Here are some articles that I've found on Wade Hayes.

CMT August 1998; Wade Hayes Hammers it Home with Habitat for Humanity

THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR July 1998; Home dedicated

THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR July 1998; Hayes to return for dedication

COUNTRY WAVE MAGAZINE March 1998; Wade Hayes is a Paradox

THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR 1997; Surprise awaits country crooner's return

THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR 1997; Hayes back to build, perform

NEW COUNTRY July 1996; Wade Hayes - On A Good Night

MUSIC CITY NEWS March 1996; "Wade"-ing Into Deep Water

MUSIC CITY NEWS March 1996; In the Studio with Wade Hayes

SONY MUSIC; Wade Hayes

CMT August 1998

Wade Hayes Hammers it Home with Habitat for Humanity

With his new album When The Wrong One Loves You Right, Hayes laments the fact that although he loves the new songs, they just don't make 'em like they used to.

"I listen to a lot of music at home. I have a very eclectic collection. I love Sarah McLachlan's new album. I think it's really great. But I do prefer traditional country over anything. That's where my heart lies, that's where my roots lie. It's not like... I'm putting on a cowboy hat and then going and singin'.
My town was basically cows and alfalfa fields and that's a way of life that's changing. It's much more common to be an urban person or a city kid. So, it's difficult to find songs that fit my agenda."

For an industry that cranks out product, Wade Hayes' new album was an eternity in the making. In the eight months spent on this album, LeAnn Rimes could have released a box set, greatest hits package and a movie of the week!

"Song selection is critical and you can't rush that. It's a process of elimination, actually. You start with thousands of songs and you start narrowing it down. You keep looking and adding songs to the pile and you hold on to the ones that strike that nerve in you. That's what we look for. A feeling from a song. It's not much different than when somebody hears a song on the radio and they just love it. It's the same thing with us. I believe we were really patient this time out and it's the best album that we've done, I'm sure."

Recently, Wade Hayes was shooting a video for "The Day That She Left Tulsa" and Titanic director James Cameron couldn't have been tougher on the singer. As Hayes discovered, when the director wants rain, it rains -- no matter what the weather. "It was like... very cold. (laughs) It was a cold snap down in Texas. For the video shoot, we had to bring in fire trucks and make fake rain for the whole thing. My boots were full of water and I didn't have a stitch of dry clothing. And of course I was whining, (laughs), but it didn't help. I ended up getting sick over it."

Hayes isn't in a hurry for anything. He wants to be sure that every step he takes is in the right direction. He doesn't want to end up in the where-are-they-now category.

"I've seen a lot of people explode and then go away really quick. I want to have some longevity. I want to be able to do this for as long as people will let me. I mean, I don't want to be 75 years old and tumbling off the tour bus, for quite some time yet."

He becomes philosophical on the subject of aging. He is after all getting close to the "Big Three-oh." It almost sounds like he's considering settling down.

"I feel like every ten years you go through a good change. I mean, it's happening to me. I can feel it. I'm looking at things differently. I'm thinking about those things as I approach thirty, but music is my mistress. That's the way it's gonna stay for a while."

Canada has always been a very good neighbour to Wade Hayes. He tours up here regularly and as he talks from his hotel room in a little Missouri town, he asks me to pass along a message for his Canadian fans.

"There is one thing I would like to say. It's how much I sincerely appreciate 'em. It's a good year shaping up for us and I'm excited to get up there and see everybody in Canada and to do a lot of touring. I just want to say 'Thank you'."
--Wray Ellis--

