Local singer-songwriter and radio personality Hunter Logan has been nominated for three awards this year with the Inspirational Country Music Awards.
Logan, whose real name is Darrell Self, has won 22 ICMA awards since 2014, including several radio personality of the year and radio of station of the year honors.
This year he is nominated for Inspirational Song of the Year for his self-penned song “Man on the Middle Cross” from his “Prodigal Part II” CD. He is also nominated for Radio Personality and Radio Station of the Year for HLE, his internet Christian Country radio station based in Jennings.
The awards will be presented May 27-29 in Nashville, Tenn.
Logan’s passion for music started at a young age growing up in Jennings and Lacassine.
“Growing up, music was always in the house,” he said. “My dad played in a band and they’d come over the house on Friday and Saturday nights to practice, so I grew up listening to that. My grandmother always had the music on, too so I got exposed to a lot of different music.”
He picked up his first guitar at age 8 and began singing at 18.
“That wasn’t because I wanted to, but in the first band I was in nobody could sing,” he said. “We showed up for our first gig and nobody was singing so I just grabbed the mic and started singing because I knew the songs.”
As he got older he became more interested in performing on stage and producing music. He played in numerous bands and backed up various artists on several projects before starting his own recording studio and publishing company.
He worked a stint at the Nashville Place in 2001, as an on-board entertainer for Carnival Cruise Line and released his last swamp pop music CD in 2005 before starting his own radio station in 2012.
“We started with a broken computer, a borrowed server and a handful of followers,” he said of the station. “Today we are followed by hundreds of listeners all over the world.”
Logan left the limelight of the stage for nearly two decades to move closer to home, promote other artists and focus on the radio station.
“I thought I was done with music,” he said. “I really didn’t have the desire to play or anything. I really thought it was over and all of a sudden 2020 hit and things began changing.”
He started writing songs again, this time of a Christian country nature, releasing his first-ever Christian album, “The Prodigal” in 2021 followed by “The Prodigal Part II.”
At age 58, he is back to writing songs, performing and hopeful about his music career in the future.
“I keep thinking, ‘How does a guy who is over age and overweight get a second chance at doing music,’ when I thought I was done,” he said.
He is currently working on third Christian country album which will be released this fall with 10 new original songs.
Logan finds inspiration for his songs in his everyday life.
He wrote “Man on the Middle Cross” in five minutes after a friend sent him a video of a preacher talking about the two thieves crucified next to Jesus.
Another song, “Shack up with the Devil,” was inspired by a Facebook meme.
“I’d seen a meme on Facebook and it said ‘you can’t shack up with the devil and expect Jesus to pay the rent,” he said. “That was what I wanted to write a song about.”
He premiered the song at a church and it was an instant hit.
“I started singing it and by the time I finished the first verse they were clapping,” he said. “And a gentleman gave me $200 to go record the song.”
The song went to number 6 on the Christian country music charts without being officially released.
“After that I just started writing like crazy and that’s how “The Prodigal” came about, followed by “The Prodigal II,” he said. “It’s just another tool that I have to reach the lost that God’s given me. He’s given me the radio and my music back.
“I thought I wasn’t going to do music again, but there is a scripture in the Bible that says, ‘God’s gifts are without repentance,’ and that’s true,” he said. “He gives you a gift, he doesn’t take it away.”
Logan hopes his inspirational stories of Christian life serve as a ministry to others.
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