Rebel for God

by Eddie DeGarmo

  We played four songs that night to a house packed full of friends, co-workers, and members of the industry. ASCAP presented us with their prestigious “Horizon Award.” I have to say; I think we tore it up. Dan and Darlene Brock came. Bill Hearn and my whole crew from EMI CMG Publishing were there in the audience. Several of our top songwriters were there too. Susan, our girls, their husbands, and our grandkids were even there. Yikes! They had never seen Grandpa “Mo Mo” rock like that before. All in all, it was a wonderful evening. Dana and I had a ball.

  After the news of that short set got out, we received several invitations from around the country to perform. Neither Dana nor I intended to resurrect the band, but it was a lot of fun to get together once a year or so and play for folks. We played a special reunion show for Dana’s church later that year and then again at the Cornerstone Festival in 2008 alongside our old friends in Rez Band.

  In May 2010 we played our final show at a biker’s rally sponsored by Lifeway Christian Stores. That was an interesting dynamic for sure. The show was at a retreat center in North Carolina. About a thousand bikers gave us a rousing welcome. It was great! Oliver North was the featured speaker that night, too. Had you told me back in the eighties someday we’d be playing for a thousand bikers at an event sponsored by a Christian bookstore chain and Oliver North would be the speaker, I’d have told you that you’d lost your mind. Life can still surprise me sometimes.

  I needed to drive back to Nashville after the concert to catch an early morning flight. My son-in-law, Michael Carpino, who is married to my youngest daughter Shannon, was due for our annual fly-fishing trip to upstate New York. Michael’s from that part of the world and can translate for me when the folks up there can’t understand my southern drawl. My phone rang at about one in the morning as I was driving. It was Dana.

  “Man it was great seeing you,” he said, “and it was great getting to play together again. I sure would like to do it more. Would you be open to that?”

  I told him I was.

  He went on, “Wouldn’t it be great if D&K made it into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame this year? Johnny Cash is on the ballot too, and I think it would be cool since we’re both from Memphis.”

  D&K was nominated several times previously, but had yet to get voted in. I’m told sometimes it takes a few nominations to make it.

  “Yes,” I said, “It would be amazing to get inducted alongside Johnny Cash. That would be the coolest, actually.”

  We dreamed about it for a few minutes on the phone and then hung up.

  That was the last conversation I ever had with Dana Key. He passed away a week later from a pulmonary embolism. Life is fleeting, isn’t it? My friend is gone.

  Dana’s family asked me if I would provide a eulogy for his service. Of course I would. He and I were best of friends from the first grade. We were really more like brothers than friends. The family informed me the plan was to have a private graveside service for their immediate family, and then to have a celebration of his life at the church Dana pastored a couple of hours later. That is where I would deliver his eulogy. His sister invited Susan and me to the private family service, since they considered us part of the Key family.

  The family service was scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. Mind you, this was June in Memphis, Tennessee. I’m pretty sure summer humidity was invented in Memphis. As we gathered around the gravesite that morning we were already dripping with sweat. Suddenly, Dana’s brother-in-law, Wright, nervously rushed up to me and asked if he could speak to me alone.

  He took me to the side and said, “Eddie, I just got a call from the preacher and we royally screwed up. He thought the service was for 11:00 a.m., and he is still forty-five minutes away. What are we going to do?”

  From the looks of the folks standing around in the heat and humidity, especially the elderly folks, I knew we couldn’t wait on the preacher. They would have wilted. I looked back at Wright and whispered, “You open with a prayer and I’ll close. No problem.”

  So, I ended up preaching Dana’s funeral. I was honored to do so. But that was the first and will be the last funeral I preside over. It makes sense. It really does. I’m sure Dana is still laughing about it. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure that’s the only time he ever stayed still and quiet while I was talking to him the whole time we knew each other! That’s pretty funny. I sure do still miss him terribly.

  That afternoon we celebrated Dana’s life at his church. It was packed to capacity. I was honored to speak of what Dana Key meant to so many around the world. We shared some kind of fantastic adventure together where our dreams as kids actually came true. God took control at the absolute perfect time in our lives and set us on a different path. His path. I’m still amazed at the work he allowed us to do and the lives he allowed us to touch in building his kingdom. What a journey it was! I am forever grateful to have worked alongside, been friends with, and to have known Dana Key. I loved him like a brother. We were blood.

  Later that same year DeGarmo and Key were inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame right alongside our hero, Johnny Cash. It was just as we’d dreamed. Dana would have been awfully proud. I know I was.

  FIFTY-TWO

  I Use the “J” Word— To Extremes

  From 2002 to 2010, EMI CMG Publishing almost tripled in size. From 2010 through 2014, we almost tripled again. We represented over 300 songwriters worldwide. To say we had a good run is a gross understatement. We were blessed to represent the best in virtually every Christian music style and genre, from the “scream-o” bands with Tooth and Nail Records, to hip-hop with Gotee Records, to rock with ForeFront Records, pop with Sparrow Records, Modern Worship with sixstepsrecords, Thank You Music, Hillsong and Integrity Music, to foot stomping Gospel music with Kirk Franklin, Smokey Norful, Vashawn Mitchell, Andrae Crouch, Motown Gospel, and a host of others. It was a stunning lineup and I was proud to have served them all.

