Carl's Scrapbook: 80s Original Songs: Music City News Award

At the first of January, 1984, I was invited to attend the fourth annual Music City News Awards Show in Nashville, Tennessee, as winner of a fan generated award for one of the "Top 10 Country Songs of 1983" -- Close Enough To Perfect. I was devastated to have to decline the invitation because we didn't have the money for me to make the trip. I guess they really wanted me to attend because they called back a few days later and asked if I would attend if they provided me with a round-trip airline ticket and hotel accommodations. I eagerly accepted. On January 18th, 1984, I was thrilled and honored to shakingly accept that award on national television.

The show itself was a neat experience and I met a lot of great writers and industry people. But, it came during a time in my life that I was having difficulty dealing with (seems like I had a lot of those in the early eighties) because of the lawsuit thing that was going on, but just previously, I had made some spiritual commitments that were starting to help pull me out of my hopelessness. It was this new hope that inspired me to write the better part of a new song at the hotel that night after the show. The song was "Brand New Me" and it would soon be recorded by Ricky Skaggs.

From the featured articles in:

   The Tennessean - January 19, 1984
Music City News Magazine - March 1984