RED LICK &045; Paul Southerland calls himself an old country hillbilly, but recent success in the music world tells a different story.

The story begins with a call from God that Southerland tried for years to deny. It continues, finally, with his getting a firm grip on what God calls him to do.

At the Christian Country Music Association meeting in Nashville, Tenn., two weeks ago, Southerland was named &uot;New Artist of the Year&uot; by High Records of Louisville, Ky.

Southerland is modest about the award but sees it as affirmation of his drive to write, sing and record music that may inspire those who hear it.

&uot;When I received the call from God, I didn’t want to preach. I did everything you can think of, whatever you can do to appease God, to keep from doing it,&uot; he said. That call came in 1967. In 1986, &uot;I surrendered to God and began to preach in small rural churches.&uot;

For 15 years, he was pastor of Red Lick Baptist Church. Then he took on Bethesda Baptist Church, located between Fayette and Union Church.

&uot;But I knew I couldn’t do the work of a pastor. A pastor is a shepherd, taking care of the flock. I’m a herald,&uot; he said. &uot;I felt guilty not being able to do what I knew I had to do.&uot;

All the time keeping his full-time job as a heavy construction worker, opening his own business by 1981, he struggled to remain successful in the secular world and respond to his need to do God’s work.

&uot;Finally in September 2003, I told the Lord, ‘you’ve got to do something.’ I told him I didn’t think I could do what those folks needed me to do,&uot; Southerland said. &uot;Finally, God told me to do what was on my heart, that he would do the rest.&uot;

His congregations wanted him to stay on as pastor. &uot;People said I couldn’t leave those churches because they would die, but I knew God would hold them up,&uot; Southerland said.

It took four months to leave the churches. Southerland believed God wanted him to be an evangelist. &uot;At first, I thought I was supposed to put on a suit and run around preaching.&uot; By January 2004, the songs began coming.

&uot;I have always loved country music. I played in honkytonks years ago &045; Memphis, Little Rock, Vicksburg, Jackson &045; and was paid well for it,&uot; he said. &uot;All the time, I tried to justify to God playing in honkytonks. I would say, well, I’m in the honkytonks but I’m not a honkytonker.&uot;

Southerland’s interest in music began at age 5, when an uncle gave him a guitar. He taught himself to play. In June, he recorded his first four songs.

&uot;One and One&uot; was the first song released. That was Southerland’s choice. And it is &uot;One and One&uot; that not only began to appear on the usual &uot;top 100&uot; lists but also made U.S. Gospel News, perhaps the most respected list in the gospel music world.

&uot;I had been told if I got there, I could consider that I have a hit,&uot; he said. &uot;But I had also been told that I was too country to be in U.S. Gospel News.&uot;

Southerland said his producer was ecstatic. &uot;He said, ‘man, you’ve got a hit; 1,500 stations across the nation are playing your song.’&uot;

The song had special meaning for Southerland. He chose it as his first release because it was based on his 33 years of marriage to his wife, Marlene.

&uot;I hadn’t told her about it. On the way to the recording, I told her I had one more song and I’m fixing to give it to you and you write it down on paper,&uot; Southerland said. &uot;I gave her the song. She said, ‘we’re going to record this?’ and I told her it was going to be our first hit.&uot;

The song’s hook is: &uot;One and one makes one. But you thought it came to two. But God don’t do math the way we do.&uot;

Some of his other first songs are &uot;If Life Got Any Better I’d Have to be Twins&uot; and &uot;When Men Were Men.&uot;

He recently completed another album of 10 songs. He hopes churches in the Natchez area will call to invite him to sing. He is available for bookings at

psouthe719@aol.com

.

&uot;I just stepped out on faith, with everyone saying, ‘you can’t do that; you’re a great singer, but you should have done it when you were young.’&uot;

He is 54 and laughed when he called himself &uot;an old dinosaur.&uot; But that’s O.K., he said. &uot;I’m just an old country hillbilly doing what God tells me to do. It’s scary what God has given me.&uot;