A Couple Things Different And None Of This Would Be Here - Commentary

My own career...

Had, um, a couple of things gone just slightly different

None of this maybe here, you know

(What was that?) Um

Let's see, well, back when I was, I was leavin'- I'd left RCA- I went to Joe and, and

We were such great friends, Joe Galante was the president of RCA and

And we tried for six or seven years, I just went to him, I said, "Man

Would you just let me out?"

I said, "It's not working, you're frustrated, I'm frustrated

And let's just go, let's go try something else and

Let me, let me, let me go", and he begrudgingly did

He said, "I don't want to", he said, "But I will, I believe in you" and he always did

And so then I went- I didn't go shop much

I had two people that were interested in what I did

One was Warner Brothers, a guy named Nick Hunter who's no longer here

And he liked me 'cause I was a good softball player, hahaha

And I played on his Warner Brothers' softball team

And was a great outfielder with a good arm who could hit it and take it out, you know and

And so he was crazy about me and he's, "Man, I, I'd sign you over here in a heartbeat. I'd love to work with you" and

And, but he was the only one at Warner Brothers at the time that was interested

I went ahead and had a meeting with the head of the company, he goes, "Ahh

I just don't hear it, I hear all this stuff about you and

And you know, you're this and you're that but I, I just don't hear it and

I don't know, and in our staff, they're not that

That pumped up about it", he said, "I'd sign you because Nick wants to"

But, but I, you know, I didn't like hearing that

So I said, "Well, this is not gonna, this ain't gonna, haha, this ain't gonna be where

Where I land and then Tony

Uh, who signed me to RCA along with Joe in '83, was at MCA

And he's in-in- and I went to see him and he goes, "Yeah, of course, I'd, I'd love to have you", so

That made the most sense and he was gonna produce my record and

Ah, we were all set for

To start on a Monday with "When I Call Your Name", that's all that had been written

Um, players booked, studio booked, everything, we're gonna start that record

And around that same time, I had turned

I think, I had turned down the Dire Straits gig

I got offer to Dire Straits gig to play in that band with Mark

And I just said, "Man, I think, I'm gonna get a new shot"

And I said, "I gotta, I gotta believe in myself, I can't bail"

Said, "If I quit now, I may never go back to country music and

And I just, if I quit on me then, you know

Who else is gonna believe in me", you know, so I turned that down

And then the Friday, before I'm starting this record with Tony

He called me, he said, "Man, I can't believe

I can't believe I'm calling you but I might leave the company"

I said, "What do you mean?", he said, "Well

I just found out that Jimmy Bowen's coming back to run the label"

And Bowen didn't like me

And he told Tony, he says, "The first thing I'm gonna do

When I come back is, I'm dropping Vince Gill

That's the stupidest signing you could have ever made" and

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah

So Tony says, "If he comes back, I'm not staying"

And he said, "I can't leave you twice", you know

So he goes to, he went to New York and played hard ball, said, "Look

You choose him or you choose me", you know

And they said, "Okay, we'll roll with you, we'll go with you, we won't bring Bowen back"

'Cause I knew that Bowen would- the first thing he was gonna do was run me off, so

If that would have happened

I'd have never recorded "When I Call You Name", I'd have never been on MCA records

On and on and on

So, just like- you never know