THE 'MURDER ON MUSIC ROW' INCIDENT THAT
STUNNED NASHVILLE ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO IS
PROFILED AGAIN TODAY BY
'THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS'

Sammy Sadler speaks freely and calmly to Mario Tarradell of the Dallas Morning News today about the incident, which is known around the world as the "Murder on Music Row." Excerpts of the story are below and available here.

"I don't want people to look at me as just a country music singer, because I'm a survivor, too," says Mr. Sadler while sitting backstage at Johnnie High's Country Music Revue. "By the grace of God I'm still here. God left me here for a reason, and he saved me, and I feel like it's to sing and entertain people. We're not going to go away. We're back. We're trying to get our music to the people. I love singing. I love entertaining people. If my music and what I've lived through can help somebody else, that's what I hope that it does."

"Even though we finally got closure," he says, "I mean, I just look at my arm and it brings me back to that night immediately. It never goes away. It's always there."

Sammy Sadler [www.sammysadler.com] was 22, Nashville-based, married and had just signed a recording contract with independent imprint Evergreen Records. He had a handful of singles that charted and was working on his debut album. But he had a spat with his wife on March 9, 1989, and wanted out of the house. So he called up his friend Kevin Hughes, chart director for music-industry magazine Cashbox, who usually worked late on Thursday nights.

Mr. Sadler drove to the Cashbox offices and met Mr. Hughes. They went to grab dinner and then to the Evergreen Records building on the famed Music Row.

"We heard something rattle the door," he says. "We walked out on the front porch, and we didn't see anything ... I walked around Kevin's car and opened the door, sat down and started reaching for the door and I caught something moving out of the corner of my eye. When I turned around and looked up, the guy was standing right there between me and the door with his arms out, and I looked and the guy had a gun."

Mr. Sadler was shot above his right elbow. The bullet ricocheted up his arm and lodged in his chest, in the muscle of his shoulder. It's still there almost 20 years later.

The killer went after Mr. Hughes, who ran. He caught up with him and shot him three times, twice in the head. Mr. Hughes died quickly.

The case was cold until 2002 when new evidence pointed to an elaborate, illegal music-promotion scheme that Mr. Hughes wouldn't participate in. It seemed he couldn't be paid to move songs up the charts.

Mr. Sadler, meanwhile, struggled to regain footing. He was the guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. He toured for years after recovering from the shooting, which remained unsolved for more than a decade. When the strain affected him most, he worked with his father in a drywall construction business they still co-own.

Now single, he has no children and lives with his parents on a 58-acre farm in Bonham. He also self-financed Heart Shaped Like Texas, which was released last month on his own S Records.

Heart Shaped Like Texas, a warm, honest collection of country songs, is only his second full-length album since that fateful night in March of 1989. It's the follow-up to 2004's Hard on a Heart, Mr. Sadler's debut CD.

 

 

SAMMY SADLER
YEARS AFTER A SHOOTING TRAGEDY ON NASHVILLE'S MUSIC ROW DERAILED HIS ONCE PROMISING CAREER, THE SINGER RETURNS WITH NEWFOUND HOPE AND AN INSPIRING
STORY WITH A ‘HEART SHAPED LIKE TEXAS' CD SET FOR RELEASE ON JUNE 3RD

* * *

Single "Trying To Get The Girl" Recently Hit #18 On Texas Music Chart Sadler Plans To Tour With Doug Stone In Late Summer With More Tour Dates To Be Announced

Singer songwriter Sammy Sadler ( www.sammysadler.com) became an unwitting footnote to the dark side of country music history 19 years ago when he was wounded and his friend killed in an incident known around the world as “Murder On Music Row.” Fast forward to today, Sadler is gearing up for the June 3rd release of his latest album Heart Shaped Like Texas . The release date will coincide with the annual CMA Festival in Nashville.

The current single “Trying To Get The Girl” has recently reached #18 on the Texas Music Chart. The tune was penned by three of Nashville's top songwriters Kim Tribble, (“On A Mission”) Keith Follese (“The Way You Love Me”) and Wade Kirby (“Baby You Belong”).  

Sadler is preparing to go on tour with Doug Stone. Additional concert dates will be announced soon. The singer/songwriter has also been approached by a publishing company to write a book on his life story.

Choosing to pursue a career in Nashville over accepting a college baseball scholarship, Sammy Sadler was a rising country music star on top of the world. He was riding high in 1989 with a total of six charting singles—including a memorable cover of Aaron Neville's “Tell It Like It Is”--and was in the process of recording his first full-length album.

Then, in a horrifying shooting tragedy known around the world as the “Murder on Music Row,” Sadler was seriously wounded and his friend Kevin Hughes killed. The case remained unsolved for 13 years but eventually, Hughes' associate at the industry publication Cashbox was convicted of murder.

While he knows the Music Row shooting's physical, emotional and spiritual aftermath will always be part of who he is, Sadler is grateful for his second chance. With Heart Shaped Like Texas, the country music survivor feels that he's fulfilling his long delayed musical destiny.

 

 

SAMMY SADLER YEARS AFTER A SHOOTING TRAGEDY ON NASHVILLE'S MUSIC ROW
DERAILED HIS ONCE PROMISING CAREER, THE SINGER
RETURNS WITH NEWFOUND HOPE AND AN INSPIRING
STORY WITH A ‘HEART SHAPED LIKE TEXAS'

* * *

Following The Success Of The Upcoming Album's Title Track
In The U.S. and Europe, Sadler Hits The Country Airwaves Again
With The January Release Of  “Trying To Get The Girl,”
The Catchy Second Single Penned By Nashville
Hitmakers Kim Tribble, Keith Follese and Wade Kirby

 

Choosing to pursue a career in Nashville over accepting any one of several college baseball scholarships right out of high school, Sammy Sadler was a rising country music star on top of the world at the age of 21. Signed to Evergreen Records, he was riding high in 1989 with a total of six charting singles—including a memorable cover of Aaron Neville's “Tell It Like It Is”--and was in the process of recording his first full-length album.

