::GOODTIMIN' WOMAN:: Should I subtitle this 'Hosea sings about Homer'? Well, that's probably a stretch, but isn't it funny that the Bible talks about 'Good Lovin' Gone Bad' but Christians aren't supposed to sing about it! I cut the original demo for this song at the home of Greg Jennings in Nashville, and the horn licks we threw in on that demo caused me to want to use the horn section (with me on trombone, of course) on this song in the studio. The sax solos (alto and then soprano) are hot (Go Gary Riley!). This song just cooks. Dave McErley did a great job on the horn arrangements.

::CHECKLIST FOR LOVE:: This is as close to jazz as I get. I ended up playing a lot of the keyboards on this to get it like I wanted it (that's scary). The first demo for this was also done at Greg's. Originally, it had a more straight forward beat, but Jennings started getting funky on the bass and it wounded up jazzy. Greg's original guitar licks on the demo were real good, although I like the sax stuff on this version, too. One of these days I'll dump a clip of the demo on this web page.

::SANTA JR (BE GOOD):: Is there a great animator out there that would like to make a classic Christmas special (ala: Grinch) out of this song? I'm tellin' ya it would work! As a parallel to the true Christmas story, the Son saves the day in this story, too. (I'm sure Hank Williams Jr could put his signature on this thing, and make a mint on it. I even parodied All My Rowdy Friends at the end of the song.) This is a great song to perform, as is the next one...

::THE GREAT PRETENDER:: This song is the perfect blend of Christmas and the fifties. It was the first of two Christmas things I wrote and performed for the annual Oklahoma Opry Christmas Show. (I just wanted to do something different!) This song tells the plight of the department store Santa Claus (Get it? The Great Pretender?)

::THE RING:: This is a great power ballad. It also works great as a duet. (Bryan White and Leann Rimes...are you listening?) I prefer the length of my second recording, (He Knew Me When CD) but overall, this has all the other elements. I was marketing it to radio stations with a little Christmas plastic ring stamp that was labeled, "This Christmas, Put On The Ring." Clever, huh?

::LOOKIN' FOR MS. GOODBAR (Love Can Wait):: I altered this song for the 'True Love Waits' campaign, but it's probably a little out there for them. When I did the demo at my house, I put in a real fun banjo part (synthesized of course). Bill Perry did a great job, but it just didn't click with everything else we stuck on it in the studio, and we almost lost it in the mixdown. Can you hear it?

::I'M FOR REAL:: After parodying everyone else, I parodied my own self on a couple of songs. Originally, this was a love song, and I changed the last verse to portray the greatest love of all, as shown to Thomas by Jesus. Hopefully, it reels you in until the chorus, and second verse. S.K.O. WONDERFUL Mark Farner redid this with Christian lyrics, but I hadn't heard it when I did this version. (I loved his instrumentation, but he could have done a lot better job on the lyric rewrites. Mark, I'll fix up the lyrics, if I can sing it with you.) I left the original words on this. I also freaked when I heard Huey Lewis and the News' version one day while walking through a supermarket right after I had finished the vocals on mine. Great minds think alike??? I do this song with the Opry band alot, so I thought I'd rock out on it here.

::HANGIN' OUT With The WRONG CROWD:: This is another parody (changing) of a song I originally wrote, to reflect a Christian message. (Shortly after this, I decided to start writing the songs from start to finish with that intent. The Red Letter Day CD is pretty indicative of that.) Anyway, this is about as close to hard rock as I get. Maybe some of my brothers on the Broken Records site who specialize in this style would like to redo it. In retrospect, I'd like to eliminate some of the gaps between lyrics. (Boy, am I being honest/critical:( THE LIGHTS OF THE CITY I first heard this song on an old Michael (Martin) Murphy album, Geronimo's Cadillac, during my freshman year at OBU. It's always been one of my mom's favorites to hear me sit down at the piano, and play and sing. I even had some folks ask me to sing it at their funeral when they die. I would prefer that Jesus return, first. AHAB, FATIMA, & CLYDE This is my updated version of the Ahab the Arab that I grew up listening to when I was a kid. Ray Stevens doesn't make it to Oklahoma much, so I've taken up the mantra. (Harry the Harry Ape was one of the first songs I sang in front of a large audience-the 9th grade talent show at Alice Robertson Jr High in Muskogee, Oklahoma) In this version, Clyde gets some real lines. Come on Ray, even a camel wants to expand his horizons...

::GITARZAN, THE GANGSTAMAN:: That's right, a rap version of Guitarzan. I did this song in full rap gear at Moore High School, and the REAL gangstas started walkin' out. Luckily, they weren't waitin' for me when I left. Actually, I've found that this is a show stopper with the 50 and over set. I don't think the boys in the Moore hood realized I was joshin' 'em, because I know I am not a rapper, although some of my songs have rap quantity lyrics. Oh well, when we recorded it, we did it just like the rappers. We sampled the drum beat, and the noises, etc. The whole song was sequenced. In the last couple of years, rather than do the Stayin' Alive bit twice, I do a Macarena bit the second time. Have I told you more than you want to know?

::WHEN HE CALLED MY NAME:: Vince Gill and my friend Tim DuBois originally wrote this song. I rewrote (parodied) the lyrics on a bus in Alaska (on a mission trip). I really felt led to write these lyrics, and I mean, it is a powerful song to sing live. I sent a copy to Tim at Arista, but I doubt Vince has ever heard it. This is a real, nice 'invitation song'.