WOW – It’s been a while since I have written and for such, please accept my apologies.
While it has been an unbelievably busy 2006 thus far, one thing remains the same. Once again, this comes to you from my bus and on yet another highway. As I have much I want to share, this may be a “to be continued” letter as time is tight for me and for you as well I’m sure.

My driver tells me we should be seeing the Nashville skyline at around 2:00 am. It was great to be home for a few weeks as you all know how much I hate to miss my son’s basketball games (I’m still the loudest daddy on the bench).

As usual, once the bus picks up Sis and I and the Vermont plates get fewer and fewer, I realize its “back to work”. To all of you whom I have met out there on, “the road”, I never would have had the pleasure of doing so if not for my sister Juanita. I go nowhere without her. I was once asked by a Nashville record executive exactly “where does your sister fit in the picture”? To which I replied, “Oh, she’s not in (the picture,) She’s the canvas it’s painted on.

That Nashville Skyline holds a busy couple of weeks for me and Juanita and “back to work” it is, and in high gear.

We have a two day video shoot for a project that until now, I was asked to help keep “under the radar of the media” etc. As many of you know, having adopted my boys, I have long been an advocate for adoption. While I concede that almost any man can become a “father” – I sure love being “dad”. As such, this “unplanned” project is one that I am more passionate about then anything I have done in my career to date. It is one that merges my love for music, for children, for camaraderie and for making a difference. It is also one for which all other projects were put into a “holding pattern” as this event promised to be – and is, all-consuming.----------------

This new “project” was born while on the road to a concert date (or perhaps a radio show,) to support a scheduled follow-up single to Turbo Twang and Something Bout You, I saw a 20/20 (or the like) re-run at three in the morning at a motel in somewhere USA. While I may have been one exhausted little country singer, that show and its topic, held my full attention. The segment told about an organization called “The Heart Gallery” . It has famous photographers volunteer to take pictures of Children waiting for adoption in a fashion that makes their angelic faces jump off the screen. This was a great contrast to the usual “mug shot” approach and I became an instant fan and supporter of this organization. I scribbled the name “Heart Gallery” on the hotel note pad and as I fought for sleep, my mind heard the melody of a song I had written almost 20 years ago and long before we adopted our own children. A song that had always, and privately, been my favorite inked from my pen, a song that I had put away until “the time was right”. I had a fleeting thought of what a neat sound track that would be for the Heart Gallery’s Photo’s. The song title, “God Bless The Children.
Three days later, back on the bus and back to work, I found a scribbled note in the pocket of my jeans. It read “The Heart Gallery”. I casually mentioned the TV show and my idea to my sister.

At the end of our tour and finally on our way back home, I was surprised when Juanita announced that we had a quick stop to make in Trenton, NJ for a last minute meeting with Gloria Burnett-Harrison and Candace Mueller at the NJ Dept. Of Human Services and Heart Gallery associates. Juanita had gotten her hands on an old demo of the song “God Bless The Children” and had an idea about doing the song and video with a “We Are The World” approach with several artist’s. We would also add photo’s from The Heart Gallery as was my vision back in that hotel. When Sis played the song to these seasoned professionals in the adoption world, their eyes filled with tears and “Nashville Project God Bless The Children” was born.

This came at a perfect time for me. My work takes me far away from both my geographical, as well as my emotional home – often with a collision of two different lifestyles that seem as far apart to me as the miles on the map dictated I often was. For me, it’s never been about how high I can get on a chart, but about what I could do with however high I get. This became my “what I could do” and my soul rejuvenation. It garnered my full attention.

While I, my partners and team were concerned about the damage a delay of a follow-up single could create with radio, I also knew that I had built many great friendships in radio-land and hoped that they would still be there for me when this project was complete (fingers crossed)

I wanted all proceeds from the song to be used for the amplification of adoption awareness. Gloria and Candice mentioned the name of an organization that has been epically know for its fantastic work, its professionalism, integrity and as importantly, the compassionate hearts of its workforce. All attributes that made a unity with The Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption (www.davethomasfoundation.org ) an obvious one.

A search for “the right” video director began in Nashville and we immediately hit the jackpot with a guy who’s resume could be measured by the pound. John Lloyd Miller was awarded for the famed Garth video “The Dance” and has created so many of the videos for which we are all familiar. He said that for him, this project was”personal” and then, he e-mailed me a photo of his pretty little girl and his handsome little boy. His two beautiful, adopted children.
At this point we were more than a few months into the project and we wanted to get the song recorded and filmed as soon as possible and during the somewhat “artist downtime” in November. This would also allow me to get back to the suffering and much delayed “normal” (?) artist’s itinerary with records and radio. The date was set and a call for participating artists began in full force. Response was encouraging and rapid, receiving support some of the biggest names in country music as well as Hollywood superstars like Bruce Willis, Barbra Walters, Oprah and John Schneider. All was going well and on schedule.

But a tragic and unexpected event on the horizon was about to change everything!

I’m not much for watching television around the house, but on the bus, CNN or FOX News is on day and night. Give me a box of low fat Cheez-its, The O’Reilly Factor, my couch in the back of the bus and a smooth highway and I am a happy boy. But, as is often the case, the screen was void of good news as was the case when it told of a storm system heading towards our coastal areas. Much of us here in Nashville have visited these regions many times and like myself, have many great friends in the radio business in the area. Soon Katrina, and thereafter, Rita, hit the beaches. These gals left a tragic trail of destruction on everything they touched. Immediate needs dictated that the Nashville community, in chorus with the rest of the country, re-shifted all agenda’s. Such acts make me proud to be a part of this community and in fact, this country. I too was honored to be able to play a role in fund raising concerts with so many of my peers.

This also meant that everything related to the filming/recording date was delayed thus bringing it to a date when we would be back in the season of heavy tour schedules taking many artists out of town. This meant scheduling havoc with pre-confirmed artists and many regretfully, could not participate

Once again, concern grew over the length of time for which I did not have an active single on the airwaves. However, I had learned from the beginning of the project that it was in much greater hands than mine. Additionally, The Dave Thomas Foundation was remarkable with their enthusiasm and encouragement and I remained focused on the reasons why we were doing this. In fact, when I am home, I tuck two of these reasons in every night.

The call for artist participation once again echoed down the streets of music row, and once again, the calls came in. But this time, voices of an even higher caliber called to form the “all-star” choir. Voices of legends, champions of Countrymusic and many of my personal hero’s were on the other end of the line. Artists who have always, and continue to sing because they love it and count their blessings for the gifts their work allows them. They stay true to their belief system in this regard and ignore anything that the guys in the big cushy chairs on the row have to say about it. (Sorry, strayed there a bit) I never even dreamed I would meet some of these people. Now, not only are they singing my lyrics, their singing them with me. On a personal level, this took the event to a whole new level.

I just got off the phone with the director (John Lloyd Miller) giving me the schedule for Mondays shoot and what time I was to be on the set. So finally, here we go. I am still not comfortable doing videos so any prayers offered for the two day shoot (Feb 6th and 7th) will be welcomed. I will write again as soon as I can to let you know how it goes.
And now, the treadmill awaits. (too many fat-free cheez-its).

Thanks my friends – this project is as much yours as it is mine. I hope I do ya proud.

Below, me and my boys goofing off, some say they even look like me lol