Rebel for God

by Eddie DeGarmo

  When we first got to town, we rented a townhouse for a year to get our bearings. It was convenient for me as it was just around the corner from ForeFront. When I left to play concerts with the band, the tour bus could pick me up in the ForeFront parking lot. If for some reason we had to go south, the bus picked me up first and then went to Memphis. If we had to go north the bus drove to Memphis first.

  ForeFront grew rapidly. After The Pledge tour, the label released my second solo album, Phase II, to strong reviews from critics and fans alike. One of the highlights on that record was my re-make of Bill Gaither’s “Something About That Name.” Russ Taff and Mark Farner (formerly of Grand Funk Railroad) performed as a vocal trio with me. Larry Howard, one of the greatest and most underappreciated blues guitarists in the South, played the solo on the track. The video featured a cameo appearance by Bill Gaither himself. Deaton and Flannigan were back as producers and their video definitely goes down as one of my proudest moments as a solo artist. Appearing alongside Russ Taff, Mark Farner, Larry Howard, and Bill Gaither was like playing with the Yankees.

  FORTY-ONE

  Heat It Up

  By the time we went into the studio to record Heat It Up things had settled down between Dana and me, between Dan and Darlene Brock and D&K, and between The Benson Company and ForeFront records. I survived an amazing amount of crossfire, and it felt good to be done with conflict for a while. When I look back it really was a terrible season. No wonder I’m crazy. The good news is by 1993 we’d all made peace.

  We asked Greg Morrow if he would be willing to record again with us for Heat It Up. It was hard to beat the team of Greg Morrow and Tommy Cathey. They were the backbone of our sound. John Hampton came back on board to co-produce with us. I was able to produce Dana’s vocals again, and to capture his guitars. Dana produced my vocals and keyboards. We were definitely back in the zone.

  We had a complete blast recording Heat It Up. Dana wrote the title track, as well as “Selective Amnesia,” “Never Look Back,” and “Divine Embrace.” I wrote “God Good, Devil Bad,” “It’s My Business,” “Dare To Be Different” and “Talk To Me.” The album came out really strong and we were very pleased with it. I see it as a close musical cousin to our D&K album.

  As a release party, we decided to rent a music club in Nashville during Gospel Music Week to showcase the album. It felt like old times. We were able to get the Nashville Fire Department to send out a hook and ladder truck and a regular fire truck to park on the street with their red lights spinning outside of the club. Get it? “Heat It Up” and fire trucks? It was a lot of fun, and was exciting to feel fully back on our game.

  We played to a packed house that night. It was an awesome way to launch the album.

  The Heat It Up Tour included Geoff Moore and The Distance and a new artist named Karthi. Geoff and Karthi recorded for ForeFront Records, so it made a lot of sense for me to work it out for them to tour with us. Geoff had been a friend of ours for years, trailing back to the Petra/D&K tour as Geoff opened a few of those shows. The Heat It Up Tour lasted about five months and went all across the U.S and Canada.

  The tour drew huge crowds in some cities, but struggled in others. That was typical of any tour, but this one was more jagged in that respect. Later I concluded we just didn’t have a large enough organization to manage all the elements of a tour of that magnitude without a larger and more experienced office staff. From a business perspective we simply bit off a little more than we could chew.

  From a ministry point of view, however, the tour was nothing short of fantastic. We saw thousands of decisions for Christ and countless lives impacted.

  Another highlight of the Heat It Up era came when we were invited to play at World Youth Day in August of 1993. World Youth Day is actually a multi-day festival sponsored by the Catholic Church for young people from around the world to hear a special address from the pope. Our publicist, Rob Michaels, was somehow able to swing getting us invited to play. It may have been the first time a World Youth Day event invited a rock ‘n’ roll band to be on stage and to participate in the festivities. I was elated, but also frightened to death. There were roughly half a million people gathered for it! The events in Denver that year took up much of the downtown area. The pope was to arrive by helicopter at Mile High Stadium where he would address the masses.

