trying to say I was pretty good too. And then
she goes, “Can you sing us something”? And
this was the coolest thing, my Dad was lying
in bed and couldn’t speak, started humming
“Amazing Grace”. And he was doing all the
licks and vocal curls. He couldn’t speak, but he
was doing all the curls. He did all three verses.
He didn’t let up. And we were all crying. They
said it was the most beautiful thing they had
ever seen. They took us in the hallway and said
they couldn’t do anything for him, just take
him home and love him. That was an amazing
moment for me. That was my Dad. Everything
he tried to sing was in perfect pitch, and he was
laying it on for them. He was a heck of a man,
really funny and talented. I couldn’t have had a
better Dad.
[WM] “Holes in the Floor of Heaven”, was a
massive hit for you both in co-writing and as
a performance piece. Winning both the CMA
and ACM Song of the Year award, 2 Grammy
Award nominations and multiple additional
accolades, it also won a Christian Country
Music Association Award. How has faith
played a role in your life?
[Steve] I’ll never forget when they called and
said we won that award. It was a huge deal
for me. Faith is huge in my world and my life,
because of my parents and my upbringing. As
a very young kid we were really deep in the
church. My Dad played. My Uncle Sam was
Steve with Alex MacDougall
our minister, and he was great, I loved Sam.
His life story is amazing. How he found the
a foundry. It would be The Roy Wariner Foundry neurosurgeons came in and they walked up
if you got hurt like that these days. Then they to my Dad, and the lady Neurosurgeon said
gave him a real cushy job, and he was the to him, “I hear you were a musician all these
assistant. He just passed two years ago. He years”, and he shook his head yes, and
had a stroke ten years before he passed, it smiled. She goes, “I heard you were a really
didn’t affect his speech, but he had that real good singer too”, and I could tell my Dad was
bad limp. But then about two years before
believe, thanks to my Mom and Dad, and
my Uncle Sam. Also, the music part of it. My
church had a lot of music. My Dad was one of
twelve kids and they were all really talented. I
had an Uncle who played who was in the Navy
a year to visit us. He’d come from Saudi Arabia
speech and left him in pretty bad shape.
or somewhere, and he’d pull out a couple
This is a good story though - when he had
harmonicas and just wear it out. He’d play
that last stroke he was laying in the hospital
those chromatic ones. That’s where I started
at the University of Kentucky, and we were
playing. I started my music theory hearing that
all wondering what the damage of this would
30
the head with it, but my faith is very strong. I
for 30 years, but he’d come home about once
he died he had a horrible stroke that took his
be. He couldn’t talk at that time, but two
Lord. I’m not one of those that hit people over
Holes in the Floor of Heaven
December 2019
church music. It’s all really important.
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