Story of the Song – songs written or co-written by Doak Turner
Anything For My Baby – Penny Dionne and Troy McConnell – The three of us
were at a CMT taping of the Greatest Love Songs and Penny asked Troy to go
get her something to drink. Troy said, “Anything For My Baby” and I said that is a
great song title. We wrote it within a week and they are singing the demo.
All Kinds of Right - Doak & Scott Skirving was staying at The Doakarosa as he was
visiting from Canada. He had trouble getting a rental car at the airport, so I drove
him to his co-write the next morning with Steve Mitchell. Steve asked me to join
them for the co-write. I had a line about blowing air kisses that started the first
verse. Steve already had the chorus when we arrived that morning. We finished
the song then took care of getting Scott his rental car for the week!
At Least I’m Feelin’ Again - Doak, Keith Anderson, Buddy Hyatt and Kim Williams. I
had the idea from an interview with Keith Urban in People Magazine. The line,
“At Least I’m Feelin’ Again” just popped out at me. I attended a songwriter
conference hosted by Hillbilly Culture in Mont Eagle, TN. A chilly rainy afternoon
in a cabin with Keith Anderson and Buddy Hyatt, I read the idea and we wrote the
song. Keith later showed the song to Kim Williams, who added some amazing
lines to the song. Buddy cut the original demo. Buddy was producing Jimmy
Fortune (Statler Brothers) and Jimmy recorded the song for his CD. Another
Artist, Brad Puckett was listening to Kim Williams’s songs, heard it and cut the
song. He did a video that was on CMT Pure, ZUUS and other video networks.
Backbone – Doak & Rand Bishop. I attended Zack Brown’s first #1 party for
“Chicken Fried” at BMI. Zack thanked his wife and said she was the “Backbone”
of their family, taking care of everything at home while he is on the road. Rand &
I wrote the song in his home office and he did the demo.
Back In The Day – Doak & Mat Sumner. Written in 701 house, just talkin about
high school added a name of a mutual friend and my mom’s name in the song.
Referenced a Led Zeppelin song.
Christmas Where It Doesn’t Snow – Doak &Thomas Hendley. Thomas and I
wrote my idea in Charlotte as he was a member of the NSAI workshop that I was
coordinator for six years and he did the guitar/vocal for the song.
Dancin’ In The Kitchen – Doak & Bud Tower. I had the idea in my hookbook
from a weekend in Galveston, looking through a kitchen door, the yellow light
glowing inside and thinking we should be dancin’ in that kitchen. Bud & I worked
on it, got stuck for 2 nd verse. I said, “You be Ike and I will be Tina” as a joke, he
instantly came up with “You Be Fred and I’ll Be Ginger” which became the 2nd
verse! It is OK to say crazy things that do not make sense in a co-write. Joey
Herd recorded the song for his CD project in 2014.
Day 335 – Doak &Whitney Layne. I had the beginnings of a song called
Crossroads with the idea that became Day 335... I lost a friend from high school
to alcoholism. His sister told me about him going to the park, drinking vodka on a
park bench as it was in a 7-Up bottle so he could drink it in the park. Whitney
wanted to make it a song about her friend, so we wrote the person in the song as
a girl. I sometimes cry listening to the song as my friend, Tom’s memories and
family flash back in my mind. Whitney sang the demo after returning from her
uncle’s funeral a day earlier as he died of alcoholism. You can really feel her pain
in the song.
Don’t Make Me Want You – Doak, Byron Hill and Shea Raye. We wrote the
song at Universal Publishing writer room one morning as Shea was talking about
an x-boyfriend or two and how hard it is sometimes to let go of someone we
know that we’d be better off without them, however sometimes it is not easy.
Byron sand the demo.
Driver Her Like She’s Stolen – Doak, Troy McConnell and Penny Dionne. I
showed up for the co-write in their townhome with a notebook full of ideas. I took
some page out of the hookbook, passed them around the table while we were
having a great dinner that Troy cooked for us! Penny saw the idea and laughed
big time. I remember hearing the idea on a radio show I used to work for,
NASCAR COUNTRY in Charlotte and I happened to listen to the show on the
way back from Nashville to Charlotte that Sunday morning. One of the driver
interviews said he was gonna drive his car like it was stolen and park it like it was
rented. Troy and Penny sing on the demo.
