Sept. 4, 2025
Rediscovering Passion: Dennis Welch's Musical Renaissance at 69
Send us a text In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome Dennis Welch, a lifelong songwriter, recording artist, and author who has experienced a remarkable musical renaissance in his 60s. Dennis shares his inspiring journey, detailing how an 18-year hiatus from recording led him back to the studio, fueled by a newfound passion for his music. He reflects on his early love for words and storytelling, recounting pivotal moments from his childhood that shaped his ...
In this captivating episode of Living the Dream with Curveball, we welcome Dennis Welch, a lifelong songwriter, recording artist, and author who has experienced a remarkable musical renaissance in his 60s. Dennis shares his inspiring journey, detailing how an 18-year hiatus from recording led him back to the studio, fueled by a newfound passion for his music. He reflects on his early love for words and storytelling, recounting pivotal moments from his childhood that shaped his artistic path. Dennis opens up about his collaborations with influential songwriters, including his transformative experience working with Hall of Fame writer Alan Shamblin. Listeners will be inspired by Dennis's belief that age is no barrier to creativity and the importance of pursuing one's passions. We also delve into his latest projects, including house concerts and his recent albums that have garnered Grammy nominations. Tune in for an engaging conversation filled with wisdom, motivation, and the joy of living life to the fullest. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from Dennis's incredible story and the lessons he has gained along the way.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream podcast with Curveball. If you believe you can achieve.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Welcome to the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, a show where I interview guests that teach, motivate, and inspire.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Today, I'm joined by lifelong songwriter and recording artist, as well as author, Dennis Welch.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Dennis experienced something of a musical renaissance in his 60s.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We're going to be talking about how he recorded an album in 2000, and 18 years later, he just had a backlog of music. And talk about the miracle that got him back into it. We're going to be talking about his book and what he's up to and going to be up to. So, Dennis, thank you so much for joining me.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, thank you. Thank you, Kurt Ball. Curtis, I appreciate you having me, man, very much. Thank you.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Why don't you start off by telling everybody a little bit about yourself?
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> Dennis Welch>Well, you know, I, have always been a word guy. you know, I could read and spell before I started school. And.
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> Dennis Welch>And one of the themes that you're going to hear, in this conversation, Curtis, is that, you know, at the time that I needed people, the right people to show up in my life, they just have my whole life.
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> Dennis Welch>And, you know, I have two business degrees, I took a few statistics courses, and, you know, and they talk about probabilities in those classes. And I can tell you that the probability of these people showing up every single time exactly when I need them is, those probabilities are probably zero. And it makes me not believe in accidents, to be honest with you. And so here's where it started. So before I started school, I, could read and spell. And so when I, They. They tested me. I was in a little inner city, elementary school in Houston.
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> Dennis Welch>And, they tested me and.
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> Dennis Welch>And then they had my mother and I come down to the school and sit with the principal, Ms. Macready.
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> Dennis Welch>And, and I, you know, I sat with my mama on one side of the desk, and, you know, Ms. Macri, very imposing figure, you know, for a little kid you can imagine. And so she, she hands me a book.
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> Dennis Welch>This is. This is probably a month or two before I. I got in the first grade, and I didn't go to kindergarten. So she said, dennis, I want you to read this, and then tell me what you read.
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> Dennis Welch>And so I did. I. I read a page or two, and then I closed the book and I told her what I read. And she looked at my mother and she said, you know what? He doesn't need to start in the first grade. He needs to start maybe in the third grade, because he can already read at a high level, and I don't really. We'll have to figure out what to do with him if we don't start him, you know, in another grade. So my mom said, no, I'd rather him start in the first grade. I'd love for you guys to figure out what to do with him.
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> Dennis Welch>And so on the first day of the first grade, you know, I'm in this little classroom, and I. It's all so foreign, you know, You. You know how it was. And, And so, it was time for our reading circle.