Surprise awaits country crooner's return

By KRISTI TISCHER, SNS Writer
When country music artist Wade Hayes comes to Shawnee next week, he will meet with a surprise from his hometown, Bethel Acres. The town erected five signs Monday proclaiming Bethel Acres the hometown of the country music artist.
Posts for the signs were set in concrete Sunday 24 hours before the signs were bolted to them, said Henry Hunt, the former mayor of Bethel Acres. Hunt also was personally involved in getting the signs.
Placement of the signs was approved at the Aug. 20 Bethel City Council meeting, Hunt said.
The locations of the signs are: at the intersection of Bethel Road and Lake Road; at Lake Road and SH 102; at the corner of Hardesty and SH 102; just west of Coker Road and Hardesty; and at Bethel School on the corner of Clear Pond Road and Bethel Road.
Officials checked with Haye's parents, Don and Trisha Hayes, of Bethel Acres, before beginning the project.
"We were really enthusiastic. We were thrilled and honored," Mrs. Hayes said.
"We think it's pretty special for his hometown to honor him like that -- he will too," she said.
Hunt said once the signs were approved, he and the others assisting him with installation wanted to have the signs in place before Hayes returns to Shawnee next week to perform a concert. The singer has not been told about the signs, and it will be a big surprise for him, his mother said.
"It's been hard to keep it a secret, but I can't wait to see his face. He'll be really surprised," she said.
Hayes, who recently won the TNN Music City News Male Star of Tomorrow Award, will be in Shawnee for the Wade Hayes Homecoming for Habitat concert Thursday, Sept. 4. Country music artists Patty Loveless and Gene Watson also will be performing. The concert will be 7:30 p.m. at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center, and tickets are available at all OK Ticket outlets, including all Pratt's Stores. Tickets can also be ordered by phone at 948-6800. A portion of the proceeds will go toward the Habitat for Humanity program.
The day before the concert, the country crooner will be working with other people on renovating a home in Shawnee he donated for the Habitat for Humanity Program.
Copyright 1997 The Shawnee News-Star

"Boy, I remember that well," Hayes says with a grin. "It was all such a huge mystery to me at that point. I had no idea what the future held for me and I was really scared."

He didn't have to be. His debut album, "Old Enough To Know Better" is gold and he has topped the charts with his songs, Old Enough To Know Better and I'm Still Dancin' With You. He was named the Top New Country Artist for 1995 by Billboard magazine and the New Artist MVP (Most Valuable Performer) by Radio & Records. He also has an endorsement deal with Fender guitars. Currently, he is working on his second Columbia/DKC album with producers Don Cook and Chick Rains. Once again he is at the brink of something, and there arises a bit of nagging fear.

"It is a different kind of fear now," he tells, taking a long pull from his coffee cup. "Now I am worried about the second album and the sophomore jinx. But we've got a year behind us and I feel a lot more knowledgeable about the way everything works. I do have to say, honestly, that I think this new album is better than the first one. I can't wait for everybody to hear it."

While 1995 closed out on a high note, 1996 is beginning to stack up even better. Hayes is on the middle slot of the Alan Jackson tour. Emilio will open the shows. The comparisons between Hayes and Jackson are strong. Both are tall. Jackson measures in at six feet, four inches, to Hayes' six foot, two inches. Both saw their careers jump off to a quick start. And both of their personalities could be described as, well, low key. Hayes admits he is pretty quiet and doesn't get excited about much. He did, however, show lots of exuberance when discussing the tour.

"I can't wait," he says before the tour's opening date of January 17. "We're tickled to death. I didn't expect to be in a middle slot this early on. It has really progressed pretty quickly. There are a lot of great entertainers, and for someone to invite us to play the middle slot on the biggest country tour there is, that's pretty cool."

Last year, Hayes did open a show for Jackson and tells how everyone involved--crews, bands, etc.--had a great time. When asked if entertainers on a package tour really have a chance to sit around and shoot the breeze, Wade's response is a quick, "You bet." He still calls up past touring partners--Tracy Lawrence and Joe Diffie, for example--on the phone and considers them friends. While he was on tour last year with Brooks & Dunn and Faith Hill, the artists and band members would go to nightclubs and sit with the house band.

"Man, it was just fun," he says with a smile. "We're all buddies. You do develop great relationships out there. It is always business first, but you definitely have time to hang out, too. When you do, it is really fun."

Understanding relationships among fellow artists is fairly easy. But when it comes to others, Hayes has a certain amount of wariness. At times, he finds it hard to be just a regular guy. As an eligible bachelor, he has to consider one's motives.

