Jimmy Wayne performs on the set of GAC Nights. Photo by Jenny Dew.
Oct. 10, 2008 — Jimmy Wayne and songwriters Joe West and Dave Pahanish were toasted Thursday in Nashville by the songwriter agency BMI for "Do You Believe Me Now," the first No. 1 song that any of the participants have enjoyed.
John Oates, of the pop duo Hall & Oates, was on hand to perform with Jimmy for the party, which included awards presentations by the Country Music Association, Country Radio Broadcasters and Country Weekly magazine.
"Being off the radar for 3-1/2 years, [to] come back not only with a good song but a great song and a No. 1 is just — that’s the top," Jimmy said. "It’s as far as you can go. It’s very validating to the music community."
Joe and Dave, who co-wrote the song with SESAC composer Tim Johnson, produced the single, which pushes the boundaries of the country genre. Some mandolin lines early in the production bring to mind Diamond Rio’s Gene Johnson, but a pulsing guitar theme leading into the chorus is more reminiscent of rock bands the Smiths and Collective Soul — hardly the kind of inspiration that typically fuels the genre.
"There’s a real sense when we write these songs of what they need to be," Joe observed. "Most of them are aggressive, most of them are driving melodies, and brooding verses that get resolved and huge choruses, big hooks."
"We try to put anything musically underneath of it so that when there’s not a vocal happening, your ear can go to another melody line that’s happening or something that’s non-traditional," he added. "We’ll just beat the living daylights out of a song."
The mandolin was not originally part of "Do You Believe Me Now," though Valory label President Scott Borchetta asked that they try to put something with a more traditional country feel on it to reel the production back a bit toward the mainstream.
"We borrowed a mandolin from someone and have not given it back yet," Dave laughed. "But I learned to do the little spaghetti western."
A throbbing guitar similar to "Do You Believe Me Now" undergirds Jimmy’s follow-up single "I Will," also produced by Joe and Dave.
"When I met Joe West and Dave Pahanish, they had such a unique sound, and it was one of those sounds that I feel like you only get when someone has just arrived in Nashville," Jimmy noted. "They’re not scared, they’re not jaded, they’re not followin’ any rules. They’re just doin’ what they love to do and what sounds great."
"That little guitar thing," Jimmy continued, "we all laugh sometimes ‘cause we think it sounds like the $6-million man."
Ka-ching!