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> Dennis Welch>And right when it started, Ms. McRee comes into the room. Curtis. And says, Dennis Welch, come with me. And so I thought, oh, my gosh, I'm already in trouble. And I hadn't even got here yet hardly, you know, and she. I remember that she held my hand, and we walked down to the school library, and I had never been in a library. And we walked in, and we walked all the way across the library to the windows that looked down on Balman Road. And, And she said, look, right here is all. Are all the books for. For little kids, you know, first, second, and third grade. And if you want to, you know, when your reading group meets, quietly excuse yourself and come down here and you can read any book on these shelves right here.
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> Dennis Welch>But, then she did me this huge favor, man. There was already.
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> Dennis Welch>It was already amazing, right? And so she. We turn around, she's still holding my hand, and we're standing in this. The corner of the library and looking out at this huge library. And she said, and by the way, you can also check out and read anything in this library.
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> Dennis Welch>Anything. And so, you know what happened? I, fell in love, man. I read. I read, all the works of Mark Twain before I got out of elementary school. I read, you know, 30 seconds over Tokyo and, you know, sports books and all kinds of stuff. And the one book that really touched me the most was Charlotte's Web, because I got real emotional at the end of that, and I thought, wow, you can do this with words. You know what? I got to look into this. And so that's really where I think the seeds were planted. Because somebody who didn't follow the rules exactly the way that they're supposed to be done just did me a huge. Did me a huge favor. And, that. That's where I think the. The. The whole idea of writing and. And even songwriting might have been. Those seeds Might have been planted right there.
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> Dennis Welch>So.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, I know that you are a life, lifelong recording artist and songwriter. So tell us how you.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, my family loved music. nobody played, nobody was a musician. But my brothers, my two older brothers did sing and they would do some gospel singing, you know, around at the singing, what they call singing conventions. But none of us played any instruments. Well, on my way home from a date, I was 17.
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> Dennis Welch>I had to, I guess I had the radio off and I wrote an entire song on the way home. And back then, of course, there weren't phones and easy to record devices. You know, you could. Didn't have that at hand like that. So. So the next day when I went into work, I sang the song all day. I sold furniture and I was going to college full time. I was working full time. And and so I sang the song all day so I could remember it. I was afraid I was going to forget it. And so toward the end of the day, my boss, who always kept his Ovation guitar under his desk, asked me, he said, what is that song you've been singing all day? And I said, well, it's a song I, wrote driving home last night from a date. And he goes, well, why don't we play it?
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> Dennis Welch>And he took that guitar out from under the desk and he played it and we sang it together. And that was that. I mean, that was. That set the hook for me. And so he said, look, that's a really good song. He goes, that's a real song. And he goes, it's got verses and a great chorus and all that. And he goes, go out and buy a cheap guitar and if you, you know, decide you don't want to play guitar anymore, you just give it to somebody but, you know, don't spend a lot of money on. Just go, go see and learn some chords and see what happens. And so I did exactly that. And you know, I couldn't learn. I couldn't learn new chord progressions without hearing the story, without hearing the lyrics. I mean, I heard the song basically, and so I started writing. And then eventually I had enough songs to make a record. And through some miraculous events, I got a chance to do, my first record. And do you know who Andre Crouch is?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>No, who is that?
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> Dennis Welch>Yeah, Andre was, was probably the biggest, gospel music star, of his day. And even people like Michael Jackson and stuff just revered this guy. They just loved him because he, he was great. And so, we were able to use his touring band, on these Record, my first record. And it was so amazing what these guys could do, you know. So we made. They made that record.
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> Dennis Welch>it was kind of a gospel record, you know, and. And I.
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> Dennis Welch>And I really didn't. After the record came out, it got played on, you know, Christian radio and contemporary Christian radio and all that all over the place, which was wonderful. But I was really uncomfortable with that because I really didn't see myself as a gospel singer. I happen to be a believer, but that's not.
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> Dennis Welch>That's not really what I want. I want to write about life and. And all aspects of life, even the difficult aspects. And so my second album was a rock album called man of Steel, and it was much more.
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> Dennis Welch>And it got played on all kinds of radio stations.