"I don't guess it is hard to get a date. It is tough to find the time for it," he admits. "You really, really ought to watch what you are doing. You never know who is wanting to take advantage of you being on stage and stuff like that. Sometimes, it is hard to determine whether people like you for who you are or for what you do. But I do enjoy the attention. I would be lying if I said I didn't."

Wade Hayes has one bunch of fans who have not changed toward him even though he is now a top country artist--his own family. He is especially close to his nephews, ages three and four. (He has also a niece who was born last summer.) Wade tells that the boys have their own little guitars so they can imitate Uncle Wade.

"It kind of confuses them when I come over to the house and then I'll come on TV. They don't know what to think about that," he laughs. "They are good kids. I sure do love them."

Video, Hayes believes, has been the key ingedient to his success. His most current one, What I Should Have Said, has Hayes moving backward in time to the point he messed up in a relationship. When he first heard the concept for it, he thought it was "screwy."

"It took a long time to shoot that one and a lot of work went into it. But after I saw it a couple of times, I thought it was a cool idea," he tells.

The hardest video he has shot is Don't Stop. As mentioned earlier, Wade Hayes is a fairly quiet young man. The video has a girl flirting outrageously with him and in a couple of shots, you can see an embarrassed Hayes come close to blushing.

"I went through two hours of (director) Steven Goldman hollering at me to loosen up because I just couldn't. By nature, I am just not that way," he says. "The girl, her name is Karen, helped me out a lot in that video. She is real bubbly and has an over-the-top personality. She really helped me to loosen up." In the first one, Old Enough To Know Better, he had to do very little acting in the parts where he was taped working on a construction site. It is a life he has known for years. His father is a contractor and he often will go swing a hammer while on a visit home. "I go to work with him or try to talk him into knocking off work for the day and we go running around," he says with a chuckle.

Hayes is a man in Oklahoma designing a house for him that he will build in Nashville. He is looking for enough property that he can have a few cows. Though Hayes has built "a bunch of houses" in his time, he doesn't plan to frame his own.

"When you don't have to do it every day, there is something really enjoyable about it. But it is hard work, especially when the snow comes down and it is cold. You still have to go to work.

"The last house I worked on here in Nashville, the wind chill was twelve degrees below zero. I was three stories in the air putting a roof on a house. That was the coldest I have ever been in my life," he tells. "Boy, that made me really want the record deal even worse. I'd had enough of that!"

Just as building houses is hard work, Wade Hayes knows that building a country music career is just as grueling. "I'm having the best time of my life. I don't want it to end, so I'll try to work twice as hard this year and make sure it doesn't!"

By Lydia Dixon Harden

I thought sitting in on the recording process would give a different look about Wade Hayes and his music. Wade and his producers, Don Cook and Chick Rains, were gracious enough to let me visit while Wade was doing the vocal tracks for his upcoming album.

The session took place at the studio of Sony Tree Publishing. As I walked into the control room, I could hear Wade's deep baritone voice booming through the speakers. While I could hear Wade, I could barely see him. The studio where he was singing had the lights down very low. As Don Cook affirms, Wade likes to sing in the dark.

As Wade sings the lyrics to Where Do I Go To Start All Over, Cook sits in the control room noodling on an accoustic guitar. Apparently, he is able to sourt through music he is playing from the music coming over the speakers.

"He does that all the time," Wade says. "If something sticks out from the track, he'll pick it up, but usually, he leaves the way all the vocals sound up to me."

The tape ends and Wade comes into the control room for a listen. Needless to say, I do a double take. The previously clean-shaven Hayes is now sporting whiskers. When I interviewed him at a later date, the beard had disappeared.

"I have always wanted to grow a goatee and see how it looked," he tells. "That was what I was doing over the Christmas break. You don't get a chance to do that when you are in the public's eye a lot. I saw myself (with the beard) on TV and didn't like it, so I shaved it off. I had to try, though, and that was the only chance I had."

He is casually dressed that day wearing jeans, a black T-shirt and black boots. He is also sporting a new accessory, a cigar. It is a gift from one of the songwriters of the songs he's recording. He doesn't light it up, though.

