Interview: Heath Wright of Ricochet reveals the country artist that inspired "Daddy's Money"

“Daddy’s Money” by Ricochet was one of the biggest country songs in the ‘90s. Ricochet lead singer Heath Wright shares the story behind the song including the country artist that inspired it. He also talks about the song’s longevity and impact on the band’s successful career during this interview from the summer of 2022.

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• Transcript

  Heath Wright of Ricochet chatted with me in the summer of 2022 about how “Daddy’s Money” came to life and how it impacted their career.

  Here’s our conversation:

  AT: I want to talk about Jeff Carson – he was scoring big hits right around the time Ricochet came on the scene. You played his memorial earlier this year and it was such a tremendous loss for country music. Can you share any memories that you have of him?  

  HW: You know, he was one of those guys that you never saw him down. He was always in such a good mood and just so happy and so grateful to be doing what he loved out on the road, bringing country music to the people. He just always seemed grateful that he got to do that for a living. He got to live a second dream as well as a police officer with Franklin Police Department in Williamson County, Tennessee.   

  A lot of people will live longer than Jeff did - he was only 58 years old when he died, but very few people will outlive that man because he was just full of life every single day.   

  Here's a fun little Jeff Carson story for you.  

  It turns out in like 1993, or 94, Jeff was pretty much new to town. He had just come to Nashville, and he was writing at a local publishing company. He was singing a lot of demos because he was a great singer. He was a workhorse. He could go in and sing a day’s full of demos doing all the lead vocals and the harmony parts, and he was making a decent living doing that. But you know, demo singers and staff writers don't get rich unless somebody records one of their songs. It's kind of like being a waiter or waitress. It's a wage-type job.   

  One day, there were these three songwriters named Bob DiPiero, Steve Seskin, and Mark D. Sanders. They're all sitting in a room there at this recording studio slash publishing company. So, there are writer's rooms in this place, and they're all sitting in a room staring at each other trying to figure out what they're going to write that day. They're just kinda staring each other down in the room and waiting for lunch. And then Jeff Carson pulls up, and they see him outside the window. He pulls up in the parking lot in this brand-new Jaguar. Now again, he hadn't had any hit record yet, he might have had a record deal, but he hadn't been out on the road. He was just a staff writer and a demo singer. And one of the guys says ‘Look at this kid. what's up with his cars? I've never seen Jeff drive that car before.’  

  And they're like, well, that's kind of strange that a demo singer and a staff writer would have a car like that. One of the other guys says, ‘Oh, wait, wait a minute, guys. Have you seen that girl he's married to? She's beautiful. And apparently, she's got her daddy's money.’  

  So, Jeff Carson was the person that actually inspired the song “Daddy's Money.” The three guys wrote that song that day and my career would be a heck of a lot different had Jeff Carson not shown up at the right moment. And thank you to his wife, Kim Carson, for loaning him her car that day.   

  AT: Of course, the story we have we have to talk about “Daddy's Money,” one of the most iconic songs of the 90s. Talk about the longevity of this song, because on our radio station, I'm pretty sure we play it like twice a day. This song has been everywhere for the last 25 years!   

  HW: Can you believe that? It's been around that long.   

  I'll never forget the first time I heard that song where I was. I'd been in Nashville for several months and I was just homesick. I had a weekend off, so I decided to drive home to Oklahoma to the ranch that I grew up on, which is where I live now. My dad and I were out. We decided to get up early one Saturday morning and drive to the auction. I had a little bit of money in my pocket because the record company had given us a small signing bonus. And I wanted to spend it on cattle. We went to buy some heifers that day and when we got back my mom, this is before cell phones.   

  My mom says somebody name Uncle Ron called and wants you to call him right back. So, Uncle Ron, that's Ron Chancey, that's our producer. Mom said ‘Well, he wants you to call him right back. He says it's very important.’  

  I called Ron Chancey back and he was in the studio, and he says, ‘Hey, we got this song that we just heard, and if we don't record it soon, somebody else is going to.’  

  He plays me “Daddy's Money,” over the phone. When the song finishes, he says, ‘What do you think?’  

  I said, ‘That's the silliest song I've ever heard, Uncle Ron. We probably should record it before somebody else does. It's going to be a huge hit.’  

  I knew it was gonna be a hit. I didn't realize it was going to have staying power. I mean, let's be honest, it’s not one of those heavy thinker songs. It's a song about a guy that can't concentrate because of the girl in the choir loft. But it didn't go on to cure cancer. It's just one of those really fun songs.   

  We still get people coming through the autograph line, I mean grown women in their 20s saying, ‘ My dad used to say that song was written about me when I was a little girl.’ It's like, well, that don't make me feel old at all! I don't know what it is about that song that gave us such legs that people still want to hear that. And I think God that, like I said, that Jeff Carson pulled up at the right time, that day so that those three songwriters could have some inspiration to write about.