Jimmy Wayne Lends His ‘Ears’ to Foster Kids

When Jimmy Wayne was a young boy in foster care, a social worker once suggested to him that he start writing in a journal, to help him deal with the emotions of abandonment. He did, and he hasn't stopped writing since.

"One-liners, bumper stickers ... I've been writing since I was 12," Jimmy tells Florida's Palm Beach Pulse.

Four songs on his latest album, 'Sara Smile,' were penned by Jimmy. One of them, 'Elephant Ears,' flowed like a wellspring of emotion, as the singer drew inpiration from his life as a foster kid, dreaming of a forever home.

"I've been there. I didn't say I loved someone until I was a teenager, because I wasn't used to hearing it," Jimmy says softly. "It's about a foster kid who finally gets a home ... It's a combination of my own personal experience, and my sister adopting a little girl and just thinking about what kids out there go through in foster homes. It's a song to bring awareness that those kids need our help."

And Jimmy remembers keenly how it felt as a troubled boy growing up, to be bounced from one foster home to another and going to 12 different schools in a two year span of time, as a result.

"I chose to make the character a little girl, because it just sort of fit that she was carrying around a little stuffed elephant," he says. " When I was in the fourth grade, there was a girl across the room. She looked at me and mouthed the words, 'elephant ears.' I thought she had said, 'I love you,' and I was so incredibly excited. She laughed at me, 'Ha-ha! I said 'elephant ears!' I was so embarrassed, and I never forgot it."

Jimmy's new album, featuring 'Elephant Ears,' hits stores today (Nov. 23).