Angie Aparo

It's been a long while since Angie Aparo literally cried.

Figuratively he's been crying ever since Faith Hill not only decided to record his song "Cry," but she also chose it to be the title track of her album. Hill eventually went on to win a Grammy for her efforts.

Written by Aparo after separating from his first wife, the handwritten lyrics had sat in a shoebox for months before he was urged by then-producer Matt Serletic to sing the tune in his first meeting with Clive Davis.

"Cry" first wound up on Aparo's own album, "The American" (1999), before one thing led to another, and Serletic had sold Hill and producer, Marty Frederickson, on the idea of cutting the track for what would become Hill's 2002 multiplatinum release.

As one would only expect, the single was a huge crossover hit.

Several years later, the relationship between Hill and Aparo is taking yet another turn. This time, however, Aparo is keeping his prospective hits for himself, and instead working with Hill's equally famous husband, Tim McGraw.

Aparo and his longtime drummer Derek Murphy have been readying an album for release later this year.

That album is being produced by McGraw, and Saturday night it would be only reasonable that Aparo will most likely debut at least a few of the songs expected to be featured on the as-yet-untitled album.

One would also expect he'll perform the song "Cry" that for all intents and purposes set up Aparo's entire career.

That said, how close was that song to never even being heard?

Aparo and Serletic were on a flight to New York back in '98 when Serletic — best known for his work with Matchbox Twenty, Carlos Santana, Collective Soul and Celine Dion — recommended Aparo play an old song of his.

Unfortunately, Serletic couldn't remember the song's name. But fortunately, by the end of the flight, he had remembered enough to where Aparo realized he was describing a song he called "Cry." The more pressing issue was a twofold problem.

Although Aparo had in fact demoed the now-famous song, enough time had elapsed that he couldn't quite remember the song. Second, the lyric sheet was tucked away in a shoebox in a closet.

"(Matt) was like, 'You should really do it because for some reason it's been sticking in my head,' " recalled Aparo, who as a solo artist has released five albums.

As soon as the two arrived in New York, Aparo hopped on the phone with his second wife back in Atlanta, while he pulled his acoustic out from its case and tried figuring out where the chord changes would go.

Minutes away from playing, perhaps, the most important gig of his life, the Georgia native was virtually rewriting a song he honestly didn't even remember.

"I was waiting to go into Clive's office," Aparo said, "and I was on the phone to home going, 'The lyrics are up in the top' because I keep them all in the same place. It was nuts. My wife was giving me the lyrics over the phone."

There was no way of knowing then that in more than one way that song would prove to be a life-changing tune, the likes of which most songwriters never experience. For all "Cry" has already given the singer/songwriter, the relationships that developed as result of that particular song may well prove to change his life as a singer.

Keith Ryan Cartwright is a Colorado-based freelance entertainment journalist.