CMT Blog: Darryl Worley

Willie Nelson’s paying up. He and his Farm Aid buddies brought money to Iowa for immediate relief to the flood-damaged farms along the Mississippi River.

Darryl Worley’s annual fundraiser, Tennessee River Run, is set to start on Sept. 6 with catfishing, boat poker and some gospel music in Savannah, Tenn.

Looks like country fans will have to take Julianne Hough out to the ballgame, since Sugarland cancelled their performances at Tuesday night’s Chicago Cubs game.

David Andersen’s guitar playing has been praised by legends such as Chet Atkins, Les Paul and Earl Scruggs. You can hear him play for free most days in the lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

Could Taylor Swift’s change in representation be a good thing, or is she fixing something that clearly ain’t broke?

If you love New York City, and newcomer Ashton Shepherd, you could be one of five lucky winners to get a pair of VIP tickets for her performance on Good Morning America.

Shame on Sony BMG. After all their litigation to stop piracy of their music, the software program Ideal Migration was illegally installed on four of their servers.

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman took the baby bump to lunch in Sydney. See photos of the burgeoning belly here.

The list of country artists who don’t have their name on a fashion line is getting even shorter now that Reba McEntire has introduced footwear with her name on it.

Houston City, Ala., is the future site of the next Worleybird Café from Darryl Worley. This down-home eatery will open in 2009 with a military theme.

A humble Dolly Parton says the folks at Dancing with the Stars asked her to sing, but that she doesn’t think they’d want to see her dance.

Hi again, CMT Blog fans. Adam Black here from CMT Outsider blogging about another beautiful day in Steamboat Springs, Colo. It’s the last day for Country in the Rockies, a charity event benefiting the T.J. Martell Foundation and its fight against leukemia, cancer, and AIDS. And I’ve been doing my part too, throwing my celebrity around to help get people psyched about giving to the cause. Today, for example, I threw my celebrity around quite a bit — down various sides of a snowy mountain. Also, I got stuck (or “buried” as they call it up here) snowmobiling whilst trying to catch up with Darryl Worley. He was going AWFULLY fast for someone who knew I was trying to keep up. THEN, I saw Troy Gentry at the breakfast buffet. I said hello, and he just reached past me to grab an English muffin. It’s almost as if the people here are unaware of my celebrity status! And the more I try to make them aware, the more mean looks I receive.

But still, I press on, because cancer isn’t going to cure itself. Also, pay no attention to the press that MIGHT report I was trying to sneak into the Celebrity Ski Race. I was simply standing at the starting gate to cheer on Wayne Wong’s team. Yes, I had a number pinned to my chest and had dressed up like Eddie Montgomery, but that was just to show TEAM SPIRIT. Ever heard of team spirit, Mr. Steamboat Springs Chronicle reporter?! Apparently not! But again, don’t pay attention to any of that slander.

All in all, Country in the Rockies turned out to be hugely beneficial to the cause. The T.J. Martell people were awfully nice to us, and the hotel they put us up at even let me have one of those pre-pasted toothbrushes because I left mine at home. Yep, with folks as friendly as those from the T.J. Martell Foundation, we’ll find a cure, and have a great time doing it. Bye from snowy Steamboat Springs. I’m your faithful blogger, Adam Black, wishing you a very merry week of whatever it is you do.

Hi everybody on the CMT Blog! Adam Black from CMT Outsider here, sharing some of my thoughts from Country in the Rockies here in Steamboat Springs, Colo. And let’s begin with this thought: For some people, skiing means cutting a path in new fallen snow. For me, skiing means cutting my face on a rock when I’ve newly fallen.

I thought skiing on snow wouldn’t be much different than skiing on water. After all, they ARE the same basic element — H20. However, I should have realized I was in trouble when they didn’t offer “wake or knee-board” as a rental option at the ski lodge. You see, because I told CMT that I was an expert skier, they decided to enter me in the “celebrity” ski race at Country in the Rockies, a benefit to raise awareness and money for leukemia research. Skiers included Darryl Worley, Montgomery Gentry, Lucy Angel, Blue County — and me. Oh, I know what you’re thinking: “Wait, Adam’s not a celebrity!?” And if you’re thinking that, you are wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! The Latin for celebrity is “celebrate,” and I am someone who celebrates, so I am absolutely a celebrity. The other Latin meaning is “celibate.” And, I don’t know about Darryl, but my wife wouldn’t be too happy if THAT were the case.

So, celebrity I am, and on the slopes I stood. But not for long — no sooner had the starting pistol fired that Darryl whizzed by me, knocking me off balance. I toppled over and did a pitiful cartwheel just 10 feet down the slope. Part of my problem is that the only thing I really learned in ski school was “snowplow to stop.” Well, YOU try to snowplow while turning a cartwheel. It’s quite ineffective. So, that was my afternoon. Laid out on the snow. Jeering laughter filling my ears.