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> Dennis Welch>Christian, rock played it, of course, but then also album rock stations played it. And, And it was all felt, you know, felt very, surreal. Honestly, driving around Houston and hearing your stuff on the radio, it's just kind of weird. And, And so, you know, we did those two records. We did a record 95, where we had all these stunning great musicians who, played with me and made the record basically for free. I don't think we. Anybody got paid. it's called Father's Day. And then in 2000, we did the album you're talking about. We did songs from My Window Seat. And, And, you know, Curtis, I came home and told my wife, I said, you know what?
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> Dennis Welch>I don't think I'm gonna do this anymore, because I don't know how to elevate these songs.
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> Dennis Welch>I'm not a producer really. I'm not really an arranger. But I know there's somebody out there who can elevate these songs and take them to a different place. And so I'm gonna keep writing as if I'm gonna find that person, but I'm probably not gonna go back in the studio again until I find them.
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> Dennis Welch>And that was, as you've said, 18 long years, of just doing a gig every now and then, you know, working at a day job and that I loved, by the way. And. But, you know, just thinking maybe this is not going to happen. And of course, you know, then, a bolt of lightning.
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> Dennis Welch>So did I answer your question?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Yep, that answers my question.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, so who. Who are you?
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Who are some of your musical influences? Who influences you to do what you do?
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> Dennis Welch>Well, look, every great songwriter, and I know some great ones, and I've written with some hall of. With at least one hall of Fame writer. you know, any, any writer. I mean, look, people like, When I was growing up, it was people like James Taylor and, and Don McLean and, you know, people like that who were wordsmiths, you know. And, and I love that stuff, you know, and I like, I like R and B. And I wish I knew how to write R and B, because I think it's so the best of it is very cool.
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> Dennis Welch>you know, but. And I'm not a big country fan, and people think that, that I'm country, but I'm really not a. More Americana is what they call it now. and, and so, you know, people like Mark Knoffler, for example, who was in Dire straits, you know, he's doing Americana now. And the, the music that this guy is writing and recording is just ridiculous. And so, you know, I have those influences that are people who are, ahead of me and I think, you know, know, are better at what they do than I am, I think.
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> Dennis Welch>And so if that, I mean, it's not a competition, but you know what I mean, it's people that you look up to and you go, wow, I, I, I should, I should do better. I should figure out how to do, do this better. And so, that's, those are, those are some of my influences. you know, I love James Taylor, obviously. you know, Billy Joel is a very complicated songwriter. People don't get it that he, he's so complicated. And his music, and, and you know, I was a huge Michael Jackson fan. I loved, I loved that music. So I don't know, it's kind of a wide range. It's. I like songs that make me feel something and the artists that make me feel something. If they do, then I'm on board.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, you got a chance to work with at least one hall, of fame songwriter. Tell us who, who that was and what that experience was like and what you learned from it.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, you know what, that was a, this was another example. So I met Alan Shamblin, who wrote I can't make you love me for Bonnie raped and he walked on water for Randy Travis and the House that built me, which was the CMA song of the decade, basically. He co wrote that with Tom Douglas.
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> Dennis Welch>I met him years ago, Curtis, when, I was in the Austin songwriter group. I had moved to Austin. My wife and I moved to Austin from Houston and they were having, I had been encouraged by my music attorney who lived here to go to a weekend, like a weekend Retreat, that the Austin songwriters group does, and they bring in all these, you know, a list songwriters. Well, on Sunday afternoon, Saturday afternoon. So it was Friday, Saturday, Sunday started Friday evening.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, on Saturday afternoon, Alan Shamblin gives a presentation. And this room was packed with people.
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> Dennis Welch>You could hardly breathe in this room. There were so many people. And so he told his story about how the. The circuitous route he took to get to Nashville and to become the writer that he became. And, and so I met him there. And I. And I. And I, And I. He asked at the end of his presentation, does anybody have any questions? And I said, no, I don't. I raised my hand. I said, I don't have any questions, but I have a couple of comments. I said, you've confirmed for me something that I already know. And number one is the two things. Number one is that the steps of a righteous man are ordered, because there's no way that this happens for you by accident. So that's one thing.
