In It for the Long Run: A Musical Odyssey

Changing Times

229 ChangingTimes instrument had lots of battle scars and a built-in ashtray. Nobody had totell methatthiswasan old-fashioned,no-nonsenseguy. IfI couldn’t cutitwithhim,Iwasgoingtohaveahardtime.Oncewestartedtowork, it became clear that I wasn’t the type of producer to tell everyone what to play and that I was happy to let them get to a place with a song where Don could really sing it and relax. In a very short time, we established a good working rhythm and came out of the day with five songs under our belt. It was a scorcher outside, easily over 100 degrees, so a frosty, cold beer seemed like a good idea. Tom Morrell beat me to the punch and bought me the first one. It was the start of a good friendship with the man they liked to call “Wolf.” At the end of our three days, we had 12 tracks and twelve fantastic live vocals by Don. We got Peter Rowan and Tim and Mollie O’Brien to singsomeharmonies,asdidStephanieDavisandthewesternharmony experts in Nashville, Dennis Wilson and Curtis Young. Waddie Mitchell did an emotional recitation on Cindy Walker’s classic “Jim, I Wore a Tie.” Joey “The Cowpolka King” Miskulin played on that and on Don’s own tribute to Tom Mix, WestofYesterday. Mark Miller mixed the album, taking full advantage of the echo chamber at Jack’s Tracks. Don’s voice was as rich and supple as well-worn leather. Many months later I got a callfromDon.Hewasexcited.“We’vewonTheWranglerAward!”Isaid, “That’sgreat!What’stheWranglerAward?”Therewasabitofapause,as Doncametotermswithmyignorance.TheWranglerAward,asitturned out, was the highest award given out each year by the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City for achievement in western arts and culture. I was now being led by Don still further into the world of the West. CHANGING TIMES LedbythephenomenalsuccessofGarthBrooks,allalbumsaleswerewell above what they had been just a few years earlier when we had started. InadditiontoMattLindsey,weaddedanother,equallyenthusiasticand committed song plugger to our ranks, Leslie Barr. There was more than enoughworkfortwopeopletokeepupwithallofthesongsinourgrowing catalogue. However, it seemed that the pitching process itself was getting harder. More and more there were a lot of middlemen coming intotheprocess.Someproducershiredassistantstolistentosongs.Then 230 FOLLOWING MY OWN PATH there might be the assistant to the A & R person, before you got to the A &Rperson.Sometimeswe’dconnectdirectly withan artist orproducer and they would actually record the song. Then some marketing person would jump in and say, “No! No! No! That’s not the kind of song we can sell,”andthatwouldbethat.ItwasafarcryfromthedaysofChetAtkins, Jack Clement, or Owen Bradley when it was a fairly straight shot from thewriterandpublishertotheproducerandtheartist.They’deithersay, “No,”orthey’dcutitandputitout.Ifpeopleboughtit,fine;iftheydidn’t, they’d try something else. Now, we often felt like songs were being sent off to limbo. It could be frustrating, but we had to believe that quality would have to be our hallmark, and we’d stick to our guns. Twomorewritersjoinedusatthistime,HerbMcCulloughandShawn Camp.HerbhadbeenafriendofminesinceIfirstcametoNashville.We met at the Kountry Korner at the time when Judy was living in the basement .Hewasasquietandsoft-spokenassomeoftheotherdenizensof theplacewereblusteryandloud.Wecalledhim“Herbal.”Overtheyears wewouldrunintoeachother.He’dhadsomewritingdealsandhadcuts by artists like John Anderson, Mark Chestnut, and Diamond Rio. He’d been keeping his eye on us and the way we were operating and came to me and said he wanted to write with us just because he liked us. He wouldn’t take an advance; he’d just take his chances. Herb had befriended a very talented young country artist and writer named Shawn Camp. Shawn was from Arkansas. He could play fiddle, mandolin, and guitar, as well as sing. He was also a fine writer. Shawn had had a record deal with Sony and had some luck with a song called “Fallin’ Never Felt So Good,” but marketing people at the label started wanting Shawn to work more on his image than his music. It all went down the drain when the label decided not to release his second album, and Shawn understandably got very frustrated and discouraged. Herb hadbeentryingtohelphimandstartedbringinghimovertoJack’sTracks to write with him. We all liked Shawn and were happy to see him wheneverhecamearound .EventuallyAllenandIsatdownwithhimandformally invited him to join Forerunner. He was so gun-shy at this point; hedidn’ttrustanybody.Icouldseeitinhiseyes,butourofferstood,and eventually he came with us. He had found a home. 231 ChangingTimes AboutthesametimethatHerbandShawnwerecoming,PatAlgerand I started working on an album. Our good friend Renée Bell was now at Liberty Records and had conceived of a songwriter series. Pat was first on...