When we brought out our 2009 CD, Singin’ With The Saints, we included a great song by Terry Smith, called Far Side Banks of Jordan. The song was perhaps most famously done by The Carter Family on the soundtrack for the movie, The Apostle.

To pay our royalties to the author, I went to the registration office and was told I needed to pay directly through the publisher. I went to the publisher and, you can see where this is going, was told I needed to pay through the registration office. I put it on my list of things to do later, and unfortunately forgot about it.

Fast forward to this past June, when I got a phone call from a fan wanting to purchase our CD specifically for the recording of that song. This person collects recordings of Far Side Banks of Jordan, and has over 200 different renditions. He told me that he’d met and occasionally conversed with the author, Terry Smith. So I asked him for, and was given Terry Smith’s address.

I wrote a royalty payment check and sent it off, with a letter explaining why I was paying him directly and included a CD. I also thanked him for writing such a beautiful piece, which is both a love song and a spiritual song.

This past weekend, we received a very nice card from Terry Smith, with a hand-written note thanking us for including his song on our CD. It was a thrill to receive a letter from him; it’s not often that one gets to converse with an original artist, and to have him be so gracious and generous was wonderful.