Yallwire News

 Randy Houser's USO tour overseas in Iraq earlier this year was worth every second for him. Randy shares with Guideposts magazine about his first show at the base there, "From the minute I walked onstage that afternoon, the soldiers were on their feet, cheering, singing along at the top of their lungs." He adds, "They never once sat down. I've done hundreds of concerts, in packed arenas. But this was like nothing I'd ever experienced. Their energy practically lifted me off the stage. Looking into the smiling faces of these soldiers - some of them only teenagers - I felt pure joy surge through me. It reminded me of when I was first starting out, just me and my guitar, the sheer wonder of playing in front of a few appreciative people."

Houser got to perform a new song, "Here With Me," for the troops while he was there. So how did the audience respond? Houser reveals, "A few words into the first verse, a hush fell over the crowd. You could have heard a pin drop when I got to the chorus, 'And you'd be there on a cold night in Georgia. And you'd be there when it's raining in Tennessee.' Cheers rang out as I sang the name of each state, like amens punctuating a church revival. I could see some of the soldiers choking up. I finished to thunderous applause... It dawned on me that the song wasn't about me, that it was, in fact, a gift for these servicemen and women. I played it in every concert after that, always with the same incredible reaction." Despite the great crowd response, Randy still re-wrote the lyrics to the second verse when he returned to the U.S. He shares, "I was almost done when I realized there was still something that needed to be sung. This time I knew just the words: 'But I know God can hear me way up there, sending up an old familiar prayer.'" You can hear the new tune on Houser's forthcoming album, They Call Me Cadillac, which comes out on September 14. Randy adds about the CD, "You'll see my name listed as the songwriter, but the real credit goes to the One who hears the prayers of our men and women in uniform and gave me the words to thank them."