Chisler, local musicians unite to create patriotic CD
Joel Chisler is a jack of all trades. But, unlike the nursery rhyme, Chisler has mastered a few – the latest – with a little help from his friends. Chisler, who has lived his entire life in the Uniontown area, now calls Hopwood home. He has been friends with local musicians Roger Rush, Jay McKnight and Keith Taylor a long time. They have played music together. Rush sings and plays acoustic guitar, the other three do the accompaniment.
“We are Roger Rush and the band,” Chisler said. “They are country musicians, and songwriters. I play some guitar and fiddle, but they are the real professionals.”
Then one day, Chisler feels divine intervention took both their friendships and music to the next level.
A songwriter known locally as “Toilet Bowl Joel,” (because that’s where he does his best writing) Chisler had already gained fame in the Pittsburgh morning (radio) show market with, among others, his song “You Can’t Love Me Like My Dog.”
He has several CDs in stores.
“I do comedy and have played in clubs, at colleges and bars, for priests and nuns and at vets and senior centers,” he said.
This day Chisler found himself at a trade show in West Virginia.
“I had the chorus of a song in my head for months. It kept going on and on,” he said. “You could say it tortured me for months and months.”
He pulled out a piece of paper and pen.
“I said a prayer and asked God for help, I wanted to be able to do something to fire up America,” he said.
He began putting his thoughts on paper.
“By noon, it (a song) was pretty much written,” Chisler said. “I called Jay (McKnight) and read him the lyrics.”
McKnight, who is an employee of Operation Good Brother, a recycling company formed by Chisler and his brother, Vincent, was quick to reply.
“He said, ‘We got to get into the studio.”‘
By 5 p.m., they were in Synchronicity, a recording studio owned by Randy Rhodes and located in Fairchance.
“You know how busy people are. … What are the chances that in a couple hours we could get the whole band and a singer and the studio set up all at the same time? At 11 p.m. the basic song was done. We still had some tweaking to do, but it was basically done.”
Chisler said group members were excited when they realized what they had.
“You can count on country musicians to be pretty honest,” he said. “And they were all ecstatic!” Titled “Don’t Mess With the USA,” it is a “pro-American, pro-military song. You know, we Americans, all of us, have a lot to be proud of,” said Chisler, a 1974 graduate of Laurel Highlands Senior High School. “We are always there to give aid, to help out. I wanted to honor past veterans – all the military, and all the people who are always doing and giving.”
In Nashville, they had “some good reviews, but no bites,” Chisler said.
On the Internet at Taxi.com, a Web site that hails itself “the world’s leading independent artist and repertoire company,” the group had better luck. “Taxi.com is the intermediary between musicians and bands and the music industry,” Chisler said.
The song was picked up by independent label Frog & Scorpion Records in North Canton, Ohio, and is now the first track on “One Nation Under God” volume 2 “Never Forget.”
“I can’t believe that out of 1,500 songs, they chose us,” he said. Also featured on this CD is, among others, the work of multiple Grammy winner Jim Peterik (“Eye of the Tiger” in “Rocky III”), the former founder and singer from “Survivor;” Ronny VanZant of Lynyrd Skynyrd fame; and El McMeen, a prominent New York lawyer/acoustic guitarist and 2003 International Musician of the Year.
A part of any profit made by Frog & Scorpion Records goes to military charities. All of Chisler’s profits will benefit the children of Roger Rush whose wife Wendy recently died from complications of leukemia. The 13-song CD should soon be available through Amazon.com, direct marketing and at many retail outlets, including Soundtrack in Uniontown.
“I just knew they were wrong,” he said of the record labels in Nashville that turned them down.