Keeping it Real
Kyle Hutton Sings the Passions of
Life
Article and photos by Mike Baxter
Texas singer/songwriter Kyle Hutton and his wife,
Tara, have been together for a long time. As with
any committed relationship they have hung in there
through good times and bad, through the heartaches
and joys beyond words. So, it’s no wonder that after
a short break from recording, Kyle’s new CD has
taken a more grounded and introspective slant than
any of his previous works. He likes to describe it
as, “Real life. Real music.”
The new CD is titled More Like Me, and according
to Kyle, it really is. “Tara and I, in fact all the
guys in the band, don’t look at life through rose
colored glasses anymore,” he said. “Life is hard,
but the cool thing is that we’ve all had our ‘stuff’
to deal with, yet we’ve been there for each other as
we’ve gone through it. Life is life and that’s what
this CD is really about.”
“I Choose You”, the first single from the CD is
an important tune for Kyle with a meaning much
deeper than the surface message. “It’s a love song
and a song of commitment,” he said. “But, it also
serves as a reminder about the most important
priorities in my life.”
Kyle openly admits to having been seriously
caught up in the sorts of things that regularly
tempt people in the real world today: music,
success, money and other obstacles to being truly
happy. Today he knows that all he really needs is
waiting for him at home every night; Tara and their
three kids, Brooks, Casen and Carter.
Written with his longtime idol, Texas performing
songwriter and family man, Radney Foster, “I Choose
You” offers the insight of someone who has set new
priorities in his life with family at the top of the
list. “It’s not just about choosing your wife or
family over everyone else, it’s about balancing all
the elements in your life and making choices that
are in line with who you say you are... it’s about
integrity.”
“I think the most important line in the song
says, ‘What’s real is really more than enough’,”
Kyle said. “In our society we are pounded with the
thought of more, more and more, especially in areas
of our relationships. It’s so easy to buy into that
and never realize how good you have it with exactly
what you need sitting right in front of you.”
A second heartfelt song on the CD came from a
most unexpected source... Tara. Never a real fan of
Kyle’s music, and surprising even herself, Tara
penned the tune “If You Only Knew” out of an
extremely emotional time in their lives related to
Kyle’s birth.
“Kyle was adopted when he was six-weeks-old, and
had spent the past several years trying to find his
birth parents,” she said. “We had just discovered
that both of his birth parents had passed away. I
was filled with emotions, but it was like Kyle
couldn’t feel anything. I wanted him to experience
the healing that he needed to get through this.”
Tara says that she was writing in her journal one
Monday morning, and praying that God would allow
Kyle to write a song to help him make sense of the
sadness and the feeling of loss. “As I was writing
those words I realized that I was supposed to write
the song, not Kyle,” she said. “Later that day I got
out a piece of paper and within 20-minutes I had the
bones of this song.”
“If You Only Knew” is an emotional thank you from
Tara to Kyle’s birth mother for giving him up for
adoption when she could have easily ended the
pregnancy and walked away. “Kyle’s birth parents
were not married to each other, so I could see so
clearly that no matter what the circumstances of
Kyle’s birth, he was no accident; he was a gift. His
mother will never know the gift that she gave me and
my children,” Tara said.
Kyle tweaked the tune and created a duet that the
couple recorded for the CD and have per-formed live
on occasion. “Tara knew that she would never be able
to thank this woman in person, so she really poured
her heart out in the song,” he said. “I think what
really makes this song universal for everybody is
that we are all in the middle of a crisis, coming
out of a crisis, or heading into a crisis. Those are
the three states of being. “If Only You Knew”
re-minds us that even in the middle of the pain
something good is ahead as a result.”
Are there any more songs in Tara’s future?
“Actually, I’ve already written another one,” she
said proudly.
Kyle and Tara feel that they have both grown as a
couple through their music; Tara was just a late
bloomer. “Writing these songs is a real miracle for
me,” she said. “Kyle’s music used to be a point of
contention in our marriage, but today I’m actually
thrilled to be a part of the process. And, I think
that his own writing has improved because of it.”
The couple recently performed their duet for MOPS
(Mothers of Pre-schoolers) at their church,
Fellowship of the Woodlands. “That was a huge
miracle,” said Tara. “For me, performing in front of
people was like jumping out of an airplane, so to do
it showed tremendous growth in me as a person and in
our relationship. In fact, I’m anxious and excited
about it.”
An off-shoot of the traditional performing and
writing gigs is a plan for developing a series of
relationship workshops for couples where Tara and
Kyle will share their personal insight with others
through words and their music. “We did a workshop
last fall and had several couples attend,” Tara
said. “It went well and we’ve been asked to do
another.”
“I think that God is going to open up the doors
to where this new music is going to be performed,”
she said. “Whether that is in concerts or seminars,
I think the journey is just about being real and
true to who you say you are.”
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