BEHIND THE MUSIC

1. Never Too Late

I think we are all dreamers, but, too many times, we live our lives telling ourselves that we can’t do something because of our limitations. Instead of making choices about what we really want out of life, we eliminate alternatives rather than make choices about our lives. Everyday, we are blessed with this life. We all have the opportunity to make a choice to change our lives, to make it better in some way, or to help make the lives of someone else better. It’s never too late.

2. Must Be Love

Yes, it must be. When you can’t decide if you’re happy or sad, up or down, in pain or the most sublime joy…. It must be love.

3. BBQ

This song really does speak for itself. It’s all about the BBQ. Hot, spicy, juicy, sweet, and tasty BBQ. I played this song for my Mother a few times before she said, “Donny, you know, you could take this song a couple of different ways”. To this day, I’m still not sure I know what she meant.

4. Home

I wrote this song just after my father passed away. We all knew the inevitable was coming for a few years prior to his death. Every day I was out working, traveling, and building a business career, I kept wondering why I was doing it. I was chasing some dream that I wasn’t even sure I wanted anymore. All I wanted was to just step back in time to when my parents were young and strong, and I was a boy growing up in Alabama. A fantasy, for sure, but nostalgia for the days of our youth is a powerful energy. If you listen to the words of this song closely, you will understand my bit of nostalgia for a time and place that we all call HOME.

5. Birmingham

Growing up, my brother, Steve, and I were very close. We would play and sing together all of the Southland, during one of the greatest periods for American Music in the last 50 years (in my opinion). My younger brother died a couple of years ago. I’ll never forget the night I got the call that he was passing after a along illness. He was waiting for a lung transplant that never came. He was a kind, unselfish, and giving man even after his death. I was told his eyes went to a young girl who was also awaiting a transplant.

Many times people ask me how I write songs. What comes first? Music or lyrics? Where do the ideas come from? This is one of the songs that just leapt out of my consciousness as I sped down a dark, rainy highway traveling from NC to Alabama. I couldn’t stop it. This song wrote itself.

It is songs like this that make me appreciate whatever small gift I have with my music. I still can’t sing this song without a small tear in my eye, remembering Stevie. This song is for my brother and the story is true.

6. Born Again

This is a fun song for me. It’s about the life changing transition that a good woman can bring to a “not so good” man’s life.
I know a lot of men who live the kind of life this songs describes and were “born again” and saved by the love of a good woman. Thankfully, I am one of those men.

7. Three Chords and the Truth

When I came home from my first recording sessions in Nashville, I was awed at the level of talent that I was surrounded by. As well all do sometimes, I was feeling a little not up to the task of working with such great talent. John Willis, a great Nashville musician, sat me down, and we talked about how a meaningful song does not have to be about complicated notes and chord progressions. Sometimes, it just takes three chords… and the truth. That is what most great country songs are about.

In the middle of the night, this song poured out of me. The biggest problem was cutting all of the lyrics down to 3 minutes. I wasn’t successful at that part, but I did manage to get it down to just over 4 minutes.

1. That’s What Love Can Do

I wrote this song for my daughter Remy. I’ll never forget the night she came to me thanking me for the love and family we were all creating together after the divorce of her parents, which understandably was a traumatic time. Her Father is now happily married to a wonderful artist and I have found the love of my life with her Mom. We all spend time together on vacations and holidays – kind of unusual for a divorce to turn out good … But, that’s what love can do.

2. My Heart in Your Hands

I wrote this song for my oldest daughter, Kyla. She and I have had a challenging and rewarding relationship throughout our entire lives, sometimes more challenging than rewarding. I do know that for whatever reason God placed us together in this lifetime that it was meant to be. No matter how difficult relationships can sometimes be between a father and a daughter. She has the most special place in my heart and neither of us can run from that no matter how rocky the road may be. She will always have my heart in her hands.

3. Superman

I know this is a common theme in my songs, but I also know that there is nothing greater than love. With love all things are possible, this is just another of my ways to say it.

4. Ready For Love

I wrote this song while I was staying in a very rustic cabin high in the hills of Northern California overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was a magical time of beauty and discovery. I had spent so many years searching for something I couldn’t describe or find. When it did finally show up in my life, all the lights came on. It was then that I began to understand the freeing power of surrender and I was ready for love.

5. Do It Again

My life has not always been easy, but it has been a very good life. I’d do it again… with Alexandra.

6. Angel in My House

I wrote this song for my daughter Claire when she was graduating from high school, and going through a very tough time in her life. We were all having a lot of challenges about our place in life and the transitions that we were going through, but I knew that a very special time in our life was passing and my daughter was leaving for the next phase of her life. I knew the “Angel sleeping in my house” was leaving. Since that time, we have had two more of our children graduate, and leave for college. This song has always been the one that brings the bitter sweet tears to our lives when our children transition and leave our home.

7. I’m Gonna Love you

Life can sometimes be tough. I wrote this song for my wife and all my children. I wanted them to know that as I celebrate their independence and the life journey that they are on, they will always have someone who they can count on and someone who will love them always unconditionally. I love the lyrics to this song, and, sometimes, I still cry when I sing it.

1. Emmanuel

I consider myself a story teller. In this song, I have taken the opportunity to re-tell one of the greatest stories ever written. The story needs no explanation. It is the story of Christmas and the birth of Jesus,
The name Emmanuel can be interpreted as “God is with us”.

I wrote “Emmanuel” a couple of years ago, and produced a CD that I sent out to many families and friends as a Christmas card. The song was very well received and I have had a number of requests to reissue this song since many people lost the CD somewhere – along with all those Christmas ornaments that seem to go missing after taking down the tree each year.This year I am re-releasing the song in digital form and it is my gift to all of you.

“Emmanuel” is a very special composition for me. I’ve always wanted to write a Christmas song that families would sit down together and enjoy each year during the holidays. There are so many Christmas standards but, admittedly, many of them have become a little tired. I was hoping to write something new that families would embrace at this special time of year.

Admittedly, this song is a bit long for our age of 3 minute song bytes, but I hope you will take 7 minutes and really listen to the beautiful music and even more beautiful message in this song.

Today, we live in a different world than the one in which I grew up. There is so much anger, fear and hatred. This is nothing new, but it seems to be so all pervasive now. With the advent of the digital environment we have at our fingertips, there are so many voices shouting that their voice is the only voice and their opinion is the only one that should be heard. I don’t agree with that idea. I believe WE are all children of God and no matter our belief system we all want the same things – To love and be loved, to see our children happy and prosperous, to live without fear, to have food and shelter.

I also realize that there are some people who may see this as a naive perspective, but this song is a message of LOVE. Loving one another. Caring for one another. Being patient and tolerant of one another. Being more gentle and understanding of one another. We need more love today. Meditate and pray on that.

I believe God is with us at all times and in all ways and in all places. I hope you will enjoy the music and the message of “Emmanuel”.