  I recall the day very well. We drove over a thousand miles to perform there. We were set up on a huge stage in downtown Denver, overlooking an enormous grassy mall. There were gigantic Jumbotron video screens on either side of the stage and another set of screens positioned back a couple hundred yards or so, and then there were two more gigantic screens set up a couple hundred yards farther back still. The mall would accommodate an amazingly large sea of people. The only problem was, nobody was there. Nobody. Rain fell hard all day. It was a real gully-washer. It was also a real bummer.

  The pope’s airplane was due to arrive at Denver International in the early afternoon. It was still morning, so there was a little time left on the clock. The showers continued to fall. Dana and I went out on the streets and walked around a bit with umbrellas. There were vendor booths set up everywhere in anticipation of the crowd. I actually bought an eighteen- inch pointed hat like the one the pope wears. I still have it! What these merch guys can come up with to sell. I guess probably because idiots like me buy it.

  The rain kept falling—and falling. The huge park area was vacant except for the occasional brave soul or security person wandering by. I was upset, to say the least. We were honored to have been invited to play at this momentous event and I didn’t want the lousy rain to mess it up. It was pretty selfish of me, as I look back on it. I should have been praying for the pope to arrive safely and for his program at Mile High Stadium to go well. But, that’s me, always thinking about myself too much. Morning turned into afternoon and the rain began to slow. It finally came to a stop. At just about the same time, the video screens fired up and came to life with images of Pope John Paul II disembarking from his airplane at Denver International Airport.

  As was the tradition of the pope, he walked down the jet-way staircase from his airplane, in plain view. When he reached the tarmac he kneeled and kissed the ground as a gesture of blessing, thanks, and appreciation for the people. We were completely transfixed on the video screens next to the stage. It was a powerful moment. When I turned around and looked back out into the park-like mall, it was filled with people as far as I could see in every direction. There were tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. Where did they all come from? The throng filled that entire space in about ten to fifteen minutes’ time. It was spectacular. Pope John Paul II was certainly a better draw than us. That’s the understatement of my life.

  We played to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. There were cameras capturing our performance and then relaying it to the Jumbotrons throughout the area. It was powerful. We fed off the energy of the massive crowd and put on a pretty great show, I must say. When we finished our last song, as was our practice, we lined up, arm in arm, at stage center, and took a bow. The crowd roared for more. It was almost overwhelming. We were deeply honored to be a small part of an event like that. What a great day.

  As Dana and I jogged off the stage an elderly priest walked up to us quickly and grabbed our hands for a hearty handshake. He had a big smile on his face and was smoking a cigarette.

  “Hell of a show, boys!” he exclaimed while slapping us on our backs. “Hell of a show!” He meant it as a compliment—I think.

  The Heat It Up album sold well. We experienced a bit of a lull in sales with Go to the Top, which was a first for us and we didn’t enjoy it. The marketing line for Heat It Up was “The Boys are Back,” and it proved true. Our momentum was back on track.

  To capitalize on that momentum Dan Brock and I decided it was time to release a D&K “Greatest Hits” album on ForeFront. We had never released a compilation of our most popular songs and felt like the new wave of excitement made the timing good. We wante
d to include a couple of new songs as well. I wrote a rock number called “Color Me Gone” and Dana wrote a power ballad called “I’ll Come Out Fighting for You.” We recorded those songs with Greg Morrow and Tommy Cathey at Greg’s studio in Memphis, Crosstown Recorders.

  ForeFront sent Dana and me on a twenty-one-city “promotional tour” visiting radio and retail. As a result, Destined To Win, The Classic Rock Collection sold well.

  MTV’s Unplugged series captured our attention. Essentially that was the way DeGarmo and Key performed in the very beginning, even before we released our first album. We were comfortable performing in the stripped down, acoustic format. As a result, we launched the D&K Acoustic Café Tour in the spring of 1994.

