Jimmy Wayne has graced our stage twice during our annual fundraiser, Golf and Guitars, out at the Haggin Oaks Golf Complex.  During this past summer, Ken and I had a chance to sit down for lunch with Jimmy Wayne when we went to Nashville on vacation.  Jimmy was excited for his upcoming book project, and I am excited to announce that Paper Angels has been released!  Please read the article Ken wrote on his country music blog,That Nashville Sound.  ~Jen

Singer/songwriter Jimmy Wayne released his self-titled debut album in 2003 on the DreamWorks Records label.  Four singles were released from it, including “Stay Gone” and “I Love You This Much”, which both reached Top Ten on the Billboard country charts.  A second album, Do You Believe Me Now, was released in August 2008 via Big Machine Records subsidiary Valory Music Group, and its title track became his first Number One hit in late 2008.  His philanthropic work is well-documented and includes his own non-profit foundation called Meet Me Halfway in addition to a fundraising and awareness walk that saw him walk from Nashville to Arizona last year.  Wayne can now add author to his resume. 

Wayne has released a brand new novel called Paper Angels that tells the story of a young man suffering through a childhood and a family that takes him under their wing.  Jennifer Perry, Executive Director of the Children’s Action Network says, “Jimmy Wayne has taken the pathos, poignancy, heart, and storytelling abilities that infuse his music and translated them into a novel that will inspire all those who read it to take the first step toward making a difference.” 

Here’s the background in the book:Kevin Morrell is a forty-three-year-old husband and father who runs a successful design and marketing firm that’s crashed into the suffering economy.  Attempting to navigate the busyness of the mall at Christmas, Kevin is humbled when he stumbles across the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Project.  His wife insists that he take a paper ornament. 

The name on the ornament is Thomas Brandt, a fifteen-year-old still reeling from the implosion of his family—from years of verbal abuse from an alcoholic father to a mother who finally left him behind, only to find herself and her children penniless and struggling.  The only thing has allowed Lynn to survive is her faith.  Thomas shares that faith, but he also wonders why God has seemingly abandoned them. 

This is the story about a man and a boy one December.  A man whose life is changed by a simple expression of kindness, and a boy who takes that expression of kindness and shows the true meaning of Christmas.