  In September 2012, EMI Music, our parent company, was split up and sold to the highest bidders. Half of the business went to Sony Music and the other half, which included the Christian Music Group, went to Universal Music Group. Universal already owned another Christian music publishing business called Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing. Brentwood-Benson was run by a good friend of mine by the name of Dale Matthews. Our new parent company, Universal Music Publishing, was also run by another very good friend of mine named Evan Lamberg. He and I worked on the Jesus movie and miniseries together, among other things.

  EMI Christian Music had only been a part of Universal for a few weeks when Bill Hearn and I heard from Evan. He asked us to have a meeting with him and his boss, Zach Horowitz, around the notion of combining the forces of EMI Christian Music Publishing and Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing. It didn’t make sense for Universal to keep the two businesses both within the same system but separate.

  Christian music is a niche in the global music market and it was inefficient to operate the two entities separately. Combining them would be a complicated process and would create a behemoth Christian music publishing had not seen before.

  Because of EMI CMG’s strength in our market and maybe due in part to mine and Bill’s long-term relationship with Evan, I was asked to combine and lead the businesses under the direction of Bill and Evan. It was an extreme honor for me.

  I spent the final two years of my career combining EMI Christian Music Publishing and Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing into a massive new company named Capitol Christian Music Publishing. I was blessed to represent most of the top songwriters of Christian music all around the world. It was an honor and quite a responsibility—especially for a kid from Memphis who grew up playing in rock ‘n’ roll bands. Who would have thought it? Not me!

  From the time I was a little boy, I always wanted to be able to retire when I turned sixty years old. I’m not sure why. It was just a goal of mine. When I turned sixty I made the decision and walked away from Capitol Christian Music Publishing. I was sitting on top of the world in m
y career and expertise, so more than a few friends asked me why I would do such a thing. Universal and Capitol asked me the same question—more than once. I just knew it was right in my heart.

  Susan also knew it was right. It was a very similar feeling to when I walked away from DeGarmo and Key, only more so this time around. I felt strongly I was allowed to plant the flag on top of the mountain and now it was time to find another mountain—maybe.

  One of the last executive management meetings I attended was the Universal Music Publishing Group’s global conference in Santa Monica, California. I was joining leaders from all over the world who ran the Universal Music Publishing Businesses in their respective countries. There were leaders there from Europe, South and North America, Mexico, the Middle East, the Far East, Australia, and several other countries and territories. One of the features of the meeting was each representative was given a twenty-minute time slot to give a brief presentation and overview of his or her local business. The point was for the business units to discover new ways to synergize and work together on licensing and marketing each other’s songs and music.

  The individual presentations were fantastic. Each representative showed a “sizzle reel” video of his or her local writers and artists and then presented an overview of each business. This was followed by a time of questions and answers from the other attendees. There were around one hundred of the top music publishing executives in the world there. I saw and heard everything imaginable, from Korean hyper-pop music to Egyptian rap music (which sounded like a cousin to American hip-hop, but was rapped in Egyptian). I heard Chinese rock music and Middle Eastern symphonic music. It was an incredible assortment for every taste and palate, and it was a great way to learn about the publishing business around the world.

  When my time came, my team produced a stunning “sizzle reel” of songwriters and artists from the wide and diverse world of Christian music. The reel included video clips from TobyMac, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Kirk Franklin, Hillsong United, Switchfoot, Underoath, Britt Nichole, Michael W. Smith, and others. I was very proud of how our music stacked up competitively with the music I heard from around the world.

  After the video I gave a brief overview about how our music differed from mainstream music in terms of marketing and the various revenue streams. I spoke of the magnitude of Christian radio, the unique importance of CCLI (the organization that surveys the songs sung in churches), and the massive amount of print music that our industry produces for church use. I also spoke about the large amount of Christian music being licensed for use in popular mainstream motion pictures and television programs. That fact is usually very eye-opening for people who don’t realize Christian music has the reach and relevance it does.

  After I concluded my presentation and even before I asked for questions, a well-known music attorney stood up and said, “Eddie, you have to help me. I know you, and I know you are involved in Christian music. But before you played your video reel I was completely prepared to hate it. I just knew I would hate it because it was ‘Christian’ music. I have to tell you, though, the opposite happened. I really liked what I heard and saw. Now, I’m completely confused. What makes this stuff ‘Christian’ music? It sounds as great—and the videos look as good—as anything I heard or saw today from around the globe. I don’t understand why it has to be Christian.”

  Standing in front of that audience, with music industry leaders from around the globe staring at me, I offered a silent prayer that God would give me exactly the right words in the moment.

