Our Directors
About our Director, Candice Bassett
Our inaugural director for Southern A'Chord has a wide range of experience in the a cappella world.
Candice was previously a member of several Sweet Adelines International choruses and carried out both administrative and directoral duties in those groups. She assumed director duties for Piney Hills Harmony in the fall of 2020 - as co-director - and became full-time director in May 2021. She earned her director's certification from Sweet Adelines International in 2023.
Other musical experience includes 12 years' membership with Monroe's Southern Acappella Sound Chorus, where she served as assistant director, treasurer and, at various times, either lead or baritone section leader. She has competed internationally with both Twin City Sensations of Texarkana and Top of the Rock in Little Rock. She has also sung baritone in Forte! quartet.
Awards relating to Sweet Adelines include Sweet Adeline Extraordinaire for Southern Acappella Sound Chorus and Woman of Worth for PHHC in addition to being featured on the 2022 regional Wall of Fame. She has attended many Sweet Adeline regional and international educational seminars.
Outside the chorus, Candice serves as bookkeeper/secretary for Caldwell Parish Schools in Columbia. She is also a member of the Louisiana LunaChicks, an area dance group. Additional musical experience through the years includes singing in church choir from a young age, playing clarinet in high school band, and performing in Little Theatre productions. She earned a bachelor's degree in business from Delta State University. In Grayson, Louisiana, which she and husband Herb call home, she serves as lay leader for the Grayson Methodist Church.
About our Assistant Director, Lynette Murphy
Lynette Murphy brings in-depth musical experience and knowledge to Southern A'Chord.
She earned her bachelor of music degree in piano performance from Louisiana Tech and has 30+ graduate hours in piano pedagogy from the University of Louisiana at Monroe. In October 2023 she became choir director and piano teacher at Ruston High School. In addition, she serves as worship leader at First Baptist Church in Choudrant and has musically directed many shows with Strauss Youth Academy for the Arts and Strauss Main Stage in Monroe.
In the a cappella world, she became assistant director for musical expression for Piney Hills Harmony in 2022. She joined that chorus in the summer of 2017; by 2019 she was serving on the board; and in May 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 with uncertainty all around, she stepped into the presidency. Like Candice, she sang in the quartet Forte! - as the tenor.
Lynette currently holds down the post of lead section leader on the Music Staff of Southern A'Chord.
About our Assistant Director, Sallie Rose Hollis
Sallie Rose fell in love with a cappella singing at age 15, and the adoration has only deepened since then.
As with the other Southern A'Chord directors, she has extensive experience in the world of a cappella. In Piney Hills Harmony Chorus, she served as assistant director for visual communication for 10 years. She joined that chorus in 1989. In 2001 she was named the chapter's first Sweet Adeline of the Year, in 2015 was chosen as Sweet Adeline Extraordinaire, and in 2023 was honored as the PHHC representative on the regional Wall of Fame.
Through the years Sallie Rose served as PHHC president, Visual Team coordinator, baritone section leader, marketing director and Script Committee chair. She has sung in multiple quartets. Previous musical experience includes playing the flute. Other activities include membership in Epsilon Sigma Alpha service group and teaching for World English Institute. She has biweekly columns in the Ruston Daily Leader, Farmerville Gazette and Lincoln Parish Journal.
Sallie Rose and her husband, Hooshang Khorasani, live in Ruston. She retired from Louisiana Tech in 2008 as an associate professor of journalism and assistant director of the News Bureau; she worked there 34 years.
Music Staff Members
Southern A'Chord's Music Staff is composed of the Director, the Assistant Directors and the Section Leaders. Current Section Leaders are:
Baritone – Sallie Rose Hollis
Bass – Judy Sisson
Lead – Lynette Murphy
Tenor – Mary Helen Tschabold.
