NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A show featuring some big names in music was an especially powerful one. It was about helping others through their hardest days. It couldn't have been more important to someone on the show's roster.
"Lemme make sure I'm on tune," said Dylan Altman, strumming his guitar. "It sounds right."
You can't help but think of the greats that have taken the stage before when you have a chance to perform at the Ryman.
"Tony Bennett was really right up there," said singer-songwriter Bob DiPiero, sitting next to Dylan backstage. "Earth, Wind, and Fire. I've seen James Brown here at the Ryman."
Bob's played the Ryman many times. For Dylan, this was his first show here.
"It's like a bucket list-type thing, man," he said.
What was about to happen was even more than a big gig on a very famous stage for Dylan. For one, it was a chance to share his story.
To watch him tell you his story in his own words, watch in the player above.
"Recovery has helped me go from literally hating the person I was to some days loving myself, but always liking myself," he said.
Dylan had been struggling with his drinking for 12 years when he was arrested at the airport on the way to a gig.
"I was arrested for public intoxication," Dylan said. "I had blacked out at TSA. Woke up handcuffed to a gurney at the hospital with a fat lip and handcuff marks on my wrists. Never been arrested before in my life."
"We gathered around Dylan and said, 'We're going to get you somewhere you can get help, and that's what we did,'" Bob said.
Bob called the addiction treatment center Cumberland Heights to get Dylan checked in. Bob had been through his own struggles with addiction.
"Nobody can convince you to change until you have that one clear moment you go, 'you know what? I might be killing myself,'" Bob said.
"I saw how much my body had been ravaged," Dylan continued. "I was afraid the first week if I closed my eyes to go to sleep, I wouldn't wake back up. That's how bad my blood pressure was. Each day, I got a little stronger. I was able to walk out of Cumberland Heights after 30 days and not want to run to a liquor store. I've said this many, many times. Best day I had in my life was when my daughter was born. Second best day was when I was arrested and dragged to rehab by my family and friends."
The show at the Ryman was called Concert For Cumberland Heights. Among the performers were Charles Kelley and Vince Gill.
Before making his Ryman debut, Dylan rehearsed a song backstage he wrote about addiction.
Besides the chance to play on this stage, besides the chance to share his story, this night was for Dylan to say "thank you" to Cumberland Heights and also the people who led him there.
"I have so much gratitude in my heart for my experience there," he said. "It's a choice you make, and my life has been improved exponentially in every way."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
