It has been about two decades since Darryl Worley signed his record deal with DreamWorks and next year will mark the 20th anniversary of his “Hard Rain Don’t Last” album.
Worley performed some new songs during CMA Fest earlier this month in Nashville. He had a performance on the Budweiser Forever Country Stage and he did meet and greets inside Fan Fair X. In addition, he had other performances throughout the week including his annual fan club party at 3rd and Lindsley and a show at John Rich’s Redneck Riviera.
Worley has been performing at CMA Fest for about two decades. “I think my first year was either the last year or second to the last year at the fairgrounds,” he said. The International Fan Fair moved from the Tennessee State Fairgrounds to downtown Nashville in 2001 and became known as the CMA Music Festival.
Worley said he enjoys playing the arenas as well as bars, adding that bar shows seem more personal than the arenas because you are so far away from the closest person at the arena concerts. “We did a lot of those small barroom things when we were coming up through the ranks,” he said. Worley also noted that “having 50 or 60 thousand people screaming at the top of their lungs is pretty exhilarating.”
The new album, which is called “Second Wind: Latest and Greatest,” was released earlier this year. It is a greatest hits album, but it also contains seven new songs. “We kind of thought especially with the fact that I haven’t done anything in a while that the fans would appreciate that,” Worley said.
The album begins with “When You Need My Love,” which was Worley’s debut single and one of the singles from his “Hard Rain Don’t Last” album. Two of the next three singles from the album – “A Good Day To Run” and “Second Wind” – also appear on the new album. All three songs were co-written by Worley.
When it comes to his hits, Worley said he has several favorites for several different reasons. He said he would be remiss if he didn’t mention “Have You Forgotten” because it was such a massive hit and a life-changing event. The album also contains “I Miss My Friend,” which became Worley’s first number one hit. “It’s different moments in time for different songs. They seem to just hit the mark sometimes and you never know which song that’s going to be,” he added.
Worley said he really liked “Lonely Alone,” which was the first single off the project. The song was picked up by satellite radio and did very well there. He added that there’s another new song called ‘The Night’ which was a fun song to do live.
“We’ve got this silly song called ‘Whiskey Makes Me Think About You’ that people are starting to absolutely love out there,” Worley added. The album also contains a song called “Do Something Good Today,” which Worley called his save the world song for this album. “People are really loving that,” he said.
The new album was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. “We did the whole thing in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, so I’ve kind of come full circle,” Worley said. ” I started out down there and now I’m back.”
Worley explained that there are some differences between recording in Muscle Shoals and recording in Nashville. “Everything down there is just more laid back,” Worley said.” He added that there’s no pressure there. “It’s like when you cross the Tennessee River there, the time slows down.”
“Those guys down there, they have a little bit of a different vibe in the music and it’s just a cool thing,” Worley added. It’s also convenient to Worley’s home on the farm on the edge of Tennessee right above Alabama. He lives only about a half hour from the studio in Muscle Shoals.
Worley has another project finished called “22,” which is a project to honor and benefit the American veterans. “That song, the title cut, is about the phenomenon of 22 veterans committing suicide a day in this country,” he said. “It’s kind of heavy, but it’s a great tune and there’s some other amazing songs on that project.”
In addition, Worley said he has the second volume of the greatest hits about ready to go out and he’s also working on a Christian album.