Certain people in your life make a remarkable difference; for my husband Danny Arena and me, one of them was Hall of Fame songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler. Billy Edd was a surprising mentor for two 20-somethings from NJ with Master’s degrees who had the strangest idea to be Country songwriters.
The year was 1989. Billy Edd launched an innovative and unchartered week-long adult summer camp called “Song Chase” for emerging songwriters at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC, in the Black Mountains outside Asheville. Danny, a first-year college computer teacher and songwriter, applied to the program. Not only was he accepted, but he won a coveted ASCAP scholarship to attend based on the three songs he submitted.
I’ll always remember the day Billy Edd called Danny to give him the good news about his scholarship. Danny was beside himself. To me, a suburban Jersey girl, hearing Danny talk about a grown man called “Billy Edd” was bizarre. But Danny knew him as the man who wrote “Jackson” for Johnny and June Cash and “Coward of the County” for Kenny Rogers.
That summer at Song Chase was a transformative experience for Danny. He met several Nashville-based hit songwriters and music publishers who were on the faculty and talented emerging songwriters who all became fast friends (many life-long) during this unique bonding experience. In the meantime, I started studying lyric writing at the Songwriter’s Guild in NYC, taught by Sheila Davis, the author of the ground-breaking book “The Craft of Lyric Writing.” Danny and I started co-writing — his music, my lyrics. The first song we wrote together was the first dance at our wedding.
The following summer, fresh off our honeymoon with several new co-written songs, Danny and I arrived at Song Chase. Danny had been promoted to faculty to teach music theory specifically for songwriters. You see, Billy Edd had an amazing instinct about people. He imagined Danny’s destiny as a great teacher and songwriter even before we did.
Before I met Billy Edd Wheeler, the only thing that fit my image of him was his smooth Southern drawl. As it turned out, he was not only a hit songwriter but also a singer, poet, humorist (“Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back”), musical theater creator, and producer. He was also an artist, a fine art collector, an avid reader, an educator, and a mentor.
The following summer, 1991, Billy Edd let us crash at his “pied-de-terre” in Nashville for a couple of weeks while he wasn’t there. We’d traveled to Nashville because Danny had been invited by then Executive Director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) Pat Rogers to make the keynote speech at the NSAI Songwriter’s Symposium alongside the renowned writer Hugh Prestwood (“The Song Remembers When”). Based on Lisa Palas’ recommendation, Pat had seen Danny’s music lecture while visiting Song Chase. Pat wanted to start songwriting camps for NSAI and pegged Danny to be part of the development team alongside Hugh Prestwood, Jon Ims, Angela Kaset, James Dean Hicks, and Rick Beresford.
During my first summer (and Danny’s second) at Song Chase, we fortuitously became acquainted with Billy Edd’s best friend, the renowned guitar-picker and music producer Chet Atkins, who came up from Nashville to check out what Billy Edd was up to with this songwriter’s retreat. Chet sat in on Danny’s music lecture and took notes. Afterward, he approached Danny, shook his hand, and said, “Thank you. I learned quite a few things.” Our takeaway: Even the most accomplished in their field know that there’s always something more to learn. Later that week, Chet even asked for a copy of one of our songs, “Arlington,” for his personal collection because it reminded him of his dad. We were on cloud nine.
While in Nashville, Danny borrowed one of Billy Edd’s suit jackets from his closet to wear to an interview for a college teaching job in Gallatin, TN, which he was offered. Then Pat Rogers hired me as the new Membership Director at NSAI. We were set. We packed up our NJ apartment, turned around, and moved to Nashville. The rest, as they say, is history.
Billy Edd offered us encouragement, friendship, and connections for no reason but kindness. He was a role model to Danny and me for giving back and helping others the way he helped us, paving the way for a 31-year career (so far) in the music industry.
I like to imagine that Billy Edd and Chet are pickin’ and grinnin’ together beyond the pearly gates. Maybe Hugh and Kris are joining them for the best writer’s round I can think of 🙂
