The Heroes Salute gala is the showcase of the Nashville Connection — Heroes Salute, and it’s what we are all about. Here we honor our veterans and enjoy a great concert performed by an A-list performer in an intimate setting. The Gala will take place at the TD Convention Center near the downtown Greenville airport.
Starring Darryl Worley
Throughout a career that has produced
nearly twenty hit singles, including three #1s, as well as chart-topping albums and sales in the millions, Darryl Worley has set himself one primary goal.
“I’ve always set out to make sure every song on every album is a good one,” he says. “I want every cut to be a potential single.”
It is an approach that has helped to
make Darryl a mainstay of modern country music. His unquestioned musical integrity earned him an enviable connection with the American public and a reputation as a genuinely traditional country artist who doesn’t follow trends or fads, but rather his own bedrock convictions as an artist and a person. It doesn’t hurt that he is a distinctive singer and first-rate songwriter whose
music chronicles life, love and the world situation with equal facility.
He has topped the charts with singles including “I Miss My Friend,” “Awful, Beautiful Life” and “Have You Forgotten,” which accomplished the feat for one, two and an
incredible seven weeks, respectively. He hit the Top Twenty with the first three singles from his impressive major-label debut, Hard Rain Don’t Last–”When You Need My Love,” “A Good Day to Run” and “Second Wind”–and followed with smashes
like “If Something Should Happen,” “I Just Came Back From a War” the iconic “Tennessee River Run,” and “Sounds Like Life To Me.” Along the way, he earned nominations for five major ACM and CMA awards, including “Song of the Year” and “Single of the Year,” and wrote songs for other artists including George Jones. And a dozen years into his remarkable career, as he releases his latest studio album, his outlook is as positive as it has ever been.
Musically, the latest addition to his highly respected catalog is One Time Around, a collection on Tenacity Records/Crazytown Records that more than lives up to his
every-cut-a-potential-single pledge. He calls it without hesitation “as strong a project as I’ve ever put together.” In essence a celebration of his longevity and of artistic maturity, One Time Around is at once a renewal and a return to the approach that marked Worley’s dramatic entry into the national spotlight a decade ago.
“I work on music continuously,” he says, “and we’ve been working on this project for
about a year and a half. I was never a fan of the way we used to have to go in and do everything at once. We cut a few tracks here and there and gradually it evolved and took shape. It makes for a record that really gels.”
Darryl wrote all but two of the songs, working with longtime friends and collaborators like Wynn Varble, Don Poythress, Brett Jones, Steve Leslie, and Kevin Grantt. Songs
range from the album’s lead single, “You Still Got It,” a musical “state of the union,” to “Cold Beer,” a bit of mid-winter escapism, and “All I Can Do,” about the trial that is separated love, to songs that indulge Darryl’s philosophical edge, including “Things That I Can’t See,” “You Never Know,” and the title-cut, “One
Time Around.”
In addition to the lyrical mastery Darryl and his co-writers are known for, this project is one of his most compelling musically.
“I was real adamant this time about saying, ‘Let’s let this music be driven by the groove.’ There are times as a listener when it’s not the lyrics but that groove, that funky feel that catches me. I’ve written a lot through the years with intense subject matter
and messages, but this project, more than anything I’ve ever done, is for people who just like stuff about life and love that feels good. It’s very real and very personal, and there are two or three uptempo things on there that I get a bigger kick out of than just about anything I’ve ever done.”
Darryl has been a tireless performer for troops here and overseas following a 2002 visit to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Uzbekistan that helped inspire “Have You Forgotten?” He has been back nine times since then, playing both full band concerts and special acoustic sets at remote Forward Operating Bases for troops who rarely receive celebrity entertainment. Darryl has been honored with the VFW’s Americanism Award, the USO Merit Award and the U.S. Army Appreciation Award. He has also been cited by the Tennessee House of Representatives for his contributions to country music.
Through it all, his ability to draw on real life to make deeply moving music has made him one of country’s most passionately appreciated artists. With the release of One Time Around, Darryl adds to that already rich legacy.
Featuring Mike Corrado
A nationally recognized singer-songwriter (featured on CNN, ABC, CBS and in Rolling Stone magazine) and U.S. Marine, Mike Corrado wrote “Still In The Fight” as a way to draw attention to the struggles many service men and women face after being wounded in combat.
“‘Still In The Fight’ is dedicated to our Wounded Warriors, who have sacrificed so much for their country, and for their amazing strength, spirit and resilience,” says Corrado. “Though they may be far from the battlefield, their fight for recovery continues. For those ‘Still In The Fight,’ this is their fight song.”
The video features three amazing and heroic wounded warriors; Marine Master Sergeant William “Spanky” Gibson who lost his leg to a sniper round in Iraq then was the first Marine to re-deploy back to combat with a prosthetic leg, Marine Corporal Aaron Mankin who suffered severe burns and is one of a few survivors in an amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) he was riding in hit a massive improvised explosive device (IED) in Iraq and Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter who suffered injuries after absorbing about 99% of a grenade blast in Afghanistan. This song & video are dedicated to all the wounded warriors, past and present.
Recorded at Whitestone Studios, Greenville, SC July 2011.
Download “Still In The Fight” on iTunes. Proceeds benefit the Fisher House Foundation; they provide a “home away from home” for military families to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an illness, disease or injury
For more information please visit:
http://www.mikecorrado.com
http://www.facebook.com/corradomusic
http://www.facebook.com/stillinthefight
Song Credits: Produced by Noel Golden | Written by: Mike Corrado © 2011 | Published by Grunt Tunes, Intl/BMI | All rights reserved
Video credits: Director/DP: Gerard Elmore | Editor: Seong Kyu | Producer: Gerard Elmore, Mike Corrado, Mericia Palma Elmore | Artwork & illustrations by: Michael Fay & Robert Bates
Special Appearance by Martha Reeves 
The Motown songstress who’s main performance will be at the Hanging with the Best June 29, 2012 will also make a special guest appearance at the Heroes Salute. Best known for the classic “Dancing in the Streets”, Martha and the Vandellas have also recorded hits like “Jimmy Mack”, “Heatwave”, “My Baby Loves Me”, and “Nowhere to Run.” Still going strong, she just released “The Definitive Collection” in 2009 and will be embarking on an European tour this year. For more info, visit www.missmarthareeves.com.
Also Featuring Larissa Holliday singing The National Anthem
A native of Pickens, South Carolina, Larissa Holliday got her earliest training and developed a sense of confidence by singing in her church. Later she met Coach Robert Hoefer of Pitch Doctors and the rest is history. She became committed to glorifying God and bringing a sense of happiness to others through her voice. You can often find her in nursing homes throughout Greenville South Carolina sharing her gift. Observing the negative influence of much of today’s music she decided to perform a positive soulful brand of music – and a music that has the same feel as that she sang in church. The music styles of artists like Etta James, Lavern Baker, Ruth Brown, Mary Wells, Martha Reeves, and others always impressed her and is a natural fit. She has performed alongside music greats such as The Impressions, Jerry Butler, Bill Pickney of The Drifters and Larissa has also sung back up for Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. Larissa is one of the few artists doing this music today and she does it with the class and style of the singers of that genre. It is her determination to bring this music to young people and educate them about this influential and lasting music and its artists. Her first studio album is entitled appropriately “The Soul Of A Woman” which was released in 2008. She is currently working on a new album, so don’t dare miss the Larissa Holliday experience!
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