. created together, all evidence suggests she never had one second of regret.
Like many successful singing groups in the South, the sisters began singing together in church.
Gwin and T.C. were founding members of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Sumner, another small hamlet among several that checked the backroads between Greenwood and Clarksdale. Gwin was a professionally trained soprano and a graduate of the renowned Indiana University School of Music. She also came from a family of legendary choir directors who traced their lineage back at least five generations.
Gwin immediately took charge of the music at the new church. There may have been a small congregation, but they would have the very best music. Gwin would see to that.
Many came to the church saying, “I don’t sing,” and she persisted in teaching them otherwise. According to her daughters, their mother was a force of nature, and their tiny church became known statewide for its musical excellence.
Gwin enlisted her daughters as soon as they could hold a hymnbook! She taught them to hear and sing parts and is responsible for their perfect blend of harmony. As Pryor said, “Not singing was just not an option.” Pryor, an accomplished vocalist and their lead singer, credits her mother with teaching all four girls “technique, breathing, getting the message across, fluidity, dynamics.” They don’t just sing words on pitch. They make beautiful music together.
Lee Buford Threadgill, an accomplished pianist who plays keyboard with the band, was recently named a finalist for “Mississippi Songwriter of the Year.” Her classic country song, “Goldmine,” tells the story of meeting, falling in love, and building a life with her husband, Burney.
She began writing original songs almost by accident in 2018. A graduate of Vanderbilt and SMU, and a CPA, among other careers, she had no formal instruction in songwriting. One sleepless night in a season of such nights, she was reading her Bible and was profoundly struck by the truth of Matthew 17:20. “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place: and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
She had read that verse countless times, but that evening she had an epiphany, realizing that all the power to answer a prayer or move an obstacle rested in God’s hands, not hers. That revelation was so impactful to her personally that she wrote her first song, “If We Believe.”
That song may have been the first, but it was certainly not the last. Since then, there have been two albums of original songs chronicling the very tender moments of life, faith, the passage of time, and the memorable events in their lives. Lee’s songs are, in a way, like a family scrapbook.
One of Lee’s first songs was “Ode to Home,” in which she painted a musical picture of growing up together in the country, making their own fun in the wide-open outdoors, and creating memories in the ordinary daily routines and rhythms of life in Glendora, Mississippi. With simultaneous streaming video, also created by Lee, the personal family images of time, place, and the people who matter most capture the richness of the lasting connection between generations.
T.C. Buford passed away in 2020, and matriarch Gwin died in 2025. Buford Hall, their family home, once the hub of activity where four little girls learned to love the outdoors and to appreciate great music, stands still, quiet, but as regal as ever at the end of a long lane off Sturdivant Road in Tallahatchie County.
The Buford sisters still gather there as often as they can, bringing their trove of grown-up children and grandchildren to fill the rooms and the storied land again with conversation, laughter, big holidays, and music. There is always music, better than ever, because the younger generation sings and plays, too.
Donna, once known as “the baby” because there was a six-year gap between her and her next sibling, Sarah, looks forward to their big Christmas concert at the Alluvian every year.
“My favorite part is seeing people slow down, sit for an hour, and just feel the Christmas spirit. You can see it in their faces. From the stage, we can see their faces, their eyes filled with tears, big smiles, sweet looks between family members. It’s very special, and we feel the importance of that.”
Marilyn Tinnin