Every Now And Then (The Whoooo Song) - Doak & After Tuesday The Canadian band, After
Tuesday was in Nashville and came to the house to co-write on a Saturday, I
fixed Taco soup for our lunch. I had the idea about how a man needs to be
spoiled and romanced too. The four of them and myself had fun coming up with
the lines to the song and they went back to Canada and recorded the demo with
the “Whhhhoooo oooohhh oooohh” harmony.
Fire & Steel – Doak and Jenny Goforth – I met Jenny in North Carolina when
she was in high school and she later attended Belmont College in Nashville. We
wrote this song on an idea I had in my hookbook. Jenny sings the demo.
Foolish – Doak & Bud Tower. Bud and I came up with the idea in a writing
session, I am from WV and the blue ridge mountains are close to my home state
as they are in Va. That was the setting. We had the first verse and chorus, got
back together about a year later and finished the song. Jon Night recorded the
demo at Jay’s Place.
From Jesus To Hank (All My Heroes Drank) – Doak, Jay Morley and Kim
Williams. Written in Mont Eagle, TN at a Hillbilly Culture retreat on a Sunday
morning. Kim had the idea in a hookbook and we wrote it in a couple hours.
God’s Job – Doak & Dave Gibson – Dave and I were talking one day as we
were putting together a songwriter’s workshop. I said something and Dave said,
“That’s God’s Job”. I said what did you say – sounds like a song! We got together
about a week later, sat out by Dave’s swimming pool on a fall day, all day and
wrote the song. Dave did the demo in his home studio.
Got The Talkin Part Done – Doak, Bev and Cliff Nelson and Dee Briggs – Cliff
Nelson and I started the song as we were talking about his football team he
coaches high school in Orange, County, CA. The players talk all the time about
how they are going to beat the other teams, so I said, “Well, they got the talkin’
part done don’t they”. We went from there with an idea and Cliff brought in his
wife and Dee to finish the song. “Got the Talkin’ Part done” was on Sirius/XM
radio for two months as it was recorded by a soldier in Alabama and on 96.1 The
Wolf in Charleston, WV for a couple weeks in 2007.
Gotta Gotta Get That Girl – Doak & Matt Sumner – written in 701 Brook Hollow.
I had the idea, Matt and I worked on it one afternoon.
Grandma Doesn’t Need Them Anymore - Doak & Dave McCormick. We got
together on my deck, Dave had the idea as he’d recently came from a funeral in
WV, where we are both from the same area. He had the opening line and we
wrote it from there. Dave sings the demo that he recorded in Nashville and
included the song on one of his CDs.
I Believe In Us –Doak & Matt Sumner. I visited Long Beach, Ca for a week and
got together with Matt, who used to live in Nashville. He told me he was going to
ask his girlfriend to marry him later that week, on a beach. I said, “You need a
song to sing to her after you pop the question”. I had the chorus in my hookbook,
as it was taken from the wall of a prison I’d read about in a book. When I read the
poem, we got down to the last line and we both said, “And I Believe In Us”. It
worked as Matt and his bride now have several kids and living in Orange County.
Matt sang this song at his sister’s wedding and he also recorded the demo.
I Don’t Trust Myself – Doak & Byron Hill. I brought the idea from some lyrics in
my hookbook, Byron had a cool groove and we completely re-wrote some of the
original lyrics. Byron sings the demo.
I Guess God Isn’t Finished With Me Yet – Doak, Bill DiLuigi & Kimberly Gold.
Kimberly & I worked on the song on my deck and called Bill, who is great with
melodies and ideas to finish the song with us. Kimberly sings the demo.
I Love You More – Doak & Byron Hill. I brought the lyrics to Byron for our first
co-write while I was living in Charlotte. Byron helped re-write and added the
classical guitar melody to the love song and sang the demo.
