I first met Daniel Shelton sometime around my 10th grade year in school. My church was not very large overall, and our youth group was no exception. I had some friends from school who went to Third Avenue Congregational church. They were very forward thinking in their approach to youth ministry for the late 90’s in Danville. They had an entire youth room at the church, large group meetings on Wednesday nights with a student-led worship team and a ton of activities and outings for youth to participate in. I started going there on Wednesday nights, and I eventually landed an audition to play guitar for the band. Since I could play some electric guitar, they offered me a spot that I gladly accepted.
Daniel was the drummer and part-time singer. He had a magnetic personality. Everyone, and I mean everyone, loved him, including me. Music was our connection, and we became good friends. I spent many hours hanging out at his house. His family always welcomed us in and tolerated Daniel pounding his drums and us playing along in their basement.
Daniel was two years younger than me. After I graduated and started school at Virginia Tech, Daniel fell into some difficult times. He dabbled with drugs and addiction started to get a hold of him. He also began to question his faith. The summer after my freshman year, I worked at a restaurant in Danville to take a break from laying floors. Daniel’s family asked me to tag along on their family vacation to the beach to spend some time with him and try to reconnect our friendship. As I write these words, I have such fond memories of that trip. Daniel’s dad and uncles were all great musicians. We had a family jam one night in the house. The picture for this post is a screenshot of a karaoke video we made at Broadway At The Beach after dinner out one night. It’s easy to see that we always had a lot of fun together. Daniel and I also took a very long walk on the beach late one afternoon. I asked him some pretty direct questions, and he gave me a lot of honest answers. I didn’t hear what I wanted him to say, but I did sense that he still knew that his addictions were not good for him, that God loved him, and that none of the things he was chasing would ever give him peace.
I don’t recall exactly when I wrote “Daniel (Here For You)”, but I know it was the first song I wrote for and about him. It was an attempt to communicate to him through a song in ways that I felt I couldn’t in a face-to-face conversation. I tried to communicate my prayers for him that I prayed often, the truth that he was still very much loved even in the midst of his struggles that frustrated him and the ones who cared about him. And more than anything, to tell him that I would be there for him no matter what.
The summer of 2003 found me back home in Danville working for Newcomb Carpet one last time. We had tracked all of the guitar tracks and scratch vocals for One Foot In The Door throughout the spring semester, and the plan was for Daniel to track the drums. There was no one else I wanted to do it, especially since a few of the songs on the record were for him. We spent a lot of our free time that summer rehearsing, making sure he was good with the arrangements and set on his parts. Daniel seemed to be on the right side of his struggles. He was engaged to be married, and his fiancé was expecting a baby boy that they planned to name Elisha. I remember watching him playing with a worship band at a church and leading the singing on one of the tunes not long before we were scheduled to track the drums. As I sat in the audience, I was thankful that God had brought Daniel through.
I planned a trip to Sarasota to go visit the kids from the youth group and the folks I had lived with the summer before during my internship. I was to drive back home to Danville on Thursday, and me and Daniel would head to Blacksburg Friday morning to spend the weekend tracking drums with George. I called his house that Monday to check and make sure everything was still a go. A voice I did not recognize answered the phone. When I asked to speak to Daniel, she asked me who was calling and I said, “Ryan Newcomb”. After a few moments, Daniel’s mom came on the phone. She sounded like she had been run over by a train. I had never heard Lesa sound like she did on that phone call. She told me that Daniel had been missing since Saturday night. When I heard those words, I knew something terrible had happened. It just wasn’t like Daniel to disappear like that. On Wednesday, I got the call that Daniel had taken his own life.
What was supposed to be a journey home with excitement to spend a weekend making music with my friend turned into a somber and emotional trek. Instead of tracking drums in Blacksburg, I was a pallbearer in Daniel’s funeral. At 21 years old, I was laying my friend in his grave. I miss him terribly even now.
My friend Sean Aiken was gracious enough to step in to track the drums for the record. It was in September, I believe, after the fall semester had started. Sean and I had a couple of rehearsals together in Danville. He was and still is a very talented drummer, and it showed in how quickly he picked up the arrangements and added his own flare and style. I will be forever grateful for Sean’s friendship during this time and his willingness to step into the huge void that was in my heart and in the making of One Foot In The Door when Daniel died. I had intended for the percussion to be at a half-time of the beat Sean plays on this song. It was his suggestion to have the percussion play what it does. It was certainly the right call. This is the first of these blog posts to feature the album track. Let me know what you think about the story and the original album version of “Daniel (Here For You)”.
