A songwriter and author who lived in Nashville for 15 years before moving to his current location. His book, “A Crazy Journey (And Finding My True Identity),” came out last December and captures his 40-plus years in various facets of the music industry and sports and entertainment, plus other areas of life, meeting and working with some of the most famous people. He wrote a country Christian song that went to No. 1 after he moved out of Nashville, where he had hosted 120 events for songwriters and the music industry at his home, 112 consecutive months from 2003-2012. He has had over a dozen songs recorded for artists' projects, including on Sirius XM and RFD TV.
“I helped host a songwriters event at George Jones's place in his barn.”
“We had Danny Mark was cutting demos, demo singer in town in Nashville and he later went on to write several hit songs, number one songs.”
“I had a friend that was programming Sirius XM Radio. I'd met him years earlier when I worked for NASCAR Country Radio Network… and he said, ‘Doak, I have a show on Saturday night… I feature a lot of new songs. They do not have to be signed artists… If it's a good song, I want to play it.’ And so those dreams came true.”
“I went and bought 50 pounds of barbecue. I said, ‘bring some food and beverages over.’ About 150 people showed up. And so, I called that one the GuitarBQ. And I did that annually for the next seven years … That final one in 2009 of the GuitarBQ, brought about 650 people.”
“My brother had a cheap guitar. And so, I took it back to Lake Norman with me. I’d never really played guitar. And it was years after that before I finally learned, but I started strumming and these lyrics started coming to me. And so, I started writing them down. And I didn't know what to do with them at the time, I said, ‘I just got to write this stuff down’.”
“I started the NSAI workshop in Charlotte. And that grew to be the largest workshop in the United States with over 30, 35 people a month learning the craft and business. I would bring hit songwriters and publishers to town to do workshops. And so, at that started in 1996, which resulted in me making trips to Nashville.”
“I was a ring announcer for wrestling in the mid-80s.”
“If you look on YouTube there's about 400 of those video segments with a lot of pros and cool people. So, we started that and would host events half a dozen times a year for networking in the industry. We’re going to interview some hit writers. ‘How does this work? How did you write that song?’ So, we would do, instead of just video, it was free workshops for the business.”
“I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest names in music and entertainment; from Paul McCartney, the events, the things with so many people in sports and entertainment, tennis, to whatever. But through this incredible journey I felt like a failure.”
“I am not what I have. I am not what others say about me. I am a beloved child of God. I will not hurry. I will not worry. And after reading that and repeating it and writing it down and looking at it I came to learn that our goals, our dreams, our job, all those things we do, that's what we do, it's not who we are.”
“Got the Talking Part Done”
“They Broke the Mold”