Growing up in Texas, Deryl Dodd was schooled in the rough-hewn honkytonks and dancehalls that are as much a part of Lone Star life as the church and the farm. "My buddies and I used to go hear Gary Stewart or Haggard or Willie, whoever was coming through," he says. "If I'd grown up going to coffee houses, maybe the music would be different, but as it was, I came up with music you could dance to."

Deryl moved Nashville early in his career, although it was a far cry from what he expected. People gave lip service to his honky-tonk roots, but in the end it was like trying to fit a true-country peg into a hole more interested in radio play and record sales than art.

During the mid-90s, Deryl signed a publishing deal with BMG Music. He played for larger and larger crowds and appeared to be on the brink of stardom. However, about that time Deryl began having some troubling physical symptoms. He had been working hard for about a decade, but fatigue and stress didn't explain having trouble lifting his arms to comb his hair, or worse, to play his guitar. He was diagnosed with viral encephalitis, a debilitating brain disorder. For the next six months Deryl was on 24 hour bed rest. It took another year and a half of physical therapy before he was ready to perform again.

"The illness took away some of my ability to play guitar, which is ironic because that was my mainstay," he says. "But in a strange way that was a lesson. You're not your guitar playing, you're not your songwriting. You're Deryl, and it's about what's in your heart. I realized that I had to let my heart be what people see, and quit trying to make it about all this other stuff. I had to let things go."

Deryl wanted his 2006 release, Full Circle, to be commercially viable. But he also made sure it remained true to his newfound sense of peace.

Information from the artist's site

Musicians

• Deryl Dodd: guitar, lead vocals, vocals
• Eric Nelson: drums
• Steve Rhian: guitar
• Kerry Wilson: bass

Albums

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