Darryl Worley Bio

Darryl Worley

Like so many historic events in the history of country music, this one started on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

Country star Darryl Worley knew he’d written something powerful when he created “Have You Forgotten?” But it was his performance of the song on the Opry stage that made it a phenomenon.

“Have You Forgotten?” came about as a result of the singer’s USO tour of Afghanistan over the 2002 Christmas holidays. He was profoundly moved by the dedication of the American armed forces stationed there and decided he needed to salute those men and women in some way when he returned home.

“I literally had soldiers come up to me and say, ‘You know, we’re over here fighting for you and your family, and we need for you to go back home and fight for us,’” Worley recalls. “And I knew exactly what they meant. It became a mission to me, a duty to come back here and do something to honor them. I didn’t even think the song would get recorded – I just had something to say.”

Worley was scheduled to play the Opry on the weekend of Jan. 11-12, 2003, four shows in all. He and co-writer Wynn Varble had just completed “Have You Forgotten?,” so he decided to try the tune out on the Opry crowds.

“At the first Friday-night show, they started applauding in the middle of the song,” Worley recalls. It startled me so much that I forgot a line. Every performance of it that weekend got ridiculous ovations. On the televised Grand Ole Opry show, on Saturday night, people actually stood up at the beginning of the song and remained standing throughout the whole performance. They cheered and cheered and cheered. I’d never seen anything like it. It really got ahold of my heart.

“By Monday morning, the label was getting phone calls from all over the country. Everyone was trying to get the song. So we put together a meeting as quick as we could. We set up a recording date right then. And it’s been like a whirlwind ever since.”

The song – which rose to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart – is the centerpiece of Worley’s new album, Have You Forgotten?. The record contains two “sides.” The first eight songs are designed as a salute to America’s soldiers. In addition to the title track, they include three new compositions: Worley’s Civil War ballad “Shiloh,” his rocking anthem “I Will Hold My Ground” and “I Need A Breather,” which he intends as a little “vacation” for those caught in a stressful wartime environment.

Of the additional four “tribute” songs, he hopes “Tennessee River Run” will also serve as a break for a weary fighting force. Worley was dedicating “Back Where I Belong” to the soldiers overseas long before his visit to Afghanistan. “POW 369” directly addresses a veteran. And “Those Less Fortunate Than I” has taken on new meaning for the artist since he witnessed poverty firsthand overseas. This quartet of songs was drawn from his first two albums, 2000’s Hard Rain Don’t Last and 2002’s I Miss My Friend.

The other half of Have You Forgotten? touches on some highlights of Worley’s career to date. Five of his DreamWorks singles are reprised: “When You Need My Love” (2000), “Good Day To Run” (2000) and “Second Wind” (2001), all from Hard Rain Don’t Last, and “I Miss My Friend” (2002) and “Family Tree” (2003), both from I Miss My Friend. “The Way Things Are Goin’” and “Too Many Pockets” first appeared on Hard Rain Don’t Last, and “The Least That You Can Do” is drawn from I Miss My Friend.

“Have You Forgotten?” burst onto the country charts with enormous intensity – it took only five weeks to reach #1. It is unquestionably a “career” single for Worley, who will donate a portion of the proceeds generated by it to military families in need.

Says Worley: “Isn’t it amazing when things like this come about just because you were trying to do something good? I knew the song had a strong message, but you really don’t know how something is going to be received. You hear about the ‘silent majority,’ but you don’t realize how much of a majority it is until something like this happens.”

If anybody is in touch with heartland America, it’s Darryl Worley. Raised in rural Hardin County, Tenn., the home turf of “Walking Tall” sheriff Buford Pusser, he comes from blue-collar stock and a long line of musicians. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were singers and pickers. Darryl started playing harmonica at age five and guitar at age nine. As kids, he and his brothers formed a harmony trio with Darryl as its lead singer. He began writing songs when he was in high school.

His interest in songwriting blossomed during his student years at Martin Methodist College and the University Of North Alabama. He funded his education by working at the local paper mill, in construction and as a commercial fisherman on the Tennessee River. He also formed his own country band and landed a regular job singing the songs of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson and Dwight Yoakam at the Back Porch Restaurant in Shiloh, Tenn.

“I ‘graduated’ from that to the Moose Lodge and the local American Legion Hall,” Worley quips. “You name it, I played ‘em all down there. I could make a list of beer joints as long as my arm. As soon as I graduated from college, I really started hammering away on songwriting.”

With degree in hand, he went to work as a research biologist in Tuscumbia, Ala., later returning to his home county to teach school and, briefly, sell cars. He next worked in chemical sales for a company in Baton Rouge, La. Then he formed a partnership with some friends and launched his own chemical supply business. But all this time, music was tugging at his sleeve.

His song tapes led to a contract with FAME publishing in Muscle Shoals, Ala., which found Worley chucking the life of a prospering businessman to roll the dice as a $150-a-week songwriter. At that point, his singing became a matter of survival. Fortunately, acts like Archer Park, The Hutchins and even George Jones recorded his early tunes. And in 1994, on the strength of “A Good Day To Run,” among other songs, Worley ‘graduated’ again, this time to EMI Publishing in Nashville.

The company’s executives introduced him to producer Frank Rogers, who was then working on Brad Paisley’s debut disc. Worley and Rogers hit it off instantly and went into the studio together. The result pricked up ears at record labels up and down Music Row. DreamWorks Nashville principal executive James Stroud was so enthusiastic, he flew his private jet down to rural Tennessee to see Darryl in action at the Moose Lodge.

And “down home” is where Darryl Worley has remained. Although his career is based in Music City, he is still a resident of Hardin County. His wife, Beverly, is a hometown girl whom he married in 2001. They live in a cabin on some rural acreage.

It was indeed a long way from that countryside to the wastelands of Afghanistan. But that journey changed Darryl Worley’s life forever.

“I had a feeling ‘Have You Forgotten?’ might affect my life, but I guess I didn’t realize how drastically,” he reflects. “I can’t give credit for this to anyone but the military and the good Lord. It’s all just been incredible. The only thing I regret is that I couldn’t go right back to Afghanistan and play it for the troops the day after we finished writing it.”

“And I give the Grand Ole Opry total credit for this getting recorded,” Worley concludes. “I’ll tell you one thing – I just might try out all my new songs on the Opry stage.”

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