The title of Deryl Dodds latest release, Full Circle, is definitely one chosen with some thought. This album not only represents for Dodd, a return to his Texas roots, family and faith, but is a project produced by the same person that Deryl made his first move to Nashville with, Brett Beavers. Now, with someone in his corner that truly knows him and where hes coming from, Deryl is happy to be making his music his way.
Growing up in Texas, Dodd was schooled in the rough-hewn honkytonks and dancehalls that are as much a part of Lone Star life as the church and the farm. My buddies and I used to go hear Gary Stewart or Haggard or Willie, whoever was coming through, he says. If Id grown up going to coffee houses, maybe the music would be different, but as it was, I came up with music you could dance to
But for Deryl, living in Nashville was a far cry from what he expected. People gave lip service to his honky-tonk roots, but in the end, it was like trying to fit a true-country peg into a hole more interested in radio play and record sales than art. Of course there were exceptions. Many Nashville artists and industry leaders recognized Deryls talent as not only a singer but as a songwriter. A lot of good things happened to me in Nashville, he says. I toured as a guitar player and back-up singer with Martina McBride. I opened shows for Garth Brooks, Tim McGraw and Brooks & Dunn, and I worked with legends like John Hiatt, Kevin Welch and Radney Foster. People in Nashville picked up on my passion and I was glad to be there.
During the mid-90s, Dodd signed a publishing deal with BMG Music. Among the many songs he wrote for others, his Thats Just Me and Shell Have You Back landed on two of Tim McGraws best-selling records: All I Want and Place In the Sun. Eventually, he joined Tracy Lawrence's band and immersed himself in Nashvilles studios, recording with McBride, Lawrence and Foster, among others. Deryl signed with Columbia Records, and his debut, One Ride In Vegas, birthed the hit single Thats How I Got To Memphis. A self-titled follow-up album, released in 1998 which featured the hit single A Bitter End, secured Deryls place in the country music world. Radio was behind him, and as he played for larger and larger crowds, he appeared to be on the brink of stardom.
Around that time, Deryl began having some troubling physical symptoms. Given that hed been putting everything into his career for over ten years, the fact that he was fatigued seemed reasonable. But fatigue and stress didnt explain the fact that Deryl was having trouble lifting his arms to comb his hair or, worse, to play his guitar. He was diagnosed with viral encephalitis, a debilitating brain disorder. For the next six months, career or no, Deryl was on twenty-four hour bed rest. It took another year and a half of physical therapy before he was ready to perform again, but by then, things were different.
That illness came about from me being out of balance, says Deryl. I came from a spiritual background and I had gotten away from it, and I was losing my strength physically and spiritually. It upset me to think that to be an artist, I had to do things in a certain way that didnt agree with me. The veil was lifted, and I knew I had to get back home.
At first, the move was just organizational. Much to his record labels dismay, Deryl insisted that his third, comeback album be released on the Lucky Dog imprint. Though still part of the Columbia/Sony family, Lucky Dog was a boutique label dedicated to Texas-oriented acts such as Charlie Robison and Jack Ingram. Though the album, Pearl Snaps, produced two number one singles on the Texas music chart, it seemed that a split from Columbia (and Nashville) was inevitable.
That record I made for Lucky Dog got played in Texas a whole lot, so it made sense to move to Texas and establish things back there, says Deryl. Luckily the guys in my band, The Homesick Cowboys, had been waiting for me to recover and moved down with me, so we started playing live again.
Before long, Deryl and the band were asked to make a record for the Live at Billy Bobs series, an acclaimed collection that includes the best of Texass best musicians. The single from that record, appropriately titled Things Are Fixin To Get Real Good, was a Lone Star smash that remained in the Texas Charts top three for over twenty weeks. The full-length studio record that followed, Stronger Proof, was picked up by Deryls current label home, Dualtone Records. Things were picking up again for Deryl Dodd, but he still had one lesson left to learn. The illness took away some of my ability to play guitar, which is ironic because that was my mainstay, he says. But in a strange way that was a lesson. Youre not your guitar playing; youre not your songwriting. Youre Deryl, and its about whats in your heart. I realized that I had to let my heart be what people see, and quit trying to make it about all this other stuff. I had to let things go.
So when it came time for Deryls second Dualtone releasethe record that would become Full CircleDodd went to childhood friend, Brett Beavers. Beavers has made a name for himself by producing Dierks Bentley, one of roots musics great success stories. Deryl trusted Beavers as a producer, not just to accurately record his sound but, also, to create a commercially viable record that remained true to Deryls newfound sense of peace. It was a real breakthrough when I realized that I could call Brett Beavers and say You know me. I want you to produce this record. I want you to help me make a record thats going to be heard within the business framework but thats still going to sound like me. This time Im going to listen, take my hands off the wheel and let people do their jobs.
Full Circle is a record that combines the best of the Texas roadhouse tradition with honest songwriting and the spit and polish of state-of-the-art recording and production techniques. Songs such as Only Cause Youre Lonely and Wearin a Hole celebrate the simple truth of a honky-tonk shuffle and the feel of my heels sliding over the boards. Lost love is the theme of the ballad Im Not Home, while the upside of romance is celebrated in Someone Is Waiting For Me.
If one song sounds the theme of Full Circle, however, its the rousing two-beat Song of the Family. Deryl was raised in a musical home (a 1966 home recording of the Dodd Family follows Song of the Family), and the song appropriately completes the album. They could really play, Deryl says of his family. It was more than just strumming, and I heard the difference. Those songs live in me, and thats what I want to hear. My mom and dad sang well together, but they had harmony in their lives as well. When I hear my parents, it inspires me and I want to be that for people, too.
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