  We hired Susan and Sharon Anderson, her partner in DNA Designs, to create a special stage set for the tour. They fabricated this really cool café set with fully exaggerated features, kind of like what you would see in a Bugs Bunny cartoon back in the day. We loved it and so did the audience.

  A brand new band called Big Tent Revival opened for us. It was their maiden tour. I negotiated a deal for ForeFront to market and distribute Ardent’s releases. Big Tent Revival was their first release and was a perfect fit for our “Acoustic Café” vibe. We hit about twenty-five cities and the tour was successful and very well received. It was the first of many Christian “unplugged” tours throughout the nineties.

  I had recently purchased a southwestern style jacket and leather cowboy hat in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When we shot the photos for that tour I wore my new get-up. As I look back I think it was a bit of a mid-life crisis look for me. I finally cut my long hair (thank God) and I was looking for something new. Susan says I have had many a mid-life crisis since then. I was thirty-six then in 1981. I still had plenty of time to freak out.

  We contractually owed one more album to Benson. For the next two years, I toured Thursday through Sunday with the band and worked at ForeFront Monday through Wednesday. I started that practice a year before we moved to Nashville. It was beginning to get the best of my family and me. Susan and the girls were in a new town and hardly knew anyone. It seemed I was always gone, and something needed to change.

  It was always hard on our family to be separated that much, but now things were becoming frayed around the edges. Because Susan found her faith at our band practice all those years ago, she understood what I was about more than anyone. Still, being apart so much was very difficult on all of us. I can remember when the kids were little, sometimes they would hold on to my pants leg while I was getting on the tour bus to leave. It was heart-breaking. It was a big sacrifice for all of us. Thankfully, our family remained strong. I really give Susan much credit for that as she was the one holding down the fort.

  I encourage anyone embarking on a career that keeps your family apart so much to consider it very carefully. If you are married, both sides have to be totally committed to what is going on. There is no room for division. It’s not for everyone.

  As we started to record To Extremes the folks at Benson began to talk about signing us to a new extended record contract. I put them off and stalled, but it kept coming back up. I already knew in my heart I was planning to hang up my D&K spurs and retire before we began recording To Extremes. We invited our original team of Greg Morrow and Tommy Cathey, and co-producer John Hampton, to join the project and lend their talents to the album. I wanted it to be just right.

  I am proud of To Extremes. It displayed a heavier sound for us, which was a pretty honest reflection of the raw rock sound taking over mainstream radio in the nineties. Dana learned how to tune his guitar down to “drop D,” which gave the whole thing a lower, crunchier tone. The album cover was controversial again. Susan mocked up a joke cover featuring a black and white picture of our family dog, Wooly Bully. She also presented several other design options. To our surprise and amazement, the marketing team at Benson loved the “Wooly Bully” cover art. So, we went with it. It was “extreme” for sure.

  TobyMac told me soon after, “Eddie, I knew you were going to pack it in when you put your dog on the cover.” Maybe he saw something I didn’t. I don’t know.

  I never wanted to be the old boxer trying to regain the title past his prime. I always wanted to hang my gloves up while things were good. A local Memphis music icon and friend of mine, Don Nix, once said to me, “Eddie, I awoke one day to find myself in the twilight of a mediocre career.” That was a funny one-liner, but I never felt that way at any level. My time with D&K was fantastic. I was blessed. Who gets to say that?

  Right after we turned in To Extremes, I went to Dana and had a tough conversation with him. I shared with him I felt it was time for me to pack it in and leave our dream band. I felt it was unfair for me to continue to allow Benson to throw big numbers at us to re-sign, knowing in my heart it was time for me to go. I also felt it was unfair for me to let Dana make plans that involved me when I was unsure I wanted to commit to them.