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> Dennis Welch>And then two is that God's timing is not my timing. I wish it was. I'm always telling him when to do stuff, but instead of doing it my way, he does it right. Well, you know, when. When his, speaking deal was over, he walked straight through a crowd of people to me and said, hey, you know what? I agree with you wholeheartedly.
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> Dennis Welch>He goes, that's great for me. But he goes, what does that mean for you? And I said, well, I don't. I don't know. I don't know what that means. He goes, well, let me ask you a question. He goes, would you be willing to play me three Dennis Welch songs in the morning? out in the hallway outside my hotel room where there's not a crowd?
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> Dennis Welch>And I said, yes, I totally. I'd be honored to do that. And so that's how our friendship started.
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> Dennis Welch>And eventually he became, I went to Nashville and began to, you know, know, become friends and all that. Well, anyway, after years of being friends, and I had never asked this guy for anything, Curtis. And I was not going to. I was going to be his friend only because he had a lot of people who. Who, you know, were demanding things from him and asking for stuff, and I wasn't going to be one of those. And so anyway, one week, this is another example of. Of crazy timing. So I'm dropping. My wife and I are driving back from Shreveport, Louisiana, to see her family, and Alan calls me and he goes, hey, how can I help you with your songwriting? And I said, well, listen, I Appreciate it, Alan. I said, but, you know, we've talked about this. And I said, I. I want to be the one friend you have who doesn't really need anything from you. And he goes, well, look, I know that. And he goes, but this is a standing offer, and if you ever need anything, any help, you let me know.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, get this, Curtis. One week later, just one week, I send a song of mine that I had already recorded in 2000 called Worth My time.
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> Dennis Welch>I sent that, into a little couple in Nashville who were looking for songs for a record.
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> Dennis Welch>And so, I pitched it to them and they sent me this big dim the lights email back. And it said, you know, we think this song could be I can't make you love me, because this is a whale of an idea, okay? But we also think you're not done writing it yet, and so would you be willing to do some more writing on it?
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> Dennis Welch>And so what I did is I forwarded that note and the song, my version of the song, to Alan. And I said, look, I still don't want anything from you, but I just want you to tell me if these people are crazy because I'm not tearing this song apart that I've already recorded and written and sung for years. If. If they're.
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> Dennis Welch>If they're correct, if this doesn't make any sense. Right?
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> Dennis Welch>And so anyway, it was almost a week later, he called me on a Sunday afternoon and he said, you might want to sit down. This is going to take a while.
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> Dennis Welch>And it was. It was a life changing conversation. You know, he began to describe the two people in this song.
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> Dennis Welch>and like, he knew them. It was kind of. It was kind of wild. And, And so at the end of the conversation, he said, listen, they're right. This is a very important song because this song is about silent abuse and just abuse generally.
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> Dennis Welch>And in your version of the story, the protagonist gets stronger and finally says, you know what? I don't think I'm supposed to stay under this kind of duress. I'm gonna. I'm gonna go now. And he goes, but there's a better way to say it. And so here's what I'm gonna do. I'm not gonna co write this with you because people will say that you sat in the room because they don't know you. They'll say you sat in the room while I wrote it.
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> Dennis Welch>And I'm not. That's not true. This is your song, so I'm gonna be your editor. And he said, I'm gonna Call you every night at 9 o' clock and I'm gonna find out what kind of progress you made on this song today. That day. Well, you know what? He wasn't kidding. He called me every night, this hall of fame songwriter. What a gift, right? And he would say, okay, well you know, have you thought about this and stuff? So he was kind of co writing it with me. Anyway, so six months goes by and I had written probably 50 last verses and I just couldn't get one that worked. And so one night we had prayed about it, we cried on the phone one night. I mean, he said this song is too important for us to, for you to not finish it. We have to finish it. So anyway, so one night I said, alan, listen, I said, do you know what this last verse is? And he said, I probably do. And I said, well, why don't you write it and put us out of our misery?
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> Dennis Welch>And and let's, and let's, if it's not going to ruin your career to be have your name on a song with a no name Texas songwriter. Let's, let's make it a co write.
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> Dennis Welch>And so he goes, okay, give me two weeks.
