SSC: Thank you, Marty, thank you. What a treat. I tell you, you guys get better and better and as I mentioned last hour this is an early gig for you guys isn't it?

MR: Yes it is. Most musicians aren't known to be up before noon. Jimmy and I are definitely early birds, but there are some other guys here that are breaking some new ground.

SSC: They're losing some sleep.

MR: Yes that's right. It's tough singing this early.

SSC: Well you guys are true musicians and in addition to your CD "The Reason," you have a new book out called Beautiful Mess.

MR: That's right. It's an autobiography about the last twenty years or so of our lives, along with some personal history of the group and how we came together. We've been very blessed to have a lot of hits over the past twenty years and that has not necessarily come without some bumps and bruises. We've all had struggles that we've had to go through that we've kind of kept behind the scenes.

But we decided it was time for us to tell our story of some of those struggles because there are a lot of folks out there who have had the same kind of issues in their own lives. And it's amazing how when we share, so many other people seem to relate. When you hold it in, you feel like you're the only one that's having this problem. But you share it and all of a sudden there are a lot of folks who feel it.

SSC: Well as a group you went through a lot but what I noticed is that there are so many layers to this story. And the first layer for me was how hard you guys work. You are true musicians. You really have a craft that you have honed, that you work hard at and all of you paid a price. I read about what you did on the road and how this was a real step of faith to put this band together.

MR: Yes, most definitely. We had faith in our talents and I think all of us believed those talents were from God. Country music was what drew us to Nashville and what drew us together. But God was faithful in putting this group together, a group of men that weren't necessarily focused on some of the stereotypical country musicians and even the music that's stereotypical for country music.

We wanted to be about positive relationships and whenever we could we were very encouraged in finding songs that spoke of our faith and the spiritual nature of the world. So we've been blessed to get a chance to do some of that.

SSC: Well being a band was really important to you guys and so we need to introduce the band members.

MR: Yes, oh yes.

SSC: Don't we?

MR: Most definitely, sorry we almost forgot that.

SSC: We did almost forget.

MR: Dan Truman, from Utah, is our keyboard player. Gene Johnson plays the mandolin and sings all the really high harmonies for us and he's from Pennsylvania. Jimmy Olander plays the electric guitar. He's a songwriter extraordinaire and he's from California. And Brian Prout on the drums is from New York.

SSC: Oh, a Yankee fan.

MR: And then we have Dana Williams who plays bass and sings our other harmony part. He's Mr. Entertainment in the band and he's from Tennessee. Go figure one guy from Tennessee. And I'm Marty Roe.

SSC: You're Marty Roe

MR: I'm from Ohio, by the way.

SSC: This book is about being a band. And the one thing it says at the very end of the book is it talks about blending, and not being one person or one sound but the whole blend and that's what you're known for. But that became a challenge as various members of the band ran into different, real physical challenges.

MR: No doubt. We don't really know what Jimmy had, but it was similar to a tumor or a growth in his esophagus. Gene is a wood worker and sometimes that's not good for musicians and their digits. So one day he had a little run in with the saw.

SSC: He left part of his thumb in the saw, is what was said in the book.

MR: Yes and it doesn't work just right anymore, but he's still here. And Dana was run over by a boat. The prop went right through his legs. We thought it cut them both off, but here he stands today.

SSC: And Danny must have been living right because he hasn't experienced any physical challenges.

DAN: It's yet to come.

SSC: Oh no, we are not going to say that.

MR: He just doesn't stay in one place long enough.

SSC: We're not going to claim that. But Marty the big challenge for the entire band was your voice.

MR: About three, four or five years ago I started to have some trouble with my voice and I was not singing up to the standard of what we had come to expect and what we had come to be recognized for. And honestly for a while, I think the whole band went through some denial about it. We'd have a bad show here and there. And then their denial was over before mine and they kind of slapped me in the face with it and made me realize that I had a problem.

So then I went through a stage of I can do it myself. I tried pulling myself up by my own bootstraps and that didn't really help much either. Ultimately God was showing me that I had really kind of forsaken the gifts that He had given me. Intellectually I knew they were from Him and I tried to use them for His glory, but when you get busy and in a career and you have success it's very easy to get caught up in yourself. And even when you don't really intend to, and I had done that, I lost my passion for my music and for God's gift. And I came to a point of surrender where I thought that He might not give it back.

You know the parable of the talents teaches that the guy's who invested their talents they got back tenfold. They doubled their money. And the guy who had the one talent buried it in the dirt and handed it over real rusty. So God took it from him and gave it to those who had worked. So I felt a little bit that way.

But God was kind and when I came to that point, I heard this saying and I like to say it a lot because it's true. It goes "when the student is ready, the teacher will appear." And at that very moment God gave me my fourth vocal coach, who was a believer, and we prayed and we talked some, we sang a little bit and literally in a days time we had made a miraculous turn around. I got with the group the next day and kind of confirmed it and then we got together again the very next day and confirmed it. So God healed the problem and in a matter of a month or two we were presented with the opportunity to tell this story with the book and with a CD, into a Christian project that we had never had the chance to do before. So here we are at the Crystal Cathedral.

SSC: Well wonderful. And I just want to thank Diamond Rio as a group, all of you because you guys are allowing God to use you and He has used you for years. He used you to minister to our nation with "One More Day" and other songs that truly minister to people. You just sang "In God We Still Trust" which was a wonderful testimony and the song that you are going to be singing now is "God is There."

MR: "God is There."

SSC: "God is there." Tremendous words, tremendous message. I want to encourage everybody to get this book "Beautiful Mess." This is a book about team work and honestly it is not easy to perform in a band and keep it together as long as you guys have done. It's a testimony to your hard work and a testimony to never giving up. To God be the glory. So sing one more song for us, will you?

MR: We'll do it, Sheila; we enjoyed being here at the Hour of Power.

SSC: Thank you.

MR: Thank you for having us.

SSC: Thank you. You guys are a blessing.

© Copyright Hour of Power 2009. This interview was conducted by Robert H. Schuller from the pulpit of the Crystal Cathedral and aired on the Hour of Power November 1, 2009.