  Not re-signing meant turning down hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was also difficult for me knowing how many lives were going to be impacted by my decision not to go forward. But I always wanted to walk away while things were really good. Things were still pretty strong for D&K in the marketplace, and I wanted to leave while it was still that way. “Always keep ‘em asking for more,” they say. That’s the show biz motto and rule number one.

  So, Dana and I shook hands, gave each other a hug, and I turned and walked away from what had been a fantastic career.

  Now, I couldn’t just walk away immediately. We had tour commitments on the books for about eighteen months into the future. We also had a slew of assets we needed to dispose of. We had a tour bus, a semi-tractor trailer, a huge sound and lighting system, a literal ton of merchandise, and warehouse space we leased to house it all. It fell to me to sell it all. It took me almost all of those eighteen months to move everything, but thank God, I was able to do it. My last sale was to rock icon Leon Russell. He bought all my keyboards, except my Hammond B-3. I’ll never sell that. In fact, maybe I’ll get buried in it. It’s big enough, but that’s probably too weird, people would talk. I ended up donating my B-3 to Trevecca University’s music department where college students can put it to good use. That’s way better.

  We never toured the music of To Extremes formally. Probably just as well. Dana would have had a hard time keeping his guitar in tune. We had a few memorable concerts during the summer of 1994, but only a few.

  The last DeGarmo and Key concert was at Kingdombound Music Festival in upstate New York that summer. It was an awesome experience playing to such a huge and wonderful crowd. It was bittersweet, but much more sweet than bitter. We had a great run.

  Over our career, DeGarmo and Key received seven Grammy nominations and I received two others as a solo artist. We never actually won one, although some of my fondest memories are of taking our daughters, Breckon and Shannon, to the Grammy awards when we were nominated. I took each girl separately when she reached middle school age. We watched the show, rubbed shoulders with the stars, and danced the night away. That was the best! Also, DeGarmo and Key received around thirty-five Dove Award nominations. We never won one of those either. The GMA did later induct us into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, though.

  That encapsulates my transition from artist to record business executive. It certainly wasn’t easy, and it involved some of the most difficult decisions I have ever faced in my life. For me to leave my band was the most difficult choice I have ever made. I was just thirty-seven years old when I felt like it was necessary for me to walk away from the dream God gave me so many years before. I dreamed of being in a band from the time I was a little boy. Dana and I had been friends since the first grade, and I was walking away. Dan Brock and I had been closest friends for over ten years, and I had to break our management relationship. That was tough stuff.

  All of my experience learning the ropes back in the early days—learning how to survive as an artist on the road, learning how to write great songs, lea
rning how to produce records, how to manage Ardent, and then all of the experience managing D&K—even all the stuff I didn’t really even want to do proved to be a training ground for what was to come next. I still had much to learn, but I had a solid foundation on which to build this next chapter of my life. All the painful on-the-job schoolin’ wasn’t for naught.

  FORTY-TWO

  It’s My Business

  As so often was the case in my life, during the last several years with the band I was bi-vocational to the max. It seems to be the way it has always worked out for me. I burned the midnight oil managing all critical business for D&K and being out on the road most weekends, while also working with A&R and some marketing for ForeFront.

  An important principle that worked for me over my entire career is when I began a new business I didn’t have to be totally dependent on it for income during its fledgling years. I was okay doing whatever I could to make ends meet while the business got on its feet. The only way that worked was because I surrounded myself with gifted people. That’s not always the easiest way to go, though. You have to be willing to give high quality workers their own space and some amount of self-management. They are leaders. You won’t always get your way. I know I didn’t.

  Once the D&K chapter was completely closed, however, I was able to devote my full time and attention to the label. It was certainly no walk in the park. ForeFront was down to two partners: Dan Brock and me. The record company was exploding. We had just released dcTalk’s Free at Last, Audio Adrenaline’s Don’t Censor Me, and Geoff Moore and The Distance’s Evolution. All three were big hits and the workload was crazy.