As the playback starts, Wade and Cook -- along with this session's engineer, Mark Capps, and assistant engineer, Lee McDougall -- each consult over a sheet. The sheet contains a typed copy of the song's lyrics and, at the beginning of each line, is a number, which corresponds to the position that line is on the tape. If they choose to redo a vocal, the engineer just punches in the number of the corresponding line and the tape automatically cues to that position. There's no fast forwarding or rewinding.

To the left of the lyrics are numbered columns. A check in that column notes from which vocal track the lyrics will be taken. It's possible to use a line from the third take, the next from the first and the next from the seventh. These sheets help keep a record of what to keep.

As the music plays, Cook and Wade communicate through a language of nods and eye contact. Both agree two lines need some work. It's back to the studio for Wade.

"If a word doesn't sound right coming out, then I want to do it again. I really pay close attention to pronunciation and stuff like that," Hayes tells.

After the song is concluded, Cook asks Wade which song he'd like to work on next.

"I want to stay in the ballad mode," he says.

While the engineers set up for the new song, It Hurts Don't It, Cook apologizes, saying the work they are doing is "not exciting, but pretty tedious."

Sitting in the studio, you are closed away from the outside world. There are no windows. It's easy to loose track of time as you hear the same music over and over and over. If you don't really pay close attention, it's easy to become immune to it all.

At this point, co-producer Chick Rains enters the studio with artist Greg Holland. Another couple comes in and then leaves. Another journalist chats with Cook. Despite all the comings and goings, work still gets done.

"Chick, Don and I make a pretty good team, I think. We each have an idea of my sound," says Wade. "Chick and I handle the songwriting part of it. Don handles the way the tracks go and the way a song feels on tape. I'm really proud of the stuff we do. I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Chick has taught me a lot about songwriting. Back when I was still living in Oklahoma, I could put words and thoughts together, but there were still a lot of holes in what I was trying to do. Chick has really shown me where the problem areas lie and how to make a song solid."

Wade then starts working on the vocals for another song. After several tries, he and Cook have different ideas of how the melody should go. Cook takes his guitar in the studio. After awhile, they decide to move to another song instead, a hard-driving mid-tempo tune titled Our Time Is Coming. This time, every one agrees the first pass is good, but will just fix a line or two.

At this point, the three have completed seven songs. Wade will come in later and finish his guitar solos. Cook will also add the background vocals at this time. They will finish the remaining three songs during sessions that began in late January.

Playing guitar in the studio is a new experience for Wade, and after doing so he has gained a lot of admiration for studio musicians.

"It was quite a different thing for me," he admits. "It makes me realize how talented studio musicians really are. You can't go in there and make any mistakes. It was one of the hardest things I have tried to do, but it turned out OK."

If nothing else, the experience made the self-taught guitarist settle down and practice more. He noticed that the only things he played wer riffs from his own hits. He sat down and played along with some old records to polish his skills.

There is a difference between playing live and playing in the studio, but he claims he likes both equally.

"I love going into the studio and taking a song that Chick and I have written and then watching it turn into a record. That is really incredible. That is a great feeling knowing that you really have something," he says with a smile. "As far as the live standpoint goes, seeing 10,000 people sing and actually know the words to a song you wrote is incredible, too. They both have equal places."

If everything goes according to plans, the first single from the yet-to-be-titled album will be Six Feet Tall, a song Wade wrote with Rains and Bill Anderson. Hayes first met the Grand Ole Opry performer a few years back when he had signed a publishing agreement with Sony Tree. "I think the world of him," Hayes says of Anderson.

Even in its unfinished state, Wade also thinks the world of his new album declaring it much better than his first. With all this experience under his belt now, perhaps Wade Hayes is old enough to know better. --By Lydia Dixon Harden--

MCN

That's just the beginning of Wade Hayes' story. The latest chapter involves his Columbia album, Old Enough To Know Better, a debut which establishes the 25-year-old singer as the genuine article--an artist whose innate talents allow him to explore new musical boundaries without ever losing sight of where the music originated in the first place.

Through his songwriting partner Chick Rains, Hayes managed to get an impromptu audition with Don Cook, a record producer best known for his work with Brooks & Dunn, the Mavericks and Mark Collie.

