Luckiest Man On Earth_RUFF#2 | Hurricaneduane

About the artist

Duane Evans has made a living in the tough world of the music business as a musician, composer and studio owner for close to 50 years.

Here's why. He said "yes" when faced with a new challenge, and then, "I can do that."

The 60-year-old is co-owner of Williamson-Evans, a recording studio that makes commercials, online videos and business training films, basically anything that involves music, words or moving pictures.

He started working way back — in Anderson — when he was a precocious but musically gifted boy. He took piano lessons for a year or so but the teacher told his mother he should quit. He wasn't good at reading the notes. Waste of time, she said. He could play everything by ear after a few tries.

A few years later he was at a friend's house and saw the Rolling Stones on television. Watching Charlie Watts play the drums enthralled him. His parents bought him a drum set. By the time he was 12, he was in a band called the Spectres with real gigs and enough income he never had to ask his parents for money, even to buy a car.

Evans was the youngest member. His father, Andy, was the manager and attended every performance, snapping his fingers and smiling as the band played songs of the times such as "Double Shot of My Baby's Love" and "Midnight Hour."

At Clemson University, Evans majored in zoology, largely because his older brother, Joey — who also had been a band member — was going to be a doctor. Evans decided he wanted to be a dentist.

"It was the quickest way to dental school without taking organic chemistry," he said.

He joined a band called Kinfolk, a spinoff of the Swinging Medallions. The band became a fraternity party favorite across the Southeast. The regular gigs paid his way through college, but also meant his grades weren't the best.

"I finished early," he said. In other words, he left after three years without earning a degree.

"I took off to Atlanta to pursue rock 'n' roll," he said.

He and his wife at the time, Lyndon, decided they'd give it five years. If he wasn't making it, he'd go to chiropractic school, like his father. That time came. He was accepted into a chiropractic program but then got a call from a friend. Did he want to play in the band for Benny Mardones, whose "Into the Night" would climb to No. 5 on the charts?

That gig lasted 10 years. He and Mardones co-wrote dozens of songs. They played shows all over, including a huge Christmas show every year in Syracuse, New York. Sixteen-week tours. A month of rehearsals. And in between he'd work as a painter or a construction worker or a pipefitter. Chasing a dream. Saying "yes. I can do that."

He knew he was ready for something bigger. He'd played for Johnny Van Zant for a year. He'd had a publishing contract with Warner Chapel. A few songs were included in movies. He'd taught himself to play the guitar, the fiddle and he could sing. New York City should be the next stop for him, his wife and children.

But his brother stepped in. Joey Evans, by then a family doctor, couldn't believe Evans would uproot his family, take them so far away.

Instead, together they bought the former Marshall Tucker Band studio in Moore, outside of Spartanburg. Studio work had become a passion from the first time Evans stepped into the Friendly Findley Studio in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, to record a song he wrote called "The Bump," a nod to the dance craze of the time.

With the purchase of the studio came the challenges and benefits of owning a business. Equipment. Thousands of dollars for microphones and mixing boards. Tens of thousands for analog recording equipment. Upkeep on a 100-year-old, 8,000-square-foot building that was once a schoolhouse. He was 30.

He wasn't much for marketing and relied mostly on word of mouth.

"We were word of mouth before word of mouth was popular," he said.

Musicians rented the space. He produced some records. Then he wrote a jingle for a bridal shop. And that led to more, including two that are still around today, decades years later. In the mid-1980s, he wrote the Dick Brooks Automotive Superstore jingle.

Later, he wrote the first fight song for the Carolina Panthers, which owner Jerry Richardson wanted to have the same sort of sound as "Dixie." It became a controversial tune, one Evans said he liked less than another he wrote for the team. Probably the most recognized jingle was for Spinx. The making life easier tune is heard regularly on television and radio ads.

In the mid-1990s, with each of his three children getting ready to start a new school, he decided the time had come to move from the country. He became partners with Babe Williamson, forming Williamson-Evans on Laurens Street in downtown Greenville. The building is behind what used to be llyn strong jewelry.

"It was an ideal opportunity," he said.

Plus, he believed the real estate would become valuable as Greenville's downtown took off. The business grew, but big changes were ahead.

Almost overnight the business went digital. What once cost tens of thousands of dollars now cost a couple of thousand. What he did with two-inch tape and a razor for editing now could be done on a computer. He said he didn't sleep for a month learning how to use the software.

He said "yes, I can do that."

More and more frequently voice actors and others were able to do their work from home communicating via phone lines through ISDN, which stands for Integrated Services for Digital Network. The studios seemed too big. And empty.

The recession of 2008 was tough. Four major projects canceled. They laid off employees. Figured out how to use less electricity. Arranged for cheaper parking. They made it and work has been steady for the past couple of years, he said.

More change as the business became driven by the Internet. No hardware needed to transmit. And the studios felt bigger still.

The partners decided to sell their building to the software company that bought the llyn strong building and go into business separately. The closing date is in mid-December.

Evans is taking his business to the basement of his home on Pelham Road.

"I was scared to death about it several months ago," he said. "Would I be able to make a living?"

He started looking for jobs. He needed to craft a resume. He needed to find references.

"Everyone was so incredibly kind," he said. "It gave me some relief."

He laments the devaluing of the creative spirit, that a company can find a jingle from the internet or a teenager who can snag loops from the Internet. But he also knows he's been blessed to do what he loves.

For the past 20 years, he's largely been in the advertising business. Now he wants to continue the advertising projects but also wants to find time for composing. He hopes to score a movie soundtrack. To do something with the 750 songs he's written through the years.

Music. Where he began. He's ready to say once again "yes, I can do that."

Lyrics

Luckiest Man On Earth
by Duane Evans

If ya’ seen a fool, on a ol’ bar stool, well it might’ve just been me
I’d given up on ever finding love, thought it just won’t meant to be
But now I’m cool, probably still a fool, but with much less pain and strife
My lucks improved, and my heart’s been moved…
Since she came in to my life

Well I don’t know about the sun, the moon or stars
Or other planets in the universe
But ever since I found that girl…
I’m the luckiest man on Earth

On our first date, things were going great, ’til she asked me to dance
Couldn’t find the beat, got two left feet, but she gave me one more chance
(Thank God) The next song, was very slow and long, dancing cheek to cheek
She drew me near, she whispered in my ear…
What she said made my knees weak!

Well I don’t know about the sun, the moon or stars
Or other planets in the universe
But I know what my heart tells me
When I touch my lips to her’s
I feel like I just won the lottery
And I know for all I’m worth
Every time I kiss that girl…
Feel I’m the luckiest man on Earth

Every now and then, I take it on the chin and I go out with my guys
They bitch and moan and like to carry on ‘bout their girlfriends and their wives
But when the night is done, and we’ve had our fun, my favorite dream occurs
With all my heart, the most bestest part…
Is comin’ home to her…

Well I don’t know about the sun, the moon or stars
Or other planets in the universe
But I know what my heart tells me
When I’m coming’ home to her
I feel like I just won the lottery
And I know for all I’m worth
Laying there beside my girl…
Feel I’m the luckiest man on Earth
Well I don’t know about the sun, the moon or stars
Or other planets in the universe
But laying there beside my girl…
I’m the luckiest man on Earth (X 3)