CONTENTS

Prologue: FTW: Twenty-Seven Years Earlier

PART ONE: A WAKE-UP CALL

1. Big Time!

2. Back Home

PART TWO: THE CRAZY YEARS

3. Life with Carroll

4. Vance Street Vice, Mayhem, and Murder

5. Matinee Madness

6. Hangover Street

7. Ghost Tales

8. I Think I Know How Jesus Felt

9. Foster Kid

10. Hungry

11. Baptized

12. Grandpa’s Place

13. A Light in the Darkness

14. Money for Mama

15. Sparkles

16. The Nightmare Begins

17. Sante Shoot-Out

18. On the Run

19. Facing the Bullies

20. Faith Farm

21. Doctor Death

22. Didn’t She Always Come Back?

23. My Worst Birthday Ever

24. Bumping into Angels

25. Family Affairs

PART THREE: SAVED BY LOVE

26. The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

27. My First Band

28. It’s Not Where You’ve Been; It’s Where You’re Goin’

29. Working Inside

30. Country Bust

31. Nashville Novice

32. Good-bye, Jimmy; Good-bye, Bea

33. Some Dreams Really Do Come True

34. You Never Know

35. Who Me? A Country Star?

36. House of Cards

37. Exposure

38. Second Chance

PART FOUR: THE WALK

39. Walking Away or Walking Toward?

40. Walk On!

41. New Friends, Snakes, and a Dog

42. Pie Town

43. Not Complainin’, Just Explainin’

44. First Steps to a New Journey

Epilogue: Be Somebody!

Acknowledgments

Photos