Man, what a day! I did five hours of radio interviews today promoting my new book Walk to Beautiful. The interest is great, but I was kind of surprised that all of the interviewers asked the same questions. It made me think some of you all might be wondering the same things. The radio station interviewers asked: Why did You abandon your career at the height of your success? Why did you walk away from your career while your star was on the rise? The simple answer is, I didnt. Heres what happened. (1) I was on DreamWorks Records and had multiple hit songs. (2) DreamWorks sold to another record label: Universal. (3) That record label put me on the shelf for over one year. (4) I was eventually dropped from Universal and signed by Big Machine Records. After almost a year, I made a lateral move over to its sister label -The Valory Music Company (5) After multiple attempts to get back on the radio, I was then put on the shelf, dugout or whatever you want to call it. (6) After three years, I finally found a hit song called DO YOU BELIEVE ME NOW. It became a three-week No. 1⃣. I went on tour with Brad Paisley. (7) After the Paisley tour, there were no tour dates scheduled etc. I was simply going to be sitting in Nashville doing nothing throughout the winter of 2009 - 2010. Therefore I decided to walk halfway across America to raise awareness for foster children who are aging out of fostercare and becoming homeless. (8) I had the record labels full support. My friend Scott Borchetta (president/CEO of Big Machine Records and the Valory Music Co.) even showed up on the launch date and donated $50,000 to the awareness campaign. (9) I began walking halfway across America on January 1, 2010. While I was walking through Arkansas, The Valory Music Company released a song called JUST KNOWING YOU LOVE ME. It didnt chart high at all. (10) Not long afterwards, I received a phone call from my managers saying that they had received an email from the The Valory Music Company saying that they had dropped me. (11) Despite no longer having a record deal I kept walking and performing concerts; meeting every single obligation because the last thing I am is a quitter and or someone who abandons their career and fans.. A support car driver would drive out into the middle of the desert where I was walking and mark the spot with a GPS. I would get in the car and go to the airport. I would fly to the scheduled concert and perform the concert and then fly back. The support car driver would meet me at that airport and then drive me back to that location where I left off. I would resume walking until the next concert date. Helping foster children who are becoming homeless is not abandoning your career. My career is doing very well. So can we move on already?
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 03:02:04 +0000
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