Jimmy Wayne
Sunday, July 27, 2008 @ 7p
Mayo Park
This talented vocalist and gifted songwriter touched the hearts of Country music fans everywhere with his top 5 single “Stay Gone” and top 20 single “Paper Angels” from Jimmy’s Top 10 self-titled album. His most recent single “Do You Believe Me Now” is currently climbing the charts.
Jimmy Wayne made his first appearance on the Country charts as co-writer of Tracy Byrd's Top Ten smash "Put Your Hand in Mine". Soon after, Jimmy was signed to Dreamworks Records which issued his debut album in June of 2003 and placed a single in the Top Ten before release. "Stay Gone" was a Billboard country hit. It was followed by "Paper Angels," a narrative of Wayne's own life in the street and those he encountered there, "Blue and Brown," about an encounter with a foster brother who became an inmate at the prison where Wayne worked, and a devastatingly honest revenge fantasy entitled "The Rabbit." Countless fans have responded to the songs on his debut album with impassioned letters, e-mails and face-to-face personal stories of their own tragedies and triumphs. They hear themselves in Wayne’s songs, and he’s not about to let them down now. Given the timing of its release,Wayne's album turned a small industry buzz into a wildfire of publicity and speculation about the new directions he was using in country music and pop.
Wayne’s second album promises effervescent, heartfelt songs that carry on the tradition of open-hearted emotionalism and upfront honesty heard on the first album—but with a lighter, brighter touch you might not expect from a man who has been through so much pain in his short life. By now, the details are familiar: abandoned by his father, shuffled through foster homes, Wayne wound up living on the street with, as he jokes darkly, “a bag of clothes, a bicycle and a mullet.” He was taken in by an elderly neighborhood couple, Russell and Beatrice Costner, who he credits as having thus saved his life. Their generous example has led Wayne to devote himself wholeheartedly to a variety of charities since his rise to fame, including group homes (such as Our House in Columbus, Ga., and HomeBase Youth Services in Phoenix) that help troubled youths like the one he used to be.
Jimmy Wayne has one of music’s finest and most powerful voices, one steeped in country history but injected with a rich undercurrent of classic soul. Wayne is substantive and presents an entirely new twist on the entire country tradition.
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