AIN'T THAT WAY ANYMORE
This song is the way things used to in middle
America, as evidenced by the chorus:
When twenty years of marriage was nothing, when you shook a man's hand it meant something; Sunday mornin' pews filled up to thank you Lord; When a man offered help to his neighbor, and you didn't waste your time being a hater; Everybody knew, nobody had to lock their doors; It's ashame it ain't that way anymore."
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
I wrote this song in the summer of 1986 for my ten year class reunion. I took the song to Jerry Sadler, a dear friend and fellow classmate and said we should do this song at the class reunion. Jerry played classical guitar and we were college roommates and played football together in high school and briefly in college.
We practiced it a couple times that day and sang it that night at the reunion. It went over well. Later i remember reading a book entitled this by University of Tennessee football coach Johnny Majors. I remember thinking that was a bit ironic since I grew up a Tennessee and a Majors fan.
Well years went by, as they do, and when the plans were being made to have a 100 year celebration of Livingston Academy, my old high school, someone mentioned the song to me. LA was formed in 1909 as a private school but has long since been the only public high school in Overton County, Tennessee. I decided to dig the song out and record it. Jerry has been dead over 10 years now , dying so young from a bout with cancer. It pains me to think of that, as I still miss him.
The song does remind me of him and the good times we all had from those days. Jammy Beaty, Jerry Cravins, Ricky Roberts, Tommy Poston, Donald Winningham, Doug Hunter, Billy Cole, Tim Smith, John Allen, Mike "Rip" Allred, along with Jerry played as seniorson the Hogeye football team of 1975-76 school year , well except for Ricky who was a basketballer only.
Anyway it's always good to 'Go Home Again.' I hope this song takes you there as well. Thanks to Rich Herring for he guitar and the production of this simple guitar(s) -vocal. I rarely sing a demo but this one just felt like I needed to.
M
NEW STUFF: Keep an eye out for COOPER BOONE's new CD and the Houser- Conklin-Boone song SHE'S ALL THAT. Just part of a hectic summer.Two songs written up in Country Music Weekly, a video of a song, 11 songs recorded in the first half of 2009. I will be updating some about all that in blogs ove rthe next few days. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
NEW WEBSITE: www.writersinhouse.info SEVEN MILES FROM WICHITA reached 1 on www.bluegrassradio.org in February 2007 and 2 on www.bluegrassmusicprofiles.com during the same month and reached 6 in the June, 2007 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited. The song was on the charts for ten months through August, 2007. SEVEN MILES made it to the second ballot for the IBMA Song of the Year. The album debuted at 11 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart
Also IT'S TIME, the title cut and single released by Australian Scott Dann reached 43 on the Australian Independent Chart. In Europe, Houser's song NELL'ARIA, (English version is titled Somewhere Over You) written with Emerson Drive's Arlo Gilliam and European singer-songwriter Elena Ley has been released by Ley in Italian.
To hear a snipet of the song listen above. Be sure and check out Elena's music at http://www.elenaley.com/en/ascolta.html.
TRUTH ABOUT LYIN' and BACK IT UP recorded by Heather Necole on her CD titled Sweet Talkin' You on ANA Records is now released to radio while BUS DRIVER has been recorded by Stephanie DeWolfe and BACK ROADS by Ashley Leigh. CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: www.writersinhouse.info
ABOUT MARK:
Mark Houser, President and CEO of Writers In-House Music, started the company in 1988 in his hometown of Livingston, Tennessee in order to record and release an album of some of his original songs. The idea of developing the publishing company into a Nashville based operation was not yet conceived. Housers only recorded song to that point was by independent artist and Livingston, Tennessee native Jim Bowman. Bowman had written a hit song for Mel Tillis titled "A Cowboy's Dream" and was releasing a record of his own when Houser was introduced to him and the two of them wrote the song After Lovin You in 1983. That song was included on Bowman's album.
This recording inspired Houser to consider making a record and after five years it was released on Magnum Records in 1988. The title cut of that collection The Big Picture was picked up by the motion picture NO JUSTICE as the movies closing theme in 1989. Houser also landed a speaking role in the film as Cousin York Johnson. The stars of the movie were Cameron Mitchell (TV character actor who also appeared in numerous films including Oscar winner The Robe, and Oscar nominated film Death of a Salesman among many other roles in his career) and Bob Orwig (Platoon, JFK). Houser also appeared in the 1989 John Conlee music video Fellow Travelers.
In 1990, Houser met Cookeville, Tennessee native Jimmy Bilbrey and would form a co-writing partnership that allowed him to grow as a writer and one that has withstood the test of time. The two of them then met a young singer-songwriter Rodney Atkins who was living in Cookeville at the time and the three begin sharing ideas. Houser wrote many songs with Atkins including six on the developmental project that landed Atkins a major label recording contract on Curb Records. The song God Only Knows written by Houser, Atkins, and Ted Hewitt was released by Curb as a part of a single CD in 1999 and was the first major label success in Housers career. Houser was offered a writing deal by Curb Publishing during the late 1990s but the two sides never completed the deal and after Chuck Howard left the label the negotiations ended.
Houser continued to forge ahead and has co-written songs with a host of Nashvilles finest talent, including Rodney Atkins, Casey Beathard, Karyn Rochelle, Kendall Marvel, Sherrie Austin, Randy Houser, Brian Gowan, Ted Hewitt, Craig Martin and Arlo Gilliam.
In May of 2002 Writers-In House Music, by then an incorporated entity, moved its base of operation to Nashville's Music Row. The publishing company was first located on 16th Avenue for a year and is now located at 707 18th Avenue South. Since opening the office on Music Row a number of opportunities have opened up, including working with developing artists and song writers from large publishing companies. The publishing company is also affiliated with Cookeville native Jerry Bumbalough who is a partner in a number of business endeavors with the company and a talented songwriter in his own right.
In November of 2003 Grand Ole Opry legend Jack Greene released a Houser- Bilbrey- Candi Carpenter collaboration entitled Red, White, and Blue Christmas and performed the song to a standing ovation at the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium during the Holiday season of 2003. The song has been performed at numerous Opry shows since.
In 2006, Houser had a single released in Australia called "It's Time", sung by native Australian Scott Dann that reached 43 on the Australian Independent Chart, and had two songs on the bluegrass debut album titled Carrie Hassler And Hard Rain. The songs included the single Seven Miles From Wichita and a second song titled Hard Rain. The album and the single received good reviews nationally and Seven Miles became a chart success going to 1 on one chart, 2 on another and 6 in Bluegrass Unlimited. Houser also had a pop chart record in Italy with Elena Ley's Nell'aria in 2007. Houser has over 450 songs in his catalog and has had 64 songs recorded in his career, including one major country label cut, two major bluegrass releases, and one motion picture release.
Houser has a B.S. Degree from Tennessee Tech University and is a former assistant football coach at White County High School (1980), Livingston Academy (1993-98, 2007) and currently coaches at Jackson County High School (2006, 2008-09). He is the Field Office Manager for the Tennessee Department of Health, Division of General Environmental Health, and a two term President of the Tennessee Environmental Health Association. He spearheaded the Tennessee Environmental Hall of Fame which will induct it first memebers in July 2009. The Hall will be housed at East Tennessee State University which has the oldest Environmental Health program in the nation.
He is married to the former Kelly Brown of Livingston, Tennessee and they have a daughter Hannah Margaret (9). He also has a son Matthan Chandler (28) who is a graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he was a starting wide receiver on the Ivy League school's football team. He is currently coaching football at 6_A power Cookeville (TN) High school.