I’m Back Home - Doak &Tom Templman – Thinking about how it must be a
soldier at war in a foxhole in no man’s land, thinking about his girl back home.
I Still Like It – Doak, David Morgan and Amelia Blake. Written in the downstairs
studio area of 701 house in West Meade as David was there for about a month
one summer. David sings the demo.
I Talk To God – Doak, Rob Wolf & Lauren Saunders. Written at Sure Fire Music
and Lauren sang the demo. An artist in Georgia, Mallory Miller included the song
or her CD.
I Waited So Long – Doak, Skip Black & Nona Still. 3 songwriters in the local
Charlotte NSAI workshop – Nona and I worked on the lyrics, I showed it to Skip.
He worked on the melody and sang the demo.
Johnny Still Wears Black – Doak and Tom Templeman. Reading the paper about a
legend recently died, Johnny Cash was still alive at the time and we wrote the
song one morning at 701 Brook Hollow.
Just For Us Day – Doak and Rob Wolf - I usually fix breakfast if a co-writer
comes in the morning, Rob had a groove going while I was fixing some eggs and
potatoes. I started singing the first verse as it was coming to me while I was
cooking, so we just thought what a romantic day with our women would be and
wrote the song!
Keep Your Head Above The Muddy Water – Doak & Gretchen Cline. – Starting
the co-write, Gretchen made the remark about Keeping Her Head Above the
Muddy Water. I said – “That is a title”/ I have an Aunt June, so we put her name,
we envisioned a creek in the country. Went to Centennial Park in Nashville to
finish and record the demo at The Parthenon for that acoustic sound.
Kiss Me – Doak & Michael Mobley. I ran into Michael in Charleston, WV right
before moving to Nashville and also ran into Michael and his brother Wendell at
the Aklen Post Office my first week in town. We ran into each other a week later
at the post office and he suggested we write a song and came over to 701 and
came up with the idea. Michael sings the guitar/vocal and the full demo recorded
at Jay’s Place with Dana McVicker singing the song.
Kiss You At Every Stop Light – Doak and John Taggalari – written one early
evening from something I like to do with that special woman.
Life Gets In The Way – Doak & Julie Moriva. Written at 701 Brook Hollow on
one of Julie’s 1 st trips to town. Tribute to the busy mom’s
Like Noah Knew Rain – Doak & co-writers Rick Bowles and Larry Boone . I got
the idea from a line in a book by Robert James Waller (Bridges of Madison
County and other great books). Wrote it in my hookbook. In 2001 Rick Bowles
called me in Charlotte as he was living in Shelby, NC and had success in
Nashville as a writer. I went to Rick’s home and “Like Noah Knew Rain” was on
the list ten of my best ideas he asked me to bring to the co-write that Saturday
morning. We wrote most of the song that day. Rick later brought in Larry Boone
for a bridge. Rick had it demoed and original demo singer was Rick Huckaby.
Warner Brothers pitched the song a time or two. The song was my first “Write
Up” as in writing with a hit songwriter. Joey Herd recorded the song for his CD
project in 2014 and sang it on the RFD Network on the “Shotgun Red Show”.
Little Victories – Doak Ray Martin, Harvey Levy – written a couple afternoons
over a couple months as Harvey comes from Canada as he is the man with Levy
Guitar straps and his friend Ray. I had a title and we went with it, to inspire
someone to realize we have little victories that we sometimes take for granted
and they lead to bigger things in life!
Live Outside The Box – Cliff & Bev Nelson, Dee Briggs – Cliff and I started it on
a summer day in West Meade – talking about everything seems to be box shape
– from the first thing we see – an alarm clock, through the day and how ya need
to learn to think outside the box, a popular statement!