 

Then, in a horrifying shooting tragedy that would become known around the world as the “Murder on Music Row,” Sadler was seriously wounded and his friend Kevin Hughes killed. The case remained unsolved for 13 years but eventually, Hughes' associate at the famed industry publication Cashbox was convicted of murder.

 

While he became an unwitting footnote to the dark side of country music history, Sadler was determined not to let the incident dictate his future. Sadler never lost his desire to get back in the studio and become a recording artist—a dream he finally realized with the 2004 release of his debut album Hard On A Heart, which spawned three popular country singles including “I Know A Place” and “That Ole Gravel Road.”

 

Gearing up for the late Spring 2008 release of his latest album Heart Shaped Like Texas , Sadler is enjoying great success on the U.S. and European country charts. Last summer, the title track “Heart Shaped Like Texas” made inroads at country radio, and Sadler's latest single, the fun and infectious “Trying To Get The Girl” shipped to the format in mid-January. “Trying To Get The Girl” was penned by three of Nashville's top hit men, Kim Tribble (“On A Mission”), Keith Follese (“The Way You Love Me”) and Wade Kirby (“Baby You Belong”).

 

Sadler recently embarked on a busy radio tour schedule and is currently doing spot concert dates in anticipation of a larger tour this summer in support of  Heart Shaped Like Texas; in December, he did some pre-Christmas dates with veteran country stars Doug Stone and T-Graham Brown and country-cajun artist Jo-El Sonnier.

 

While Sadler only had a hand in writing one of the songs, the heartfelt autobiographical closer “Thank God,” choosing the perfect mix for the collection was a painstaking process that found the singer sifting through over 300 songs over the course of many months. These include the hooky title track, “I Wanna Be Loved By You”, the Latin influenced “Thinking About Mexico” and the tender ballad “I'll Always Have Denver.”

 

“For me as an artist and a singer, I have to believe in the material that I record and feel the emotion of it,” he says. “When I hear the right song, it just hits me immediately and I know I need to keep it. If it doesn't hit me right off the bat, it's probably not going to win me over later. If I'm not connecting with it, I doubt the audience is going to get it either. Just as the album title Heart Shaped Like Texas indicates, I want people to know that my heart and soul goes into each song I do, and it's a very honest and pure process. Even if I haven't written them, I've still lived them.”

 

While he knows the Music Row shooting and its physical, emotional and spiritual aftermath will always be part of who he is, Sadler is grateful for his second chance at life. With the release of Heart Shaped Like Texas, the country music survivor feels that he's at last fulfilling his long delayed musical destiny.

 

“Music is in my heart and soul,” he says. “It's who I am and I believe God put that in me for a reason,” he says. “I believe there's a reason I'm still here and I thank Him for giving me that chance.” Sadler's passion about the Almighty's role in saving him for a brighter day led him, his producer Jerry Cupit and their songwriting collaborator Jimmy Carr to write  “Thank God” as an acknowledgement.

 

The lyrics refer to specific frightening moments in the life of its writers—from Carr's friend being saved from a burning house by his barking dog to, of course, the night of the shooting—where God's presence was there, keeping them from catastrophe. Sadler explores his spiritual side even further—and delves into his lifelong love of gospel music-- on “John 3:16,” a powerful, unabashed reflection of faith written and brought to the table by Doug Deforest.

 

“So many people who listen to ‘Thank God' could put themselves in similar situations, where they go back in their lives and realize that if something hadn't happened a certain way, they wouldn't be here today,” says Sadler. “I believe everyone needs to know they're here for a reason. It's been hard sometimes, but if I were a quitter, I would have quit a long time ago. I know God left me here for a reason, and I've always believed it's to sing and entertain people.”

 

In addition to his growing popularity in the U.S., Sadler is also achieving success on the European charts. The title track “Heart Shaped Like Texas” hit the Top 10 on the European Top 40 Country Hot Disc chart and “Trying To Get The Girl” recently reached #6 on the country indie Top 20 chart and #11 (and still climbing) on the European Top 40 Country Hot Disc chart.

 

For Sadler, it's been a long road from the horrible night in 1989 when his world changed to getting back to the solo career he was forced to abandon at the time. After physically recovering from the shooting, he moved back to his adopted home state of Texas, formed the band Overdrive and toured throughout the 90s, sharing bills with Joe Diffie, Billy Dean, Toby Keith, Steve Wariner and Willie Nelson.

 

Walking away from two years of bookings because of management and personnel issues, Sadler—fed up with singing more covers than originals, and burned out from all the mental strain--then walked away from the music business for a spell. Following in his dad's footsteps, he started a thriving construction business. People in the music business kept encouraging him to make a comeback, but he didn't feel ready until the killer was finally convicted and sentenced and both he and the family of Kevin Hughes had peace at last.

 

“It was like a weight lifted from me and I really started getting excited about making music and pursuing my career again,” he says. “I always say that if you've got the music in you, it never goes away completely. It's always there, waiting to resurface and take over. It might slide a little, but you can't get rid of it. Music is one of my first loves and I'm glad to be alive and able to be back in the business, finally continuing and enjoying the career I launched so long ago. It's exciting to be back and ready to embrace what the world has to offer.”