Darryl Worley’s Enjoying ‘Life’ on the Charts Again

It's tempting to call Darryl Worley a "comeback kid." Although he's been around the block more than a few times in his country-music career, he hasn't had a Top 40 country hit since late 2006. But now the 44-year-old is indeed back on the charts, having scored a Top 20 hit with 'Sounds Like Life to Me.' Still, Darryl insists he never really went away; he's just enjoying something of a revival.

"Nowadays when you're gone off the radio for a year or two years – or whatever it was – I think that whole dynamic has changed, and it don't take you long to go away," Darryl tells The Boot. "But the cool thing about it is, if you've got the right music and the right song, it really doesn't matter who you are in this day and time, if it's something that will get that listening audience geared up and they want to hear it, they'll play it."

Darryl's experience sounds like the life -- and career -- of many country artists. Signed with Dreamworks in 2000, the tall singer from west Tennessee enjoyed three of his biggest hits, 'I Miss My Friend' (2002), 'Have You Forgotten' (2003) and 'Awful Beautiful Life,' (2004). After the label closed in 2005, Darryl signed with friend Neal McCoy's 903 Music, releasing just one album before that label was shuttered the following year. His latest record deal with Stroudavarious Records reunites him with former Dreamworks executive James Stroud.

The title track of Darryl's sixth studio project, 'Sounds Like Life,' is one of eight songs he co-wrote on the album. He's currently making the rounds on a radio tour, and says that no matter how much the business has changed in the decade since he started, one of the things he has made sure not to do is burn any bridges.

Darryl has also learned the importance of giving back, as this weekend marks his 8th annual Tennessee River Run and all the festivities surrounding the charitable event near his hometown of Savannah, Tenn.