Darryl Worley‘s been making country music for years now. His first single, “When You Need My Love,” debuted in 2000, and two years later, he notched his first No. 1, with “I Miss My Friend.”
The son of a Methodist minister, Worley was used to bowing his head to pray. So when he heard his first single on the radio, he kept a promise he had made two years before that special day.
I had struck a deal with the good Lord a couple years before my first single came out: I was riding down on [Nashville’s Music] Row a lot, looking for a new publishing deal. I was talking to Him and wondering just where all this was going to wind up. I said, “You know what? I’ll make a deal with you: If you will let me get a song on the radio, you can put this vehicle anywhere you want it. The first time I hear that song, I will get out of my car, and I’ll go to the back of my vehicle, and I will kneel down on my knees, and I will thank you for that moment.”
The first time I heard my first record, “When You Need My Love,” on country radio, I was actually driving down Music Row. I had cut that deal, and when I heard it, I thought that it was playing on my CD player. So I reached down, and I poked at the button, and I realized, “Oh my God, that’s on the radio!”
I was in a little blue Ford Ranger pickup truck, and I just pulled over against the curb. There were cars zooming by, and I just went to the back of my vehicle and took a knee like I was at the altar … put my elbow on the bumper, and I just said, “I told you I’d do this, so thank you God for this day and this blessing,” and I jumped back in the car and took off … yahoo!
I always tell people, you’ve got to be careful what you pray for because He’ll remember what you said! That parking lot wound up being the office complex where my management company wound up being.
This story was originally written by Pat Gallagher, and revised by Angela Stefano.
This Article Was Originally Posted at www.TheBoot.com