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> Dennis Welch>And Curtis, he leaves the phone, he comes back in two minutes, five minutes at most.
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> Dennis Welch>And he calls me back and he goes, what about this?
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> Dennis Welch>Is it worth this pain and your words that bruise? Should I be the one you love to use? If I have to ask then I should know that it's worth my time to let you go Wow. I said, you came up with that in five minutes? He goes, well, I've been thinking about it. But he goes, but don't, don't forget that I do this all day, every day and my sword is a little bit sharper than yours. And so that's where that came from. And so anyway, we remained great friends. We've pitched it to a few people. He believes it's probably a big song for somebody, but it's going to have to be just the right person because, it's not shallow, let's just put it that way.
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> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay, well, talk about the music renaissance that you're going through in your middle 60s.
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> Dennis Welch>Well, thank you for asking. It's, I, I love this story. Not because it happened to me, but because it happened at all. You know, so remember that I did an album in 2000 and as you alluded to in, in your introduction, I, I, you know, I went 18 years, without making, doing, even put my foot in a recording studio of any kind. And so anyway, in probably 20, 18 or 19, I came home one night and I sat on the couch with my sweet wife, who I met on a blind date back in 1979. Now, I've never gotten over it, by the way.
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> Dennis Welch>And I said, you know, I'm a little worried because I'm getting older now. And I said, I'm afraid, you know, that I'm going to die and that, these songs will be in a drawer somewhere on pieces of paper, and they'll just get thrown out because nobody really knows what they're doing, what these songs are about or anything. And so my wife said, well, Susie is her name. Susie said, well, you have that prayer list that you pray through every morning for an hour. Every morning you pray for these people for an hour. You have this giant list of people in this book.
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> Dennis Welch>And she said, so why don't you put something on there for yourself and see, what happens. Well, there was a novel idea, right? So I, so I wrote down something.
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> Dennis Welch>And I don't know what it was, Curtis. I think it was something like a publishing partner or something like that. And I, that I could find that person, right? And so three months later, now this is after 18 years. Three months later, I'm driving through Nashville. Susie and I are. And we go to dinner with a friend of mine, ours, some friends of ours, Rich and Suzanne Herring. And Rich had been in the Little River Band at that point for 18 years, and he was producing their records. He's a world class everything. Guitar player, bass player, writer. I mean, he's just a marvel.
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> Dennis Welch>And so again, he had been my friend.
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> Dennis Welch>And and so he, I, I'm, I'm kind of loathe to go to my friends and say, hey, can you help me? You know, maybe I need to be less proud, right? So anyway, so we're in a big Mexican restaurant and, they had adopted a couple of children.
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> Dennis Welch>Sweet, amazing kids. And so we had this big table and Rich and I were sitting across from each other. And out of the blue, out of the bluest sky you ever saw, he looks at me and he goes, so, what are you working on, man? Because I know you're always working on something. And I said, well, I got this new song called why Not Me? That I wrote on piano, which I hadn't done before. All my songs have been written on the guitar.
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> Dennis Welch>And Susie thinks it's the best song I've ever written, maybe the most commercial song. And he goes, well, what are you going to do with it? And I Said, what do you mean, what am I going to do with it? I said, that's the million dollar question. I don't know what to do with it. I'm gonna put it in a drawer with all the other songs. And he goes, well, wait a minute. He goes, why don't you sing it to me? And I said, right now?
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> Dennis Welch>He goes, right now sing it to me. Acapella. And we were in the middle of this big Mexican restaurant, Curtis. And all of a sudden I thought, you know what?
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> Dennis Welch>This is an answer to my prayer, so I'm gonna do it. So I just sang out, you know, there's a mountain wide and high, and, you know, reaches halfway to the sky and in my heart I know I'm supposed to climb. And I just sang like, the, the chorus. Well, that's all I got. he held his hand up at the end of the first chorus, and he was emotional. And he goes, wow.
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> Dennis Welch>He goes, I do. You know, I'm supposed, first of all, Susie's right about this song. And second of all, I'm supposed to help you with this. Did you know it? And I said, not till this second. He goes, yeah, let me produce a demo on this. Let me produce this song for you.
