Some background history…
In ’97, Susan and I were down in California to visit family and friends. While there in the San Joaquin Valley, I had blocked out a day to spend with a friend who I had sung in a 4-part gospel group with (Susan and I lived down there from ’85 to ’91). Anyway, this friend of mine, Randy, had been our lead vocal in the quartet. He was a Fish and Game Warden for California, and since Susan and I had moved away, had come to know a guy named Larry Bastian who had also worked with Fish and Game at one time. Randy had told me that Larry Bastian was also a songwriter, and in fact, the two of them were working on a CD project with Randy being the artist. Well, I get to Randy’s house, and he says to me, “Let’s drive down to Porterville. I want you to meet Larry Bastian”.
Now keep in mind that this is 1997. This pre-dates any awareness that I had of SongU, or NSAI, or TAXI, or Global Songwriters Connection, or The 515 studio, etc. I was 38 years old, and to that point in time had done virtually nothing with any of my songs. I had been writing since I was a teenager. I had heard all my growing-up, from people that I respected, that “I need to do something with my music”, but I didn’t want to live on a bus. I did not understand the place that a writer has in the business, and I had no mentor to explain it to me.
Randy and I meet up with Larry Bastian and his wife, along with another guy who used to manage Merle Haggard. Larry buys lunch for us all, and invites us back to his house. We’re sittin’ there talkin’ about huntin’ and fishin’, and all around the room are framed gold discs for songs this Larry guy has written. I go up to look at a couple of them, and right there next to the one for “Unanswered Prayers” is the one for “Rodeo”. There in the lower right corner of the sheet on “Rodeo” is a hand written note- “Without Larry Bastian, there wouldn’t be a Garth Brooks. Thanks Larry! Garth”. The light bulb went on as Larry proceeded to explain how it takes artists, production people, and writers to make music. The light had been turned on, but I still didn’t have a clue where to start.
By 2004, with encouragement from my Susan, I began to chase this crazy writing dream, and here’s where it gets really good. Virtually every time I would get frustrated with the process, or my head would be spinnin’ from my ignorance, I would turn the radio on only to hear “Rodeo”. I’d be down about the shear enormity of what I’m tryin’ to do, and there it would be, “Rodeo”. I would go for months without hearin’ it played, get disappointed about something along the path, and there it was “…bulls and blood, dust and mud, the roar of a Sunday crowd…” God was speaking to me, through the radio, through Larry Bastian’s song Rodeo, sayin’, “Just keep at it Brad. You’ve got this. Keep writin’ your songs. Keep writin’ better songs. Keep puttin’ your songs out there. And just to remind you, I’ve got Rodeo playin’ again in the radio speakers so that you don’t lose sight of that day at Larry’s in 1997.”
Last Sunday (4/29/18) at church…
I again asked some of our prayer warriors at church to lift up my writing path. I specifically asked for continued direction and confirmation relative to what I’m doin’ with this dream of mine.
On Monday I get an email from a Nashville publisher who has believed in my stuff from day one, tellin’ me that he is pitchin’ one of my writes in multiple directions.
On Wednesday, as I’m checkin’ email, I get a Facebook message from another Nashville publisher (the one that got me my Australian cut a few years ago). He wants me to call him. I pick-up the phone right away and call. He wants to pitch another one of mine for a different project.
This afternoon, as I was finishing my day in the barn, I was talkin’ with 2 returning guests who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. After the “hi’s” and “how you doin’s”, the first thing one of them asks me is, “Any new songs? What’s goin’ on with your writing?”
As I’m drivin’ home, thinkin’ about my prayer request on Sunday, and the things that have transpired Monday through Thursday, what comes on the radio? Yeah, you guessed it. A song that I haven’t heard in the playlist for probably a couple of years. “It’s bulls and blood, dust and mud, the roar of a Sunday crowd…”
I don’t know how this is going to finish, but thanks Lord. Thanks Larry…
