Wayne Watson was born on October 5, 1954 in Wisner,
Louisiana. He has had 23 #1 singles on
Christian radio! In the 90’s he and
Sandi Patty performed their beautiful adult contemporary duet ‘Another Time,
Another Place’ on NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show’.
In ’92 that song won a Dove Award for ‘Short Form Music Video of the
Year’. Fast forward to 1998 and Wayne
released the album THE WAY HOME (Word).
Wayne dedicated it to his late father, Charles Watson, “a most dignified
gentleman that lived with great humility and love for those around him”. Michael Omartian produced the album.
First up is the light adult pop song ‘There Goes
Sundown’. It finds Wayne reflecting on
his desires: “Some days I pray this prayer/More than others/For my Lord to
come/When I’m weary of fightin’/When I’m tired of runnin’/Other days I wanna
stay around/Grow old with that girl of mine/Most of the future is out of my
hands/He reminds me every day about this time/There goes sundown (2X)/There
goes sundown again”. The song is one of
six solely penned by Wayne. Gordon
Kennedy, Phil Madeira, and Jackie Street wrote the country rock number ‘Here in
this Town’ which speaks of hypocrisy: “Here in this town/They all say Your
Name/Sunday, it’s holy, Monday profane/How long before You bring this place to
the ground?.../Here in this town/They all know the truth/Quote verse and
chapter/But they don’t know You”.
‘Wouldn’t that be Somethin’!’ has a playful pop feel to it
musically and includes these imaginative lyrics: “I wanna be the kind of friend
that Jesus would call, you know if he had a telephone/At the end of the
day/Just to talk about nothin’, nothin’/Yeah, I wanna be the kind of friend
He’d wanna be around/You know without a word, without a sound/Wouldn’t that be
somethin’, somethin’, yeah?/Is that so hard to imagine/The Lord Jesus as a
friend like that/Spending time in the pleasure of your company?” The wonderful inspirational anthem ‘For Such
a Time as This’ was used on CBS’s popular TV show ‘Touched By an Angel’. The song includes these words: “For such a
time as this/I was placed upon the earth/To hear the voice of God and do His
will whatever it is/For such a time as this/For now and all the days He gives/I
am here, I am here/And I am His/For such a time as this.../Can’t change what’s
happened till now/But we can change what will be/By living in holiness/That the
world will see Jesus”.
‘The Urgency (Of the Generally Insignificant)’ warns against
worries and anxieties and is a soulful pop song: “Say, what’s your hurry?/Why
are you worryin’ about things you can’t control?/What good’s it do ya if you
run the world and lose your soul?/Another New Year’s Day gone by/Still too
easily occupied/By the urgency of the generally insignificant/By the urgency of
things that don’t matter much at all/It occurs to me/The urgency can make a
strong man crumble and fall/It’s the urgency of the generally insignificant,
that’s all”. Biff Watson plays acoustic
guitar on ‘Growing’, a quiet song of vulnerability: “Don’t leave me here/You
said You would not forsake me/But You never said that You wouldn’t break me to
make me over in the image of you/In the dark night of the soul/When there’s no
comfort in prayin’/Not a moment’s pleasure in strayin’/You’re the only shelter
I know/I’m growing, I don’t like it/I’m growing and it hurts/I still love You,
but God I’m tired/I guess I’ve got a lot to learn (2X)”.
‘The Long Way Home’ is one of three songs Wayne co-wrote
with producer Michael Omartian. It
serves as a lovely testimonial: “I took the long way home back to what I believe/I
took the long way home/You were waiting there for me/You were always faithful
even when my faith was not so strong/It’s been a long way home/You know I never
intended to get off the track so far/The lights that turned my head are looking
quite bizarre”. ‘Perception’ is a great
rock song told from Jesus’ viewpoint: “They saw me eatin’ at the table with the
sinners, tax collectors, the harlots and the thieves/Sometimes I wonder, should
I be more careful ‘bout what people are thinking/What they choose to
believe?/They saw Me talking to the woman at the fountain/I heard ‘em whisper
‘What’s He doing with her?’/Guess I can suffer/In people’s estimation/For the
transformation of one sinner to occur”.
‘What are you still Doin’ Here’ is a romantic ballad dedicated
to Wayne’s then wife, Lynn: “Who would have dreamed that you would still love
me after getting to know me much better than well?/It took the mercies of
Heaven and a covenant love/Still, sometimes I wonder to myself/What are you
still doin’ here, loving me/Keeping all your promises faithfully/If I tried to
count the ways/That would be like tryin’ to count the stars”. Last up is ‘Come Home’. It portrays God as the ultimate example of a
loving parent: “We are all just children, even your mama and me/And everybody
gone before us from this family/God, the good, good Father watches those He
calls His own/One day when we’re through growin’, He’s gonna call us home/And
He’ll say ‘Come home, come home/Night has fallen but the lights are on/Come
home, come home/Night has fallen, it’s been so long since we’ve all been
together/Gonna be here forever/Come home, come on home”.
On THE WAY HOME Wayne Watson keeps things interesting by
including various styles musically-everything from inspirational ballads to
rock. Instruments used are: guitars,
keyboards, drums, percussion, fiddle, and mandolin. Vocalists employed are: Michael Mellett, Rob
Frazier, Gene Miller, John Elefante, and Nicol Smith. The lyrics are on the conversational side of
things. The main topic is the Christian
life and a love song is included.
Wayne’s vocals are easy to listen to.
I’m rating THE WAY HOME 95% and recommending it to fans of James Taylor,
Matthew West, and Steve Camp. For more
info visit www.waynewatson.com or
connect with him on facebook.