"Once I started listening, I was just amazed at how good he was," Cook recalls. "It wasn't just how good he was vocally or instrumentally, but how he carried himself personally. The last time I had that feeling was when I sat in a room and heard Ronnie Dunn for the first time. Wade is someone who has sung enough to know what he can do."

Cook's assessment was right on target.

"My folks have pictures of me from the age of three with a toy guitar in my hand," Hayes says. "I can't even remember a time when I didn't want to do this."

Although Hayes had dabbled at playing bluegrass mandolin, he got his first "real" guitar at 11.

All along, country music was a fixture in the Hayes house. After all, the singer's father, Don Hayes, was a professional musician who supplemented his income as a carpenter by performing in the honky tonks around Bethel Acres and Shawnee, both a 30-mile drive from Oklahoma City. "I'd drive my parents absolutely crazy, walking around all day singing those country songs," Hayes says.

"Those country songs" were the ones popularized by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, Lefty Fizzell, Gene watson and--father's favorite--Gary Stewart, who combined country with healthy dashes of rock and blues.

By the time he was in his teens, Hayes had expanded his listening tastes to include Earl Thomas Conley, Ricky Skaggs and New Grass Revival.

Arond this time Hayes' father landed an ill-fated deal with an independent record company. After packing their belongings and selling the house they owned in Oklahoma, the elder Hayes moved the family to Nashville.

About a year later, the label folded and the money was gone.

"My parents ended up losing everything they had," Hayes says. "They'd bought a house in Nashville that they lost. We had to find some way to get back to Oklahoma so we could start all over again."

Don Hayes returned to Oklahoma and the routine of playing country music in night clubs. Then 14-year-old Wade was playing four nights a week in a Shawnee club as guitarist and background vocalist in his father's band, Country Heritage.

"At the time, I was kind of jealous when I'd see my friends out having a good time," he says. "Now, I'm glad I had the time to practice and work on my music."

Wade attended three different Oklahoma colleges, but the attraction to music proved much too strong.

"I was trying to get through college to get a full time job," he admits. "I knew in my heart that it wasn't what I wanted. I was miserable."

Enlightenment came unexpectedly while Wade watched Ricky Skaggs on the 1991 CMA Awards show telecast.

"Out of the clear blue, he said 'All of you young musicians that are struggling with your art, you need to go ahead and pursue it because that's what you're called to do.' I knew when he said that, I was meant to hear it," Hayes says.

Returning to Nashville in 1992, Hayes honed his songwriting skills while displaying his formidable guitar-playing prowess on demo sessions.

A lifetime of dreams became a reality: After meeting Cook, Wade soon came into contract with Sony Music Nashville's Executive Vice President, Paul Worley. Within a 72-hour period, Hayes had signed a writing agreement with Tree Publishing and a recording contract with Columbia Records.

The promise that Cook and Worley saw is fulfilled in Old Enough To Know Better. Like the best contry music, it paints a picture that listeners can instantly connect with.

In addition to the title track, the album contains "I'm Still Dancing With You," th ballad that attracted everyone's attention initially, the uptempo "It's Gonna Take A Miracle," and the edgy rocker "Don't Make Me Come To Tulsa," written by Cook. The collection also features "Kentucky Bluebird," previously recorded by the late Keith Whitley, and "Steady As She Goes," penned by Cook with Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn.

Wade Hayes takes nothing for granted. He's the type of guy who sang regularly at Gilley's night club in Nashville and then faithfully showed up for his job as a construction worker at 7:00 the next morning. "I've always tried to work hard," he says. "My parents taught me that."

The Hayes family work ethic should give Wade a distinct advantage as he launches his career.

"I want to make people feel the way I feel when I hear great records on the radio," he says. "You're gonna think this is weird, but hearing George Strait sing "Milkcow Blues" for the first time brought tears to my eyes because it was so great. I had to pull over to the side of the road. The music and the way his voice sounded made me want to cheer."

"I want to make people feel that way. That's my goal."

"COLUMBIA NASHVILLE" Reg. U.S. Patent & Trademark Office

Copyright Sony Music Entertainment Inc.