Nashville Years I (Related Diary Entries II)

From 1 December 1981

As usual I have fallen to being slack again. So many things have happened since [16 June 1981], I'll have to finish out this log book I guess.

Jerry and I returned safely from the wild, wild West.

Bobbie Tweed and the kids took off for a week at the beach so I moved in with Mike for a week. We hit many clubs (harmlessly) at first but finally settled for the rest of the week at Delmonico's where we enjoyed the "Groovin'" sounds of Little Royal and the Royal Showmen featuring Tammy Williams. Tammy and I immediately hit it off and spent quite a bit of time together through the week that followed. When the band left town at the end of June, I almost joined them as a guitar player but I figured it might hurt my career more than help.

The first or second week of July, the whole [New Orleans] recording deal fell through so I got all mad and bummed out but I soon got over it, deciding that someday they'd just be one of many to miss the boat for the Michael A. Cody "tour de force."

Jack and Anita were married on July 18. I sang "Longer" and a song I wrote for them called "Seasons."

In August, Royal came back to town, Karen Smith left town with Stan, and Cindy Byrum came back into my life via Ron Weathers. Cindy and I began some rehearsals together but did no playing.

Come September, I entered Fantasy Sound Studios in Hickory (meeting Glen, Tim, and Mark) where we recorded "Just You and Me." I went to Michigan with Joe to pick up Ernie. We had a great 3 or 4 day visit. From sometime in summer I had been reunited with Anita [not the one mentioned above]. She fell in love, I didn't' a sad affair over this month. Cindy and I continued rehearsals. Saw Dallas Holm in concert with Jack and Anita, Butch and Ginger. Became reunited with Hannah Anderson. Began work on "Take Me in Your Arms" at FSS.

During October I played a lot of clubs with Cindy and without and in this time I got to know her a little better. Reunited with Terry Davis and Jim Stapleton [White Water Band] either this month or September. Broke up with Hannah November 5^th. Ron, Patty, and I met with Earl in Nashville and he offered a record deal. Incredible! Things moved quickly at first then slowed to a crawl. Cindy and I go to see a lot of movies. I go to New York and spend a glorious weekend with Jack York, Tina Perrone, Linda Cardaro, Karen Trisciki, and John (?). Because of tension of waiting news on the record deal, I can hardly sit down to write anything; only one song the whole month! I turned 23 and had a great Thanksgiving. Reunited with Tom Duvall after almost 2 years. Kissed Cindy for the first time on Nov. 30.

. . . Still livin', livin' for the Lord

Nashville Years I (Related Diary Entries)

From 12 May 1981

Ron Weathers is a manager/booking agent from Asheville, N.C. He called me up on April 29 . . . and we met the next day and the next. He seems to believe in me and what I can do. Right now, we're waiting word from a recording studio in New Orleans. If they are interested, they may record me and push to the major companies. If the majors don't want it then we may put out a single on the New Orleans group label. If they are not interested, we'll probably record in Asheville at Wes Sound and push it to record companies ourselves. It's all so up in the air and so am I. I know where I want to be but I can't see what roads will get me there. Oh well, I've got to start somewhere.

I talked to Leesa for a long time last night and the spark seems to still be there. I also talked to Jack in LA for a long time. I need to do morning devotions . . . Not my will but Thine be done

From 15 May 1981

Well, I spent most of the morning with Ron but we didn't come up with anything recording-wise yet. He's got a lot of leads if he can just get in touch with those he knows. Meanwhile, I sit and wait, praying that the Lord's will be done. I don't know whether or not I want to be a big star. I would like the position I would be in to help the world a bit, but it would be a lot of hassle. God may not want it and if He don't, I don't. Still, I feel I have the gift to make it so I've turned it over to Him, to do with me as he pleases . . . all my life is His

From 7 June 1981

Well, let's see . . . Tonight I am at June's [an uncle's] in Port Huron, Michigan. Jerry [my brother] and I drove up here [yesterday]. We've seen most all of our folks here and I've played 3 church services today[—]SS and church for the Salvation Army and evening worship at Ross Bible Church w/ Darwin [a cousin] . . . All went well. Today I talked to Isia [a Canadian friend from the 1979 summer trip to Europe] and tomorrow at 1:00 I'll meet her at the Holiday Inn in Chatham, Ontario. I am really looking forward to it 'cause she's one of the best.

