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Darryl Worley Remembers His First Time

Darryl Worley's most recent single, 'Sounds Like Life to Me,' joins his list of hits including the No. 1's 'I Miss My Friend,' 'Have You Forgotten' and 'Awful Beautiful Life.' The son of a Methodist minister, Darryl 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 auspicious day.

"I had struck a deal with the good Lord a couple years before my first single came out," Darryl tells The Boot. "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 [in 2000], 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 pick-up 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."

Darryl recently had neck surgery, which he called "pretty intense," but insists it hasn't slowed down his touring schedule.


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Suhr

Why do prayers demand deals from God that are self centered?
If this person had not manipulated events his prayer would not have been answered.
If this person wanted to make a deal with God he would do something good for others whether his song came on the radio or not.
God knows what is in your head and heart whether you speak it aloud or not.
This event was just a manipulated coincidence, but I appreciate the gesture.
God is real.

November 23 2009 at 1:54 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
skeptic7

nothing fails like prayer. IT DOES NOT WORK...ever.

the man produced a song, all by himself, that was good enough. that's IT. no invisible skyman listening and granting his peon little pissant, selfish wish.

if there was a god, which there definitely is NOT, why would he grant this man's stupid, selfish wish when innocent children are starving to death, being abducted, tortured, raped and murdered everyday??? why not help the child? that is NOT a good god, nor one that has his priorities straight. it's a damn fool's superstition...foolish, arrogant, ignorant, uneducated morons believe this crap. it is total CRAP. NOTHING FAILS LIKE PRAYER.

show me a hideously disfigured birth-defected child grow limbs back...or any amputee...and maybe you can begin to say prayer works. until then...CUT THE BS. it has NEVER happened and NEVER will.

November 23 2009 at 1:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to skeptic7's comment
Suhr

Acts of mankind create the things you describe.
A true God would allow any act of free will or we would all be slaves.

November 23 2009 at 1:57 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shelley

At least he is honest and kept his promise.

November 23 2009 at 12:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gloriabenfield

Give the guy a break. No,people can't make deals with God. They pray and ask to receive but they can make promises to Him but best be prepared to keep them. As for Gideon and the fleece that applied to that particular time. I guess if you believe the fleece today, you also prescribe to the prayer cloths anointed with oil. What a crock.

November 23 2009 at 12:13 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
taimantisman

Hey Tom Altman, I don't know where you get your information on Simon and Garfunkel, but Bridge Over Troubled Waters is in no way a reference to drugs,maybe you were smoking something when you came up with that ?

November 23 2009 at 11:32 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
John

You don't make deals with God. You pray to God for help and guidance. If he was so dedicated to God, then why didn't he just stop and do that prayer from his heart instead of trying to bargain with God. Seems to me all he was looking for was an ego booster. - http://www.itrustgodonly.com

November 23 2009 at 10:47 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to John's comment
Suhr

You make sense.

November 23 2009 at 1:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
myrdincelt

Jephthah made a deal with god in the bible that if god let him win a certain battle/war, he would sacrifice the first thing that came out of his house. Well he won, and the first to come out of his house? His daughter. He did let her go for a month or so into the mountains before the sacrifice, but when she came back, he held up his end of the bargain with god. I'm glad god was fine with this..

November 23 2009 at 9:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to myrdincelt's comment
cenicvu

That is a troubling story; I've read it many times. But just because something is in the Bible doesn't mean God approved of what the person did. The story is just relayed. I've always thought the point was 'don't make a rash vow'. But, I could be wrong.

November 23 2009 at 12:48 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mary

I grew up in the South and still live in the South 72 years later. I don't bargain with God, I pray as sincerely as I know how to. Other Christians I know do the same.

November 23 2009 at 8:58 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
marilyn

Is it me or does this guy look like a young Jack Nicholson?

November 23 2009 at 8:41 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
charles stutts

put out a "fleece" lol yeah fleecing the fans lol

November 23 2009 at 8:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to charles stutts's comment
Tom

Hey Charlie,
This is Tom Altman. I have tried to serve God for 59 years, and have watched me and others make "deals" with God. There is no magic, God is not "trained" to serve us. But He does delight in showing off, just like a Dad does with his kids. But just like a Dad, he only answers Yes when it is what we need.
-- Jesus is like a bridge. In the 60s, S and G thought the Bridge over trouble was drugs. That might last till it wears off, but the Bridge called Jesus is forever. Sounds dorky. In fact, Darryl's "deal" is just dorky enough that I believe it. The breath I am taking right now is my most recent miracle. Peace friend.

November 23 2009 at 11:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply