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Darryl Worley Hasn’t Forgotten (New album debuts at #1)
CMT ^ | April 21, 2003 | Craig Shelbourne

Posted on 04/24/2003 5:43:15 PM PDT by SamAdams76

“I’m sorry, I’m a little scattered,” Darryl Worley says, calling in on a cell phone. “I’ve got so many damn things going on, and I’m sitting in the middle of an airport. It’s not the greatest place to do an interview.”

A slight echo distorts everything he hears on the other end of the phone, although his own words come through loud and clear. That’s appropriate, considering the fiercely patriotic message of his No. 1 hit, “Have You Forgotten?” A bold statement from a traditional-minded singer, “Have You Forgotten?” has become country music’s rallying cry of 2003. The single currently enjoys its fourth consecutive week at No. 1 on Billboard’s country singles chart.

“I think the bottom line is that the majority of people that listen to country radio see this particular circumstance that we’re in as a nation the same way I do,” he says. “There’s a few people in this country that seem to have forgotten what happened to our nation on 9/11, but there’s a majority of people who haven’t forgotten.”

With the war coverage saturating the airwaves, it’s practically impossible to forget about the conflict overseas. However, “Have You Forgotten?” was not written about the war with Iraq. Instead, Worley composed the song (with Wynn Varble) the last week in December 2002 just after visiting American troops in Afghanistan. He debuted the song at the Grand Ole Opry on Jan. 10.

“I was on a mission to do something to honor those guys and gals who are over there laying their lives on the line,” Worley says. “I almost forgot the lyrics that night, because we’d never played it as a band before. We actually stood in the dressing room and learned it.”

After his Grand Ole Opry Live performance was telecast the following night on CMT, requests began pouring into country radio almost immediately. The single shot to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in five weeks, and Worley (along with labelmate Toby Keith) accepted an invitation to sing for the President on March 26.

Earlier this month, he was honored with the USO Merit Award. During an Alabama concert, he was presented with an American flag flown at the Pentagon on the first anniversary of 9/11. Just last week (April 16), his performance at the Pentagon was piped into military bases around the world.

It’s an amazing trajectory for someone who was largely unknown this time last year -- three singles had cracked the Top 15 and “I Miss My Friend” was very slowly crawling to No. 1. (It took six months to get there.)

Now, rather than releasing a third album of all-new material, Worley collects six songs each from 2000’s Hard Rain Don’t Last and 2002’s I Miss My Friend for the new album, Have You Forgotten? Four new songs were inspired by his Afghanistan trip, and Worley calls the first half of the project “a tribute to the American soldier.”

Asked if he’s concerned that the new patriotic songs will overshadow his other material, Worley takes the opposite view.

“If this one patriotic song is all I had, people would be going, ‘What’s this guy about?’” Worley says. “I think we’re not only going to honor these soldiers, but we’re gonna put a retrospective look at what we’ve done in my career and the music that best represents what I’m about. I think people are really going to have a chance to hear that and say, ‘Man, that guy has got some solid music.’”

A Tennessee native, the 38-year-old Worley says, “What I’m told more and more every day is that ‘Your songs say exactly how I feel’ and that’s a special thing. You only get a few of those in a lifetime and we didn’t plan this. This is such a fluke. I mean, the song is so in-your-face, I never dreamed it would be a single. You have to be so careful nowadays what you put out there. You might offend somebody or have something radio doesn’t endorse or whatever.”

He continues, “There are a lot of people out there who believe in our military and who believe in our president. They’re the silent majority. You won’t see them out running around in the streets preaching to people about their feelings on this. But they will stand up and say ‘Hell yeah’ when somebody strikes that chord in them.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: countrymusic; darrylworley; haveyouforgotten
This week, Darryl Worley's new album "Have You Forgotten" debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, dislodging the Dixie Chicks from the top spot. Even more astonishingly, Darryl's album debuted at #4 on the POP ALBUMS CHART! This is an impressive showing for a country album on a chart that is dominated by mostly rappers, rockers and mainstream pop stars like Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. Country music has been making inroads on the pop charts lately as more and more Americans, disgusted by what passes for Top 40 fare these days, are turning to it. For instance, the number one song on Billboards Top 100 Pop Chart for 9 weeks in a row now is a rap song with disgusting lyrics called "In Da Club" by 50 Cent. I downloaded this song on a whim to see what America found so good about it that they would make it their number one song for two months running. I stopped it halfway through and deleted it off my hard drive. I'm no prude either. I grew up on Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. But this stuff is utterly unlistenable garbage.

On the Country Singles chart, Darryl Worley is still number one for the fifth consecutive week with "Have You Forgotten." Something else to note, Toby Keith, who had the country hit of the summer last year with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" holds at #2 on the country album charts with an album that has been out for nearly a year now and debuts at #5 with a Greatest Hits album. It appears that many Americans are consciously buying records from recording artists who support our troops. Meanwhile, back on the pop charts, a pop remake of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless The USA (Proud to be an American)" debuts at #4!

So it's been a pretty good week for patriotic music.

I bought my copy of Darryl Worley's new album last week. I urge the rest of the Freepers who haven't bought it yet to go get it so that it stays on top for many weeks to come.

1 posted on 04/24/2003 5:43:15 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76
dislodging the Dixie Chicks from the top spot

I am saddened, deeply saddened.
2 posted on 04/24/2003 5:59:10 PM PDT by visualops (This tagline was freed from an Iraqi prison by U.S. Armed Forces.)
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To: SamAdams76
now is a rap song with disgusting lyrics called "In Da Club" by 50 Cent

Am I the only one who thinks he sounds like Elmer Fudd ?

3 posted on 04/24/2003 6:04:51 PM PDT by ikka
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To: ikka
Fo shizzel my nizzel!
4 posted on 04/24/2003 6:12:41 PM PDT by opinionator
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To: SamAdams76


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5 posted on 04/24/2003 6:12:53 PM PDT by Bob J (Freerepublic.net...where it's always a happening....)
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To: SamAdams76
I had the honor of hearing him perforn at a Rally for the Troops in Nashville. It is great to see a good guy win.
6 posted on 04/24/2003 6:24:00 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: SamAdams76
Even more astonishingly, Darryl's album debuted at #4 on the POP ALBUMS CHART!

And it is SO country-western. It's not borderline at all. My husband likes the first three songs on the CD. I am a Garth-Brooks-kind-of-country country fan, so I find Worley a bit too twangy, but it's an honest pleasure to have something come out that I can SUPPORT instead of yet another anti-American slam that I have to boycott. If you really love country music you'll like this album, but I think it is something all Americans need to hear, whatever their musical preferences.
7 posted on 04/24/2003 6:53:43 PM PDT by ChemistCat (My new bumper sticker: MY OTHER DRIVER IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST)
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To: SamAdams76
BTTT
8 posted on 04/26/2003 10:43:10 PM PDT by NYC Republican
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To: SamAdams76
It's also # 4 among ALL albums, on the top 100. A MAJOR accomplishment for a country album. All right!!!
9 posted on 04/26/2003 10:44:33 PM PDT by NYC Republican
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