JASON MICHAEL CARROLL

                                                              "Tell Me Your Name (Diane's Song)" 

                                                               For The Lonely Records

Jason Michael Carroll is a name very familiar to country music fans. His string of hits in the late 2000’s included “Livin’ Our Love Song,” “Where I’m From,” “Hurry Home,” and the very powerful “Alyssa Lies.”  And while the artist has certainly been keeping busy, it’s been since 2018’s “I Want You To Know” that the he has released a proper single.

So why is now the right time for “Tell Me Your Name (Diane’s Song)”?

As JMC himself has put it, “because my wife's mother is going through a battle and watching it tear her apart and affect the family as it has, inspired me to write this song with my buddy Johnny Orr.”

But just one listen to this song and you’ll quickly understand the impact that music can have on people; in this case, on anyone who is helplessly sitting by with a loved one who is battling Alzheimer’s or dementia.  

The acoustic instrumentation in the onset of the song, sets the somber tone as Jason Michael Carroll encompasses the emotion of his voice as he sings us through tug at your heart lines that hit on both sides of the emotional rollercoaster such as:

“There’s day’s she can’t recall, from the life that she lived.”

“But I get my hopes up sometimes, when I see that light in her eyes.”

Wrapped into the chorus comes the all too real truths as he continues to hit hard at the emotions while singing of her (his mother-in-law in this case) slowly forgetting things while still somewhat holding on; remembering through pictures who her husband and kids are, while not knowing the person sitting in front of her who she’s sharing the pictures with – which we find out to be her daughter later in the song as she’s encouraging her mom with the touching line, “We got no doubts mom you were the greatest, so tell me your name.”

This all too real tribute comes to a head in the final seconds of the song with the complete tear-jerker moment of the final line which is simply a recording of Jason’s mother-in-law’s voice saying, “My name is Diane.”

This is clearly a song that Jason Michael Carroll has written to help get his own (and wife’s) confusion and helplessness out, but by sharing it with the world the song is poised to help anyone dealing with this in their own life so that they can feel like someone truly understands what they are going through. Whether radio picks this up or not doesn’t even matter, so long as the people who need to hear these comforting words get to hear them. That’s the true point to a song like this one!

(Review Written By: Jeffrey Kurtis)