Question for Jim Lindsey about a Ty Herndon song

[Danny Dees]

Hi Jim. tomorrow will be the 4th anniversary since my uncle was taken away from us by a drunk driver one night. I remember when you played w/Ty Herndon ya'll had a song that talked about drunk driving. I was wondering if you could play it for me on line and maybe dedicate it to anyone who ever lost someone like that? its been 4 years since the accident but its still like a open wound.

Also did you play on that album? I've always been curious about that.

Thanks my friend,
Danny

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Hi, Danny. First, let me say I'm very sorry for your family's loss. I understand how you must be feeling right now; I remember Mother's Day 2000 when Reggie Brown called me and told me that Gary Hogue had passed away with a heart attack ... Gary was my best friend and my mentor and though it's been twelve years now since he passed, I still often feel the open wound of it as though it were yesterday.

The song you're requesting is called "Don't Tell Mama I was Drinking" and the link is below:

http://soundcloud.com/excalibur-steel/dont-tell-mama

Per your request, this song is dedicated to anyone who has lost a friend or loved one due to an alcohol related accident.

To answer your question regarding the album, none of us in Ty's band played on any of the album tracks (we only did the live shows). The steel players used on Ty's albums were Dan Dugmore, Paul Franklin and Bruce Boughton. On "Don't Tell Mama", the album credits Paul Franklin as having played steel on that one.

The link above is from our live show in Calistoga CA when we did the Nappa Valley Fair in 1998 for a show called "The Road". The guitar I played on it was my 1997 Mullen that I'd purchased from Gary Hogue. I don't have the album readily handy to put the album cut up online, so I chose our live version. Although my playing is a poor substitute for Paul's beautiful playing on the song, I hope that you (and anyone else who hears it) enjoys it and that the song touches your heart in a positive way.

[Danny Dees]

Jim: thanks! that song really means and says a lot. it was real emotional listening to it and it just ment a great deal for me and some of my family to hear it today.

p.s. -- your playin wasnt a poor substitute. it was beautiful and I thought it was great. thanks again!

[Jeremy Marcum]

Danny, Gary Allan has a great version of that very same song.

[Brett Day]

Danny, Gary Allan has a great version of that very same song.

Dan Dugmore played steel on Gary's version-it's on Gary's third record "Smoke Rings In The Dark".

[Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)]

Danny called me up a moment ago and asked me about the two versions of the song and why Ty never released it as a single. Ty's version was first (1996). As I recall, Gary's version was released sometime in late 1999 (I think around Oct or Nov).

Dan Dugmore played all the steel work on Ty's first album "What Mattered Most" and on our second album, "Living In A Moment" (released in Aug 1996 with "Don't Tell Mama"), the CD sleeve credits both Paul Franklin and Bruce Bouton as playing steel on the album with Paul being the one who played steel on Ty's version of Don't Tell Mama. It's one of those CD sleeves that lists the words of each song and the musicians who played on the track.

Something I found interesting is that I just looked up the "Living In A Moment" album on a couple of web sites because my nephew wants to order the Ty album, and on CDuniverse, Amazon (and a couple of others) they only list Bruce Bouton on steel with no mention of Paul. It makes me wonder if there was a typo on the CD credits. If I get a chance to see Paul at the next Dallas show, I'll have to ask him if he remembers playing on the "Living In A Moment" album, or if it was actually Bruce Bouton that played on all of it.

Although I answered Danny's questions on the phone, I thought I'd go ahead and answer why Ty didn't have Don't Tell Mama as a single release instead of a filler tune. Ty was signed with Epic who is owned, along with Columbia, by Sony Music. The story came down to us through our road manager that Ty, as well as the Epic representatives, were fully prepared to release Don't Tell Mama as a single, but the Sony representatives themselves didn't feel that Don't Tell Mama was "hit material" and allowed it to remain as a filler tune on "Living In A Moment".

Three years later, in 1999, Gary Allen recorded it on his "Smoke Rings In The Dark" album. Doug Stone also recorded the song in 2007 on his "My Turn" album. Dan Dugmore also played steel on the Doug Stone version.

[Danny Dees]

Danny, Gary Allan has a great version of that very same song.

Thanks, Jeremy. I'd thought Ty was the only one that did the song at first. I looked it up on YouTube and found the Gary Allen one. Also found a live version of of the gary allen one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBMFyo1KQk and it looks like his steel player is playin a mullen on it.

found the doug stone one too and I'm really not crazy about his version. I really enjoyed both the Ty and Gary Allen ones.

sure is a powerful song.

hey, Jim, my sister rushed out to buy the Ty cd and she found it at walmart. i know you said your playin was a 'poor substitute' for the steel player on the album, but you shouldn't dog yourself like that! we listened to the recorded one and the live one and man it dont matter who played on the album, you nailed it like a champ! absolutely beautiful bud!

thanks again everyone

[Greg Wisecup]

Jim, First of all that was a great song.
Second of all you playing was stellar. The right stuff at the right time, soulful and it sounded like you. Extremely tasteful!