By the way, I didn’t make the trial cut. Darryl’s team is in, though — even though I KNOW he knocked me over on purpose. But I can’t be too mad at him. He and the other artists and guests have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in cancer, leukemia and AIDS research for the T.J. Martell Foundation. Tomorrow, Darryl and I are going snowmobiling. I’ve never been snowmobiling before. Should be fun.

One more thing! After the ski race, we all headed off to the big concert. Got some cool shots behind the scenes, before there was some kind of misunderstanding and the guard threw me out face first into the snow. I’m thawing the right side of my body as we speak. In fact, I had to type this whole blog with my left hand only. I’m sure the feeling will return to my right side by morning, though. Yeah, I’m sure it will. Talk to you again later!

We’ve still got a war going on. So where are the pro-war songs now? What’s happened to the kind of flag-waving, ass-kicking, score-settling sentiments that had crowds cheering and pumping their fists in the air back when Alan Jackson was still puzzled about the difference between Iraq and Iran? Whether it’s “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” “Over There” or lyrical war cries of more recent vintage, there’s something really nasty and deceptive about songs that glorify combat, that hold it up as a bold adventure and a glorious clash between pure good and unalloyed evil. It’s harder to impart a festive mood to suicide bombings, beheadings, torture, the slaughter of civilians and another sprinkling of white crosses at Arlington.

The most memorable country songs of World War II, at least to me, are those that coped with the harsh realities of war and its aftermath — Ernest Tubb’s “Soldier’s Last Letter,” Gene Autry’s “At Mail Call Today,” Floyd Tillman’s “Each Night at Nine,” Bob Wills’ “Silver Dew on the Bluegrass Tonight” and “White Cross on Okinawa” and Merle Travis’ “No Vacancy.” The Korean War yielded such durable and honest goods as Jimmy Osborne’s “God Please Protect America” and the Jean Shepard-Ferlin Husky duet, “A Dear John Letter.” But it was on-the-spot television rather than songs that conveyed the horrors of the Vietnam War, although plenty of songs were written about it. Who can forget “Ballad of the Green Berets”? Well, just about everybody, I suspect.

The last war song of any stature to emerge from country music was Darryl Worley’s “I Just Came Back From a War,” which the singer wrote after performing in combat zones and witnessing the political and psychological complexities involved. In the song, a soldier ruminates about returning from “a place where they hated me and everything I stand for … a land where our brothers are dying for others who don’t even care anymore.” It’s not exactly a recruitment ditty. Compare that to Worley’s earlier gung-ho hit, “Have You Forgotten,” and you’ll see the difference between beating the drums and counting the costs. Maybe that’s why nobody’s singing about war these days — and why they shouldn’t sing about it so enthusiastically the next time.

 

The news is out that Rascal Flatts just sold 547,000 of their new CD, Still Feels Good, during its first week of release. It’s their third consecutive album to debut at the top of Billboard’s country albums chart and the all-genre (and almighty) Billboard 200 chart. At this point in their career, I’m not surprised that they’ve accomplished this formidable feat, but I must confess I never predicted they’d ever reach this level of success.

Looking back, the odds weren’t exactly in their favor. It’s hard enough to connect a name, face and song to a new solo singer, but creating that image and identity is even tougher when it involves multiple personalities. (We’re talking about bands here, although I’m told that some solo artists have multiple personalities, too.) When the group released its debut single, “Prayin’ for Daylight,” in 2000, Lyric Street Records’ biggest claim to fame was its flagship act, SHeDAISY. Some within the music industry quickly and snidely referred to the label’s new, all-male trio as He-DAISY.

It wasn’t until early 2002 that I finally realized how much I had underestimated Rascal Flatts’ commercial potential. During that year’s Country Radio Seminar, one of my old friends from Dallas was looking for an extra ticket to the convention’s New Faces show. When he said it was for his daughter, I assumed she was in her early teens and wanted to see all of the acts that evening — Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton, Cyndi Thomson and Darryl Worley. Then he explained that she was in college, adding, “She just wants to see Rascal Flatts. She’ll be out the door as soon as they finish.” I don’t know if it was the fresh-faced Joe Don Rooney and his short-cropped haircut in the “Prayin’ for Daylight” music video, but it never crossed my mind that Rascal Flatts would be nearly cool enough to appeal to a college audience. Boy, was I wrong.

Rascal Flatts built their career on memorable songs and making records people love to hear. They underscored that with a lot of hard work on the road. It’s easy to recognize them now as one of America’s top music acts ever. But pretend it’s seven years ago and that you know nothing about them. Check out their debut video and let me know if you see a superstar act in the making.