Patty [Ron's wife] called me on [29 May 1981] and told me New Orleans wants to record "If You Come at All," "A Sad Song," "Rhymes" and "Daisy" . . . so far. As Evaline [an aunt] said, "this may be the break we've been praying for." I've turned all career decisions over to my Lord and Savior and hope to do only what He would have me do. All that remains now is to set the recording dates and hopefully Ron will have them by the time I get back to Walnut . . . All that I want to be / Is what You want me, Lord, to be

Nashville Years I

A little over a year ago, I decided I wanted to tell the story of my Nashville years, 1982-1989. Seven years, it was, although it seemed much longer than that to me. I guess I crammed a lot of living into that space of time. Either that or living on the edge of "making it" just made it seem like a long time. Anyway, I wrote the blog posts "Prelude to Nashville" and "Nashville 1980" before getting sidetracked. A recent trip to Music City, however, has me thinking about that place and those years once again. So, over the next while—I don't know how long—I'll write what I can remember.

My real Nashville experience began when I was 22 years old. The scene: Walnut, North Carolina, sometime in April of 1981. I had been a year back from my 1980 experience in Nashville, which was largely to do with attending Belmont College. I'd done a little more school at the University of North Carolina at Asheville in the fall of 1980, making it through half a semester before dropping out and going to work in a sports store operated by my good friend Mike Tweed. I was singing in churches with Mike, his wife Bobbie, my aunt Ernie and my mom. It was during this time that I wrote several Christian songs, the only one of which that still survives is "Dear Mother." For a period in late 1980 and early 1981, that's the only type of song I wrote. But that spring of '81, I started writing some secular songs again.

My best friend at the time was Karen Smith, who had been a fan of the White Water Band and loved to listen to my music. I made some tapes for her, although I couldn't tell you now what was on them. Karen had a younger sister still in high school, and this younger sister had a classmate and friend named Ronnie Weathers. Ronnie's father Ron Weathers was an entertainment booking agent who also did some entertainer/artist management.

Back to April 1981. I was sitting at home in Walnut watching—I remember—an episode of The Greatest American Hero. The telephone rang, and on the other end of the line was Ron Weathers, who said that he had heard my music on a tape his son had brought home from school. He also said that he'd like to meet with me. I was, of course, flabbergasted and quickly said I'd be glad to meet with him and play him some songs.

A few days later we met at his office near Asheville: Surefire Productions. I sat in the plush red velvet chair across from his desk and played a few of my tunes for him. He seemed pleased with them but not overly impressed. As a final song, I played him a new one called "Daisy." That floored him. Suddenly he was excited about my music and me, and talk about taking me to Nashville was on the table. Also on the table was talk about a management contract. I didn't really know what that entailed, but I had an idea—I'd heard about "managers."

If I'm not mistaken, Ron and I were off to Nashville within a couple of months of our first meeting. We were to meet some fellow there that Ron knew from New Orleans (or maybe Atlanta)—a record producer named Sonny Limbo, who had just helped put together a big hit record, "Key Largo" by Bertie Higgins. Of course, just being on the fringes of a success story like that was enough to make my young head swim with "What ifs." When we arrived in Nashville, lo and behold, Sonny Limbo was nowhere to be found. He'd gotten hung up in New Orleans (or Atlanta) and wouldn't be able to meet us. (Remember the days when we had no email and no cell phones?) At some point, Ron reached Limbo by telephone and was advised to go see Earl Richards. "Leave no stone unturned" was to be the theme of our Nashville visit, but we didn't get any further than the meeting with Earl.

I didn't know it then, didn't know it until it was much too late to recover my career, but the stone Earl was under ought to have been left unturned.

Definition

Starry-eyed dreamer: [1] a person who believes that some glorious American future of prosperity and peace awaits us as a nation; [2] a person who believes that some glorious American past can be reclaimed or, similarly, a person who believes that such a past actually once existed.