The Story Behind Old Glory                          

The lyrics to Old Glory were written by the songwriter Cinda  early in 2000 after a heartfelt and contemplative look back at our country's history. She realized that she had never heard a song about "Old Glory," what it meant – what the flag really stands for. With pen in hand she sought to answer these questions, painting with her words, a picture of the sacrifices made by so many. Cinda has said that she thinks of "Old Glory" as “The Little Anthem.”

The music is by Carl Jackson and the song was recorded at Ben Hall's studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Coincidentally, Buddy Holly, who was a member of  Ben Hall's band before he started his own group, and Ben Hall wrote the first two songs that Buddy Holly recorded. This is what made recording this song so special for Gary Mule Deer. Aside from Johnny Cash, Buddy Holly was one of Gary's biggest influences before getting into the business. Gary Mule Deer made his first ever appearance on The Grand Ole Opry on February 18th of 2000. He was invited to stay over and appear the following week on all three shows. In the meantime, on February 20th, Gary went into the studio and recorded Old Glory and was so pleased with the results that he played a rough mix for The Opry execs just before going on-stage February 25th. He was invited to perform again for both shows on the 26th of February, and was invited back to perform on The Opry again on May 26th and 27th.  

Old Glory was produced by Carl Jackson with Kevin Grantt on bass, Catherine Styron on piano and Randy Hardison on drums. Carl Jackson also played the guitars and sang background vocals along with Renee Martin. All of this was engineered by Ben Hall at The Home Place studio, in Nashville, Tennessee. The real "Old Glory" is currently going through a three year, 5.5 million dollar restoration at The Smithsonian.

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