Mama’s Love – Doak & Clete Trexler. I went to Clete’s house just outside of
Charlotte, as he was a member of the local NSAI workshop that I was the
coordinator. We spent a beautiful Saturday fall day writing a song as I told him
how close me and my mom are and how I am blessed to have such a great
mom. I gave her the song for Mother’s Day and from time to time, send it to her
On My Way – Doak & Tom Templeman – written at 701 Brook Hollow. Thinking
about a trip to see a girl friend at the time.
OOOH I Miss Those Summers – Doak & Russ Roberts – I was cutting grass
and this song idea came to me – the DQ, the pool, etc. Russ and I threatened to
write for a couple years, got together and wrote the song of what we miss of our
youth.
Places She’s Never Been – Doak, Don & (will come back with writer’s names).
Written as a project form Monday night Hit Songwriter’s class at Vanderbilt. I had
the idea in my hook book from a Flying J truck stop I used to pass in Virginia on
my trips between Charlotte and Charleston, WV. Imagined the girl working in the
truck stop listening to stories of the truckers. Brinn Black recorded and made it
her title cut on her CD while she attended MTSU. She got the song from her
producer, who got it from one of the co-writers, who had moved to Florida and
sent it to his nephew.
Red Rose Chain – Doak &Thomas Hendley - The one time I read Shakespear
sitting on the deck on Lake Norman, NC. The line “Take Me Prisoner Like A Red
Rose Chain” jumped out. I got into a Jim Morrison kind of mood and groove.
Thomas Hendley & I were in a hotel in Nashville for Tin Pan South. He started
playing a groove and I thought I had a lyric to go with that cool groove! We
played it for a couple friends, Sherrie and Cody. They went back to Texas and
made the demo for us.
Righteous Right Hand – Doak & Alicia. 2 songwriters in Charlotte NSAI. Alicia
had the song started and we completed it one Saturday afternoon. She put it on
a CD she made in Nashville – my first cut!
Road Trip - Doak, Cheryl Johnston and Jarvis – I had an idea of a road trip with
a different idea, and then Cheryl came up with the idea for a girl’s road trip. She
brought in Jarvis for the groove and melody of the song.
Rocks In The River – Doak & Laura Ranerri. Laura told me she went to the
Cumberland River the day before and how good it was for her to just think while
walking along the river. I started seeing these visions of picking up rocks, having
your burdens written on them and throwing those rocks in the river to rid of the
negatives in the singer’s soul. Kate Logan and Mallory Miller recorded the song.
Kate’s mother reunited with an old friend after the song and her video was sent to
their family and friends.
Room To Grow – Doak & Sammi Moore. Written in West Meade to motivate a
young person to go through tough times, get out and see the world.
Run With Your Dream – Doak & Gary Pickus – I typed an e-mail to a group of
songwriters, that thought came to me – so I wrote in my hookbook. Gary Pickus
lived in the 701 Brook Hollow house and was leaving as I was moving to
Nashville. I told him about this idea of “Run With Your Dream” as I was really
doing, by moving for songwriter dreams in 2002. I gave a speech to the Success
Club in my hometown talking about how some people from our area ran with their
dream to have big success in life. All to motivate!
Savior Save Me – Doak & Eddie Kilgallon – Eddie and I wrote this on my deck at
701 Brook Hollow. He came up with the melody and we collaborated on lyrics.
Eddie sings this song in his home church in Kansas. The 1 st Praise & Worship
songs I wrote.
So The Lord’s Got Something to Work On – Doak & Byron Hill – Byron and I
were talking about a friend who can talk like a preacher then talk stuff guys talk
about and not always so positive. I asked Byron how he can do that, and then
Byron responded with the title of the song. The lyrics did not mean to say we do it
to give the Lord something to do – it just flows that way.
Southern Home Security System – Doak, Bud Tower and Jim Carolyn. Bud
and Jim had worked on the song; my house had been broken into a couple
months earlier, so I could relate to the song. It started as an e-mail going around
the internet; we added our touches to the song.
