Smitty: So this is just great. It makes me feel good, man
WD: Thank you.
Smitty: And you wrote a very moving letter to your fans as well, explaining this and talking about the record, and I tell ya, that was great. And it talks not only about who you are as a person, but also your involvement, because I know you had mentioned that you wanted to let all of the wonderful people who support you know that you are alive and well and you’re getting better every day, but you also did this record to reach people and help them to see that when you’re going through something of this magnitude, that you can have the will to come out of that and continue to be yourself and do what you do every day.
WD: Well, I think that’s real important. Obviously this happened to me for a reason and I’m not sure why, but I think you’re supposed to share your testimony with people for those who have their down days, people who don’t think they can make it, or folks that may be going through the same exact thing. They can look at me as inspiration as I look to other people for the same sort of thing. Trust me, I went through my days, I went through my period of “Why me?” Trust me, there was many a day I cursed God out like a champ, you know, like “Hey, man, what have I ever done to you and why aren’t you helping me? Come on.” I’ve gone through that, I’ve gone through my pity party, and come to the realization that this is the situation that you’re dealing with right now, make the best of it and do the best you can with what you have.
Smitty: Yes, well, I know I speak for so many in saying that you have been an inspiration not only with this record but you have long been a supporter of various illnesses and diseases and things like stroke and that kind of thing.
WD: Absolutely.
Smitty: Yeah, and this is one more time, you know? And, man, you have reached back and got what it took to shine and inspire others as well as yourself, and we applaud you for it.
WD: Thank you, sir.
Smitty: Yeah. Now, tell me, was making this record a part of the healing process for you?
WD: Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt. I mean, listen, if you sit here and sit sedentary, you’ll go crazy.
Smitty: Yeah, man. (Laughs.)
WD: So thank God I had a project to do.
Smitty: Yeah.
WD: There’s a couple of messages in the songs that we’re doing. There’s one song on there called “God Is So Amazing” and that song basically came from me being in this position and doing something that I wasn’t able to do the day before, and that’s what kind of keeps you going, you know, that you see hope, that there’s a possibility that you are getting better and you’re seeing it, and that’s where the song came from, saying “God, man, thanks for bringing me back. Man, I’m gonna sing about it.” So there are certain messages in each song that you can use for inspiration.
Smitty: Yeah, man. Well, I love the beginning of this record, Track 1, “Will’s Groove.”
WD: Okay.
Smitty: Man, when I first put the record on, it was very early in the morning and the first thing I heard was you talking, and that in itself told me “My boy is back!” You know? And it’s a “Hey, I wanna do this thing like this” and it flows so fluidly into the song and your voice was such a great prelude to the rest of the record, you know?
WD: Well, yeah, that’s “Will’s Groove” and that basically came about from a telephone conversation that I had with Rex, Rex Rideout.
Smitty: My boy!
WD: I had this idea, I just had this bass line in my head, so I just called him up and said “Hey, Rex. Man, I got this idea for this jam.” He went “Oh, man, okay, Will, sing it to me.” As I started singing the bass line, he said “Now put that down on tape and get it to me immediately” and he’s on the West Coast.
Smitty: Yeah.
WD: So I cut it and got it to him and then he surrounded it with the music and he sent it back to me, I added some more backgrounds to it, I sent it back to him, and we just made this amazing song.
Smitty: Yeah, man, and speaking of Rex, is he a great cat or what? What a producer and a great guy.
WD: Yeah, man, you know what? There’s very few people on the planet that say what they mean and mean what they say.
Smitty: Yes. I totally know what you mean.
WD: And someone that you can really call a friend. Rex and I have known each other for 15 years and he is truly a friend.
