Jimmy Wayne Plans Album Inspired by ‘Halfway’ Trek

Jimmy Wayne has been home for a month since ending his Meet Me Halfway trek across America to raise awareness for teen homelessness. As he continues to nurse a broken foot, which he suffered just miles from the finish line, the singer has been able to reflect back on his journey and put a plan into action for an album based around the walk.

Jimmy has already completed one song inspired by people he met along the way during his seven-month journey from Nashville, Tenn. to Phoenix, Ariz. "It's a consolidation of all the people I have met in one song," Jimmy tells The Boot. "This album is not going to be your bubble-gum record at all. It's inspired by this walk. It's not necessarily all about the foster kids because you don't have to beat that thing to death. It's a record about my experience -- why I walked, about the walk, the end of the walk, and what I hope happens after the walk. I'm writing down the truth and I'm writing from my heart. It's real. It's my heart."

Jimmy already has an idea of the select group of co-writers with whom he'd like to collaborate for this project. "I've been in Nashville for 12 years. I've made some good relationships with different songwriters," he notes. "It makes sense to me now that I've done this walk to reach out to these special songwriters that I've made connections with over the years. The people I trust, and the people I know who can bring the goods to the table. I'm not talking about getting in a room and banging out a song in two hours that's not well thought out or anything. This is going to be a surgical procedure. We're not an in-and-out patient here. [laughs] I'm going to write the best I can possibly write on this record, and that's exactly what it's going to be. This album is going to carry me into the next phase of project Meet Me Halfway. It's got to be a tool used to open the doors to spread the word about project Meet Me Halfway."

One confirmed co-writer for the project is a personal hero of Jimmy's, legendary singer/songwriter Steve Wariner. "Steve was one of the people I called because he is somebody I've always looked up to not only as an unbelievable singer, but he is a great guitar player and musician," Jimmy explains. "I'm going for the best athlete I can find. I'm going for the top. I want the wisdom. I want to be able to sit in the room with people and spill my guts out to them ... tell them what I saw on this walk and my experiences so they can say, 'I can help you get to Phoenix again, but this time it's going to be in a song ... it's not going to be in a walk!'"

Jimmy is also working on another project, co-writing his first book, 'Paper Angels,' with Travis Thrasher, which is slated for release late next year.