Stormin the Beaches of Normandy – Doak & Jimmy Fortune. Jimmy had
recorded a song of mine and said he wanted to write with me. He gave the idea
at a Tin Pan South show and we set a time to write. I researched the Invasion of
Normandy on line and showed up with a bunch of information of the big day in
history. We used little of those facts, but the images came to mind while writing
the song
Stupid Things – Doak & Byron Hill – I was telling Byron about stupid things I’d
done and my friends had done over the years. We added some fiction and will
never admit to the ones that are true in the song – oh those were friends of ours.
Welcome to the club!
Summer of Beer – Doak, Matt Alderman and Ben Goldsmith. These co-writers
were roommates for two summers as they attended U of Miami prior to moving to
Nashville. It was Ben’s 21 st birthday in a little while so the first thing he wanted to
do – was go buy beer legally. The song was written for the occasion and added
some times we’d all had in our youth – well, they are still in their youth!
Thank You Lord – Doak & Marc-Alan Barnette. 1 st song I wrote with MAB as I
told him how blessed I am and not where I thought I’d be in life right now but will
continue to work on my dreams and goals. He drove a Mitsubishi SUV so
included that name as the auto plant in the song.
That Look – Doak, Marc-Alan Barnette Gary Dennis – Gary was a student that
day learning from MAB. We started talking about getting that look from your dad
when you are in trouble. Second verse I mentioned my prom night, MAB had a
better story that really happened to him that is in the song. My background being
from WV (although I was not from coal mining area) played a part in the first
verse. Frankie Ballard sang the song on his “Electric hillbilly” CD that MAB
produced at Jay’s Place before Frankie got his record deal with Warner Brothers.
Moments of Truth – Doak, John Foster & Bob McGilpin - John Foster and I
wrote the song from an idea in my home. He got with Bob and added some cool
music and we rewrote the song. Those times in life that makes a difference!
The Woman I Love Is Having Our Baby – Doak and Caesar Cirigliano.
Caesar’s wife was pregnant with their first child. We wrote about the changes
already happening and going to happen in their lives. Caesar is a studio junkie
and added some cool sounds to the production. The song is on a couple baby
sites.
Use Me – Doak, Savannah Lynn and Jason Retig – Jason came up with the
musical hook, we got into a crazy mood and wrote the song in a studio on
Division and 27th owned by Steve Cropper.
We Bleed (tailgate songs) – Doak & CJ Solar I had the idea for several months and knew CJ was
the perfect co-writer. CJ recorded to date 10 college and 2 pro football teams’
songs using the lyrics – making changes for the team colors and local food in the
song. CJ’s mother, Kay used the theme for pre-game tailgating for LSU football
games in 2013. We use the name, “The All American Tailgaters as the band
singing the songs.
What Will My Kid Say – Doak, Steven McClintock and Pamela Phillips Olin. I
brought the idea to them as they were visiting Steven’s house 701 Brook Hollow
that I lived in for 10 years. I just wondered if I had a kid, what they would say to
their friends.
What You Might Have Been – Doak & Ryan Bizarri – A quote I keep on my
fridge and keeps me inspired on my journey, “It’s never too late to be what you
might have been”. First verse about a friend of mine in Boone, NC that went to
college when she was 38 years old and got her teaching degree. I told her after
the first year and she wanted to quit that I’d be there in 3 years to watch her walk
across the stage. Second verse based loosely on one of my favorite moves, “The
Rookie”. Bridge, I kept motivational postcards on the inside of my bathroom
mirror and remembered that quote from Robert Schuler. Ryan’s guitar playing
and coming up with the melody helped big time and he included the song on his
first CD. I gave a copy of the song to my friend, Cheri when she graduated from
college as she inspired the song. An artist sang the song on RFD Network in
2011.
You Say You Want My Heart – Doak & Matt Sumner. Wrote at 701, Matt had
the groove and we got in that mood. I can hear a horn section on the song.
You’re Beautiful to Me – Doak &Michael Peterson – we were thinking of a
mutual friend, how he came into our life, wanted to write about him. Then it
changed to a theme about meeting a girl that became special in the singer’s life.
Written upstairs at the old Peer Music building on 16 th Ave after starting the song
on Michael’s porch in Williamson County