VOA标准英语2010年-Patience, Perseverance Pay Off for Dav

It's taken a lot of patience and perseverance¹ for David Nail to make it in Nashville's competitive Country music industry. 

The title track from David Nail's debut² album, "I'm About To Come Alive," is a cover of one of his favorite rock groups, Train.  He's been performing the song at his concerts for more than five years, and calls it "a constant in his career."

It took nearly a decade and two moves to Nashville for David to earn his big break in Country music.  His first record deal with Mercury Records ended soon after he was signed, which led to his first album being shelved.  David left the music business and coached a Nashville baseball team, but returned in 2007 when he was signed to MCA Records.  He says the obstacles he faced along the way helped make him a better artist. 

David grew up in the small Midwestern town of Kennett, Missouri.  It was there that he was introduced to Country music.

"I remember walking over to my grandparents' house one day, and my grandmother had just discovered the Columbia House [album buying club] thing,"  he said.  "She had some Randy Travis there and some Vince Gill.  I had no idea who these people were, so, of course, I was just curious.  [I] started listening to them and immediately was drawn³ to Vince Gill.  It just seemed like his songs were so great, the melodies were so great.  I guess that's when I probably started singing, not having a clue that I was going to pursue it as a career later in life."

Last year, David's first Top 10 hit, "Red Light," set a record for the longest-charted song in Mediabase history.  Mediabase is a service that tracks radio airplay of music. 

David co-wrote five of the tracks on "I'm About To Come Alive."  The album also includes songs penned by Rascal⁴ Flatts' lead singer Gary LeVox and Kenny Chesney, who co-wrote David's latest single, "Turning Home."

"When I first heard the song, I was 26 or 27 years old, and it was very much in a time period where I was struggling with, 'Should I stay here in the city and keep pursuing this dream or should I maybe go back home and try to look for something a little more 9 to 5,'" he said. "When I heard this song, it was definitely something that I felt like for the first time that I could close my eyes and sing.  I think as an entertainer that's the number one thing we try to do is to move somebody with both the emotion behind the melody and also the emotion behind the lyric⁵."

 

1 perseverance   

n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
• Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。

2 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

3 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

4 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

5 lyric   

n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的

参考例句：

• This is a good example of Shelley's lyric poetry.这首诗是雪莱抒情诗的范例。
• His earlier work announced a lyric talent of the first order.他的早期作品显露了一流的抒情才华。