Tid Bit in time

Songwriting

My desire to be a songwriter goes back to my senior year in high school – 1941- 1942 and 2 or 3 years after graduation.

I was wanting to write “popular music”. There was some money to be made in this field if you got a “hit”. I did have one song recorded as a “demo,” but it never went anywhere.

By 1944 I had a family started so my song writing faded out. There would be a time in the future it would be revived. When and by what means, I had no idea – nor what type of music I would write.

Then on March 30, 1981, our second son, Dayton, died at age 35 years. After grieving for him for some months and finally accepting that he wasn’t coming back, I began to think – He’ s gone home. He’s gone home to Heaven. I began to think on that thought for a poem or a song. So, I wrote three verses that told the story as I wanted and put a tune to it, called a melody.

Then in march, the 3rd weekend of 1982, there was to be a gospel singing in Amity High School Auditorium, Amity, AR. We attended this singing along with many others from over the state including “The Jeffress Family Singers” from Crossett, AR. Nolan Jeffress is head of the Jeffress Music Company and publishes a song book.

I showed him my song that I had written about Dayton “Going Home”. He looked it over and gave it to Marty Phillips who did the arranging, finishing and setting up the songs for printing. He said, “Marty will take your song and make you a good song out of it.” Which he did. That was 1982.

From that point I continued to write for Jeffress Music Company.

Then as my God- given talent grew, I wrote for James D. Vaughn Music Co., Tennessee Music Co., Stamps- Baxter Music Co., Leoma Music Co., and National Music Co.

To date, I have written and had published well over one hundred songs. Some of these have been written in collaboration with other writers. They have been sung wherever Southern gospel music is sung. This type of singing is still alive in Hot Spring County and throughout Arkansas.

The song, “Gone on Home,” lyrics and music by Russell D. Shuffield can be found on page 119 of The Heritage, Volume 34.

This Tidbit in Time shared by the Hot Spring County Historical Society

The Heritage, Vol. 34, p. 118