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> Dennis Welch>And I said, well, do you want some hotshot, you know, Nashville singer to sing on it, or do you want me to do it? And he goes, no, I want you to sing on it. And so we do this song, Curtis. And when I got the, the mix back here, I was sitting right where I'm sitting right now. And, I listened to it and it was immediately the best thing I had ever done.
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> Dennis Welch>And, I, I, I cried. I was so overwhelmed by it.
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> Dennis Welch>And so I thought, man, I hope he does another song with me, because this turned out great. And sure enough, he asked me, he said, what else have you got? And I said, well, I've got a love song about forgiveness called I Can't Remember.
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> Dennis Welch>It's kind of a Roy Orbison ish song.
00:25:28.809 --> 00:26:49.230
> Dennis Welch>He goes, let's do that one too. So we do that song and then he calls me and he goes, you know what? I've been doing this a long time, and I can tell when something really special is happening. And it's happening right here with you and me. And he goes, let's make an album. So we did what Love Makes Us Do. It came out in 2021, and I sent it to Neris, the people who do the Grammy stuff. And it made it, got on the first Grammy ballot in five categories. And then two years later, we did if I Live to Be a Hundred, and it also made it onto the Grammy ballot in five categories. And then just this week, my new album, Strong, released all the, you know, like they do now, all the streaming services and stuff. And we'll submit it and it might also. We'll see what happens with it. But. And then we're leaving tomorrow for two months to go do house, concerts all across the country, really. the east and sort of northeast part of the country. So, all that's, you know, I'm 69 years old now and you know, the. The lie that you hear in the culture is that you're too old. You know, age stops us from doing stuff. I don't believe that for a minute.
00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:55.750
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, speaking of those house concerts, explain to the listeners, what house concerts are.
00:26:56.309 --> 00:27:00.140
> Dennis Welch>Well, let's say that. That, what part of country you live in? Can I ask?
00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.380
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>I'm in Kansas. Wichita, Kansas.
00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:04.940
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Originally from Louisiana.
00:27:06.779 --> 00:27:15.019
> Dennis Welch>So you've talked to me and said, hey, you're coming through Kansas. Are you kidding? You know what? I'll invite my friends over and this is how it works, is very. It's very warm.
00:27:15.910 --> 00:28:20.430
> Dennis Welch>You invite your friends over and say, I got this really fine songwriter that I like is going to come to my house and do some music for us. Bring a chair and a cooler. And sometimes if the weather's good, we'll have them outside, and sometimes we'll have them in people's living rooms. And they're usually packed to the gills with people. And then I do a show. I do a concert of, you know, my music and either co writes with people like Alan Shamblin and, others or, you know, or, you know, my own stuff. And so, they're. They're really sweet, events, Curtis, you know, because people, first of all, their friends have invited them, so they're. They're already, you know, they're already okay with you. You know, you're not having to go out there and. And, you know, prove to them that you can do this and all that. And so, And so it's really, It started with the folk and Americana, writers probably maybe eight or ten years ago, maybe longer, but I didn't know about them. And I finally did a house concert two years ago, and it was my favorite of. And I've played theaters and I've played clubs and all kinds of stuff.
00:28:20.430 --> 00:28:25.819
> Dennis Welch>Churches, open for people like Poco and those kind of people. And that was all cool.
00:28:25.980 --> 00:28:38.470
> Dennis Welch>But these are my favorite events that I've ever done because there's, there's a lot of, conversation after it's over. People don't just get in their car and drive off. And it's very, it's, it's great stuff.
00:28:42.630 --> 00:28:50.789
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Okay. And, and you also are an author, so tell us about the book, your, your book that you were telling me about in the green room.
00:28:50.950 --> 00:28:58.779
> Dennis Welch>You know, I wrote, I had the privilege of writing some short stories for the Sunday Houston Chronicle many years ago.
00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:11.299
> Dennis Welch>And one of those articles was called Rich People Shop Here. And it was about my mother. She would take my two older brothers and I to shop for our school clothes right before school started.