  “David,” I said, “When you are an artist and songwriter, you write about things important to you and your life. As a writer you present your values to the listener, either subtly or directly. You write about the feelings you have about love lost and won. You write about things you observe in everyday life, whether beautiful or ugly. Hip-hop writers might write about the street. Pop artists write and sing about young love and relationships. Country writers talk about rural America and pickup trucks. Christians write about their faith and values. That is what is most important to them.”

  Then I looked at the audience and said, “Those of you who have read the Bible know it includes every subject under the sun in its pages. Therefore, Christian songwriters have a wide and very deep well of material from which to draw. They can write about love lost, love found, pain, murder, adultery, hope, despair, good and bad, despicable characters, and kings or queens. It’s all in there. Christian songwriters want to present their values and their observations to the audience just the same way any artist does. Therefore, we can have Christian songs that contain subjects and stories from many perspectives.”

  I could still see some furrowed brows and could sense a little confusion from those in the audience. “Perhaps the best way to explain it,” I said, “is to tell you about my life. I started playing in bands as a youngster growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. By the time I was sixteen, music was a serious part of my life. My band signed with a major label, and we were popular around town. I thought it was a big deal. I was ‘on my way.’ Then, when I was seventeen, an incredible thing happened. I had a lightning bolt experience with God and I gave my life to Jesus. It was a radical thing.

  “Everything changed. Everything. I began to write songs about my faith and about what happened in my life because that stuff was important to me. I wanted to share my experience, my feelings, and my observations with others through my music because that’s what artists do. I actually didn’t realize I was writing ‘Christian music’ until others pointed that out to me. I was simply writing about what mattered most to me. That’s what all these artists are doing. I hope that explains what Christian music is about.”

  Whew! That was heavy. I'd worked for mainstream entertainment companies for twenty years and never had an opportunity to share my story and my faith personally like that before—especially to music business leaders from all over the world. I was long known as “the guy who made Christian music,” but this was personal. It was different and very powerful. I’m honored God had it happen that way. I didn’t plan it and couldn’t have.

  After I stopped speaking, Evan Lamberg came up and gave me a bear hug in front of the whole group. Then he said, “I’ve known Eddie DeGarmo for twenty-five years and there is no finer guy, and no better Christian music publisher than him. I am proud to have him on our team.”

  I was blushing.

  I often wonder if anything I said that day changed anyone’s mind about what Christianity is all about.

  TO EXTREMES

  One of the last concerts DeGarmo and Key performed was in 1994 at the Mall in Washington, DC. We performed on a stage atop the steps overlooking the Reflecting Pool, facing the Washington Monument. You know the spot in the movie when the eponymous Forrest Gump takes off to hug Jenny as she wades through the Reflecting Pool towards him? That’s where we were.

  The event was sponsored by “True Love Waits,” a sexual purity program introduced by the Southern Baptists. They organized the large Washington, DC, rally as a way to promote sexual abstinence before marriage. They created a stunning visual by planting over 200,000 one-foot tall crosses across the Mall as a memorial and tribute to the unborn children lost to abortion due to unplanned pregnancies. “True Love Waits” was a powerful program teaching sexual abstinence as a viable alternative to birth control.

  D&K was invited to perform at the rally for over 25,000 youth who traveled to DC from all over the country. I recall it was a beautiful but very hot July day in our nation’s capital. We arrived the night before, and we went out to the concert site early to catch a glimpse of the myriad of crosses being placed carefully on the grassy Mall. It looked like an endless military cemetery with crosses as far as I could see. It was quite powerful.

  As I stood on the platform looking across the Mall I couldn’t help but notice a man dressed in a robe and sandals, doing his best to look like Jesus. He was carrying a full-sized cross just like Jesus carried over his shoulder, and was slowly dra
gging it through the massive crowd of teenagers in front of the stage. I knew I had to go speak with this guy. This was something I had to know more about.

  Frankly, he was quite a sight. I made my way down from the stage through the throng of onlookers gaping at the man who looked way too much like Jesus. He made it through the crowd and was standing at the edge of the huge memorial to the unborn. The bizarre contrast of this normal-sized man, with his full-sized cross, against the sea of small crosses was a vivid and powerful image. I walked up to him. His head was bowed and he was looking directly at the ground, seemingly bent over from the weight of the massive timber resting on his shoulder.

  “Why do you carry this cross around?” I inquired as gently and respectfully as I could. “Jesus did that for you so you don’t have to. Do you realize that?”

  He lifted his head and looked straight into my eyes and said, “I believe we are to be partakers in the sufferings of Christ, brother. That is why I must carry this cross around on my back!”

  I looked down, to the spot where his cross met the ground.

  “Then why do you have that little rubber wheel mounted to the bottom of your cross? So it will roll easier?”

  He looked at me, and a smile appeared across his lips. “Everyone has their limits, brother. Everyone has their limits.” He then turned and slowly walked away.

  I guess that is right. Everyone has his limits.

  Over the years, I’ve often thought about that strange encounter and always come home to the same simple truth.

  Isn’t it amazing and awesome God’s love has no limits?! That’s the deal.