by Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist
We all love a “dream come true” story because we can relate it to our hopes, dreams and aspirations. Dreams rarely come true without hard work and a great deal of persistence, and Dawson Wayne Rice is no exception. A portion of Dawson’s dreams got a whole lot closer with his newest song “With All My Heart” featured on the Church of Jesus Christ’s 2023 Youth Album.
Dawson, who just returned from a performing mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo earlier this week, is getting ready to audition before the celebrity judges in Nashville for a spot on American Idol. This past year has brought a lot of wonderful changes and has brought his dream more into focus.
When Dawson first listened to the Church’s youth album a couple of years ago, he was so impressed and loved the music. The Church produces a new album each year to strengthen youth and to support the youth theme for that year. “The Church makes some really good music” said Dawson, “I started to listen to it and I thought it was really good. Shortly after that, I thought I’d like to be on this.”
He quickly discovered there really was no information about auditioning for the album so he started following as many Instagram accounts and reaching out to musicians until he got a coveted email to ask about being on the album. “I told them I was super interested in doing it. They asked me to send them some videos, which I did. They told me, ‘Just to let you know, we typically don’t use people outside of Utah because we don’t have a travel budget.’” He quickly responded, “If you want me, I’d be happy to cover my travel budget because I think that would be a super fun experience and an opportunity.”
Things were quiet for several months, but Dawson continued to keep in contact and reiterate his desire to be a part of the upcoming album. In March of this year, Mitch Davis, who has produced numerous musical productions and albums for the Church, emailed Dawson. “The email from Mitch Davis asked me to get on a zoom call with them the next day. That’s how it happened. Originally they had asked me to write a song and to pitch to them with another writer that they had. So we wrote a song and pitched it to them. They didn’t end up using it for the album but then, about a week or so later they reached out and said ‘We have a song written by Nick Day that we want you to try out for.’ So that’s when it happened that I was going to be in — and I officially had a song.”
“It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done.” said Dawson. “We were in Alpine, Utah. I’ve always had such a passion for music, and I’ve wanted to make a career out of it, and so getting to go to this huge recording studio with this producer, who is so talented, it was life changing. He was so kind. He [Mitch Davis] took me out almost every day to eat so that we could talk about life. He really took care of me while I was there.” Dawson met a lot of people in the music industry in Utah. He said, “It totally changed my outlook of what I want and the direction I want to go in my life — and so because of that, I’m moving up to Utah soon to pursue a music career…. The music scene out there is just so positive and encouraging.” He will also be going to BYU in Provo in the winter.
While Dawson was submitting audition tapes for the youth album last year, he hit a rough patch. He said: “Everything was going wrong, Satan was working really hard on me and it was just the hardest part of my life, where so many trials came together at the same time. It was then that I adopted the saying ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ I just started doing all of these things, and I pushed through and told myself ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ I would repeat that to myself over and over again any time I was doing something. That’s what I was telling myself as I was putting in all of this work emailing back and forth with them about the youth album.” Dawson continued, “ I just realized yesterday, (the day after he came home from his mission) that’s the theme song for this year’s youth album. This phrase that I had used for myself to get me through any trial, while I was auditioning for to be in this album was the very phrase they used for the theme song. I connected those dots last night and it was a testament to me of how aware the Lord is of me.” It is also officially the 2023 Youth theme.
Dawson recognizes that although the music industry isn’t always conducive to the Spirit, he can be an example. He said, “It is so important after doing this mission, and after moving forward with American Idol and wanting to pursue this career in this space that is considered to be so evil, that I’m an example. I want to be an example to those people of the blessings that you can receive from living worthy of your temple recommend and living worthy of having the Spirit with you at all times.”
His goal is to be a performer. He said, “I want to look at the audience and give them a good show and bring them something that they can feel and would bring a smile to their face. No matter where you hope to go in life, choose to be the example. There’s no reason that exempts you from being an example of Christ and wearing His name on your chest. Whatever you do, you can be the example setter and you can live and thrive in that industry while being a disciple of Christ.”
Dawson’s hope sounds very much like lyrics of the song “With All My Heart” that he recorded for the youth album:
I know that half a heart won’t do,
I’m giving all of me
I choose to walk next to the Savior.
I’ll put my trust in Him
With all my heart I’ll follow Him
With all my heart —
Every weary soul I see
Will feel the love He gave to me,
A love that’s never ending.
The 2023 album can be streamed in English on 35 different streaming platforms, including the 2023 youth theme website, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Gospel Library and the Sacred Music app. Language versions of the album will be added to these platforms as they become available.