00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:19.460
> Dennis Welch>She would take us to the second hand stores and we would pull in. And this was the drill. She, it always happened like this.
00:29:20.339 --> 00:29:40.950
> Dennis Welch>She would pull in and park and she would put her hand on whoever was in the front seat, whichever one of us, and say, listen, don't feel bad about shopping in these kind of places because a lot of rich people shop here. And so, you know, my joke was that I said, yeah, mom, I had to step over a couple of the Rockefellers that passed out in the doorway.
00:29:42.068 --> 00:30:21.400
> Dennis Welch>And but you know what? She was unscathed by our criticism. And so, so the short story was about that. But then I said at the end of the short story that as I got older and I realized that wealth is not necessarily about money. and you know, your, how big your bank account is. It's also about doing your calling, having a great life and great friends, a wonderful family. All those things are wealth, in my opinion. And so if that's true, then my mother was one of the richest people that I'd ever met. And so my mother still had never told me a lie because rich people really did shop there, because she did.
00:30:22.369 --> 00:30:30.819
> Dennis Welch>And so there was this huge response to it, Curtis and I. And I was surprised by the, the interest in my mother.
00:30:31.460 --> 00:30:42.339
> Dennis Welch>And so I called her up and I said, mama, listen, I'm going to come over to your house every Saturday for a while with a tape recorder and I'm going to interview you about a certain part of your life.
00:30:43.059 --> 00:31:07.650
> Dennis Welch>And you have to tell me the whole story. I know I'm your son and you're protecting me, but you need to tell me everything. And I said, and then I'm going to go home and I'm going to write a book about you. And so, when I. So the, the good news is I had somebody in the publishing business. A friend who heard that I was doing this and said, hey, can I. Can I be a reader? Can I read your chapters as you write them?
00:31:07.650 --> 00:31:28.230
> Dennis Welch>Well, if you've ever written a book, that's very helpful to have an audience out there, because you do a lot of this by yourself, and, you know, it's hard to know how you're doing. So I said yes, and I started sending her chapters. Well, when the last chapter came to her, she called me and she said, so, what are you going to do with this stuff?
00:31:28.710 --> 00:31:40.150
> Dennis Welch>And I said, well, I'm gonna go down to Kinko's and print it off, and then I'm going to give it, you know, to the grandkids and kids and stuff. And she said, no, no, you can't do that. She said, you. You have to.
00:31:40.630 --> 00:32:08.529
> Dennis Welch>This is an important story. And she said, you know, you have to. You have to publish this. And so we. We published it. And, and I do some talks that I go out and do a few little, you know, talks here and there called Patsy, Paul and Mary Very, you know, about forgiveness and stuff. And then, in 2013, I, wrote a book about communication called so what are you saying?
00:32:09.579 --> 00:32:20.779
> Dennis Welch>And it's based on, you know, what I've learned about how to start conversations, you know, with people and people in business and all that. I love all of it.
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:32.750
> Dennis Welch>you know, I have another book about success that I've got 50 or 60 pages written in. But I don't know, I haven't gotten back to it a long time, but I want to. I probably will someday.
00:32:35.079 --> 00:32:37.559
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well, besides your house concerts, tell us about any.
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:41.960
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Any other upcoming projects that you're working on that people need to be aware of.
00:32:42.920 --> 00:33:38.609
> Dennis Welch>My, those are. Those are basically it. We'll go to Illinois here next, week, to do a concert there in a little town called Quincy, in their park there. some people I work with, one my clients, I told him I wanted to do a concert for their staff, and they said, oh, that's a great idea. I said, let's just do a little private thing at your facility. And all that. And then a couple hours later, they called me back and said, we got a better idea. let's do a big. Let's invite the whole town. And so I don't know how that's going to go. We'll see. Then we go to Ohio to do two shows. Then we go to Nashville and then Atlanta, and we'll be in Georgia for a while. and then we'll go up to Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and West Virginia, and then we'll come back to Texas after that.
