Darryl Worley was raised in Hardin County, TN - the home of Walking Tall sheriff Buford Pusser. Both sides of his family were musical, and the boy was singing and playing guitar before he reached his teens. He turned to songwriting during his high-school years.
But Worley honored his father in seeking a professional career, rather than pursuing music. He graduated from the University of North Alabama in 1987 and took a job as a research biologist in Tuscumbia, AL. Later, he formed his own chemical-supply business. Yet all the while, he was writing songs and performing in honky-tonks.
"There are volumes of songs. You wouldn't believe how much of my stuff has never been published. I played these songs in all those beer joints - North Alabama, West Tennessee, North Mississippi -- and every time I'm back in those areas, somebody says, 'What about that song so-and-so? Are you ever going to do anything with that?' One of these days, I might make a whole album of that stuff."
He says he was living wild in those days, perhaps running from the destiny he secretly knew might be his.
"Even when I was working, I always played music. I thought I needed my dad's blessing to go forward with the music. Really it was me holding me back more than anything. But I think that was part of the plan. That 'other' side of me was really raging wild at that time. I'm not even close to the same person that I was then. I probably would have screwed it all up if I'd been given a break.
"I had a career. I was making a lot of money. When I chose music, I had a lot of people say to me, 'You're losing your damn mind.' My dad wasn't that hard-core against it, but he was pretty strongly in favor of 'a regular check.' Mom is a great singer herself, and talented in every direction. She said, 'You're a grown man, and I can't tell you what to do. But don't let the sun go down on your dreams.'"
So in 1992 Darryl Worley ditched a "regular check" to become a $150-a-week songwriter in Muscle Shoals, AL. But repeated overtures to become a Nashville recording artist failed. By 1994, he felt he was spinning his wheels.
He returned home to work as a landscaper by day, songwriter at night and Nashville music-business explorer on off days and weekends. As a result, EMI Music offered him a Music Row songwriting contract in 1995.
"I'd resigned myself to the fact that my dream of making records might not come true. I hadn't given up on my artistry, because I get just as much a thrill out of playing at songwriters' nights. So I insisted that me being an artist was not to be the focus when I signed with EMI. I wanted to be signed as a songwriter and to make my living as one. So they agreed."
"After I recorded my first five songs at a 'demo' session, they said, 'We think we can get you a record deal!' I said, 'C'mon, man, that's not what we talked about.' They said, 'Yeah, but that's what you've always wanted.'"
He refused to perform in Nashville for record labels that were interested, telling them they could come to see him on his "home turf" if they chose. To his surprise, DreamWorks Records executives flew in to hear him play at one of his weekly honky-tonk gigs in Savannah, TN. He signed with the label in February 1998.
Darryl Worley debuted on the country charts with a trio of top-20 hits in 2000-01, "When You Need My Love," "A Good Day to Run" and "Second Wind." All were taken from his CD Hard Rain Don't Last.
His breakthrough year was 2002. Worley's touching ballad "I Miss My Friend," the title tune to his second CD, became his first No. 1 hit that spring. It was followed by the bluesy, swinging "Family Tree" later in the year. After performing as a Horizon Award nominee on the 2002 CMA Awards national CBS telecast, he spent Christmas entertaining America's troops in Afghanistan.
Then current events intervened. After overhearing a conversation about the Afghan War, he quickly wrote and recorded the topical "Have You Forgotten." In early 2003, it shot up the charts to No. 1 and brought him an Academy of Country Music Top New Male Vocalist award nomination. The label quickly assembled 12 tracks from his first two CDs, including five of his singles, and Worley provided four new tunes. The resulting Have You Forgotten CD became his first Gold Record. "Tennessee River Run" and "I Will Hold My Ground" were pulled as two more charting singles last year.
