ORIGINS: Phil Vassar - Prayer of a Common Man
Performing in-the-round before an audience hanging on to his every word and move, Phil Vassar tells his listeners, "I cut my first two records at Ocean Way Studios and I've always wanted to come back and perform a concert here. I'm just so happy GAC let us do this."
Ocean Way studios, a significant destination on Phil Vassar's road map on the path to stardom is merely one of the places Great American Country (GAC) and the country star travel to during the premiere episode of the network's new series Origins, a show exploring the events and relationships that transpired before some of country music’s more well-known artists began their careers in the music industry.
Origins: Phil Vassar - Prayer of a Common Man, follows country's leading piano man back to his roots in Lynchburg, VA. Back home, Vassar returns to his childhood home- 419 Lakewood, a location he writes about in his hit "American Child." As he walks around the town he recounts the hometown memories that were inspirations for his songs: his hard-working father ("Prayer of a Common Man"), a song inspired by Cindy Crawford and a fellow female classmate ("Carlene"), his high school buddies and their cars ("My Chevrolet"), and much more. As an added bonus, Vassar's Origins episode includes an exclusive concert performance taped at Nashville's Ocean Way Studios, another historic landmark in the singer's career.
His renditions of classic up-tempo numbers "Carlene" and "In A Real Love" move the crowd to their feet. New material from his first album released on Universal Records South, Prayer of A Common Man, including the hit single "Love Is A Beautiful Thing," "I Would," "Let Me Love You Tonight" and "Crazy Life" demonstrate the talents of Vassar’s songwriting to turn his real-life accounts into believable fictional scenarios.
"Even though many of the songs I write are fiction, they are historical fiction because they are based upon real emotional sparks-- if only a small one -- from a long, long time ago," explains Vassar. "I wrote 'Crazy Life' about 14 years ago and I put it on the new album as the last song. It just seemed like where I am and what I feel right now."