00:33:38.970 --> 00:33:47.460
> Dennis Welch>and so that's leaving very little time because I also have a day job. I'm a book publicist. You write a book and I get you on TV and radio and stuff.
00:33:48.029 --> 00:34:13.219
> Dennis Welch>And and so I have, you know, have a lot. I've just been busy and. But I'd rather be busy, you know. If you'd asked me in my 30s, Curtis, hey, if you'd said, hey, you know what, your 60s are going to be your most interesting decade, I would have thought you were crazy. But you know what? It can be your most interesting decade, but you have to sort of proactively plan for it to be that as best as you can.
00:34:14.110 --> 00:34:22.429
> Dennis Welch>You know what I mean? You can't listen to the naysayers that go, no, no, you know, you should go sit in a Corner because you're 60. You know, that's just not true.
00:34:24.829 --> 00:34:31.789
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>That's absolutely right. Throw out your contact info so listeners can keep up with everything that you're up to.
00:34:32.989 --> 00:34:44.539
> Dennis Welch>My, my website, I've not done a great job. Let me be honest. I'm going to confess something here. You know, I haven't done a great job of keeping up, with my website, my music site.
00:34:44.940 --> 00:34:58.469
> Dennis Welch>It's Dennis Welch Music dot com. Dennis Welch, you know, C-W-E-L C H Dennis with two ends dot Dennis WelchMusic dot com and you can go there and subscribe.
00:34:58.869 --> 00:35:19.110
> Dennis Welch>And we will do a once a month only we don't spam you. we'll send out a little newsletter every month, to people to sort of, you know, keep them abreast of what we're doing and any new recording we're doing and touring and all that stuff. and I'm always happy to hear from people, especially if they've heard some of the music and it's moved them in a certain way.
00:35:19.110 --> 00:35:20.469
> Dennis Welch>It's wonderful to hear that.
00:35:23.510 --> 00:35:30.920
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>We'll close this out with some final thoughts. anything that I forgot to touch on that you would like to talk about or any final thoughts you have for the listeners.
00:35:32.340 --> 00:35:54.590
> Dennis Welch>Yes, it. Curtis, if you, if you're, your listeners are out there and they know there is something that they're supposed to do, you know, the best time to do it is now. You know, it. I don't have a lot of regrets in my life, in large part because I've, ah, operated like that.
00:35:55.760 --> 00:36:03.599
> Dennis Welch>it's easy to kill, especially these days, to kill a lot of time in your life. You can be distracted by so many things.
00:36:03.599 --> 00:36:14.880
> Dennis Welch>Television and phones and emails and all that stuff. But, but make a pact with yourself. If there's something that you think you're supposed to be doing, just get going.
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:33.550
> Dennis Welch>And, and it's interesting because when you decide that, it's very interesting how the resources that you need and the people and the brain power that you don't have, maybe in an area, they just start circling around you to help you. but that doesn't happen while you're sitting still.
00:36:34.909 --> 00:36:47.099
> Dennis Welch>It only happens when you start taking steps yourself. And it takes a lot of bravery, to step out like that. And so I hope your listeners will do that, because the world's a better place when we're doing the thing that we're here for.
00:36:49.579 --> 00:36:57.179
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Well said, ladies and gentlemen. Please be sure to follow rate, review, share this episode to as many people as possible.
00:36:58.059 --> 00:37:06.610
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>If Dennis comes to a, place near you, check out one of his house concerts and check out his music and his books.
00:37:07.650 --> 00:37:25.469
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>Follow us on your favorite podcast platform and visit www.craveball337.com for more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball Pod. Thank you so much for listening and supporting the show. And Dennis, thank you for all that you do. And thank you for joining me.
00:37:25.789 --> 00:37:28.670
> Dennis Welch>Well, it's a blessing. And you're. You're most welcome.
00:37:28.670 --> 00:37:32.090
> Dennis Welch>It's a privilege, Curtis. Thank you. Okay, all, right.
00:37:32.889 --> 00:37:45.760
> Curtis Jackson (also known as DJ Curveball)>For more information on the Living the Dream with Curveball podcast, visit www.craveball337.com until next time. Time Keep living the dream.
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