Ralph Drinkwater Floyd(1973-Present), or RD as he is known to those close to him, is an American Entertainer, Recording Artist, and Singer / Songwriter from Cut & Shoot, Texas. He was born in Fort Oglethorpe, GA, a small rural mountain community that borders Chattanooga, TN to a Welsh-Irish carpenter "Jack of all trades" and a French-Canadian / Iroquois nurse and school teacher. He grew up in Shepherd, Texas where he graduated Shepherd High School in 1991. He joined the military in 1992. From 1992 to 2003 he lived in Illinois, California, Texas, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana and before finally returning home to Shepherd, TX.
Sometimes life has a way of dragging you onto the road that you were meant to be on. RD, had been performing with bands and writing music for the better part of the last ten years. In 2003, after over ten years of roaming around the United States playing every role from vagabond musician to corporate businessman, and after recently coming off of a 6 month road trip that ended with the breaking up of his band in New Orleans, RD returned to his hometown of Shepherd, TX. He was lost, a little bit broken and wondering where his life could possibly go from there. His sister Kimmie was a bartender at a local bar and offered to let RD play at the bar a few nights a week. RD hadn't seen his sister or most of his family in ten years and this visit home was a chance to reconnect and do some much needed soul searching. His sister soon became his biggest fan. They spent a lot of time together talking, catching up, and singing songs.
One night, while sitting on the tailgate of his truck, he and his sister started talking about past relationships, about love and about heartbreak. A subject both of them were well versed in. Kimmie had recently gone through a divorce with a man who abused her physically, mentally and emotionally. After eleven years, and hundreds of fights, she finally left. During the conversation, Kimmie told RD that her ex-husband was a stranger. She said she didn’t know him any better the day she left him than she did the day she met him. She said, “You know, In a way it is the way it was before I met him.†These words stuck with RD and after the conversation faded and Kimmie went home, RD sat down with his guitar and wrote a song titled, “In a way it is the way it was.†The next day he played it for Kimmie and she cried and hugged him and said it was the most beautiful song she had ever heard. Every time he took the stage or picked up his guitar, Kimmie requested that song and made him promise to record it for her one day so she could hear it when RD wasn’t around. RD promised it would be the first song he recorded when he finally got back into the studio.
On June 12, 2004 at about 9:30 in the morning, the car Kimmie was driving swerved off the road and took out a couple of pine trees before coming to a stop upside down. Kimmie didn’t survive the accident. The family requested that RD sing Kimmie’s song at the funeral services. RD fought back the tears and the memories of his sister while he sang the song to a quiet crowd at Pace Stancil Funeral Home in Cleveland, TX. It was there that RD saw the power of his talent and the path that his life would take him. He had sung thousands of song in the past in front of hundreds of people, but for the first time in his life, he was singing with a message. After Kimmie died, he realized that life was pretty short and he was bound and determined to keep the promise he made to his sister. He decided to do what he was sent here to do, spend the rest of his life writing and performing songs about life that are insightful, meaningful and emotionally truthful.
His debut album, The Road Home, consists of songs that detail the journey of Drinkwater’s travels back to his home town and of a road home that lies ahead for each of us. Some of his songs will make you laugh. Some will make you cry. Drinkwater Floyd’s wry whit, strong vocal talent and amazing ability to perform with emotion, have made him the antidote for today’s American Idol type performers. “He doesn’t just sing, he sings from the heart and his songs aren’t just songs, they are true stories that have happened in his life…†He takes you back to the day when singers sang songs that were based on their own lives, experiences, thoughts, and emotions. In a world where reality TV is at the top of the ratings, but none of the people seem real, Drinkwater Floyd is a refreshing twist on reality. It’s not difficult to understand why his appeal is so attractive.
Drinkwater Floyd’s wry whit, talent and amazing performances, have made him the antidote for American Idol. He sings from the heart and his songs are stories that happened in his life. In a world where reality TV tops the ratings but none of the people are real, he is a refreshing twist on reality.
