Family, frammin' and a girl from East Texas

James Bonamy remembers shaking hands and signing autographs at a Walmart in Nashville. He was one of country music’s bright young stars, and in his mid-20s had already tasted his share of success, having released a chart-topping single and been nominated for the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Male Vocalist award.

But this time, Bonamy wasn’t at the store making a public appearance or selling albums.

He was stocking shelves.

Bonamy was less than two years removed from his 1996 smash “I Don’t Think I Will,” which climbed as high as No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot Country charts. But when the concert tour following the release of his second album ended, Bonamy focused on songwriting. Until his tunes could pay the bills, he did what he had to do to make ends meet.

“It was humbling,” Bonamy said. “I had just come off the road as a major artist, and practically the next day, I was working overnight at Walmart. People would say, ‘Aren’t you James Bonamy?’ But, I never felt like I was too good for anything. I was just trying to take care of my wife and kids.”

Protecting his family comes naturally to the 42-year-old Bonamy, who grew up in a close-knit home in Daytona Beach, Fla. His father worked in the automobile industry and his mother was a stay-at-home mom, taking care of James and his older brother. It was a traditional family, but not something you’d see in black-and-white 1950s sitcom reruns. “More like, ‘Big Fat Greek Wedding kind of stuff,’” he said with a laugh.

“We were a Lebanese Catholic family,” he said. “Life was rigid, about respect and love for the family. We had dinner together every night around the table, and we didn’t miss church on Sunday. We always had other family members around. That was who you hung out with – uncles, cousins, grandparents. Every Sunday, there was a big family meal. When somebody had an event, we were all there.”

His other constant companion was music. It was always there, from the moment his parents met at Sears, where Bonamy’s dad would play Eddie Arnold’s “Cattle Call” over and over again while selling stereo equipment. The Bonamys’ love of music was passed to James, who first picked up an old classical guitar at age 11.

He was taught how to play classical, jazz and blues. He learned how to play something else, even if his parents didn’t know what to call it.

“From ages 12-15, my music style was all hair metal,” Bonamy said. “I would spend hours in my room playing guitar, but not on the things I was supposed to be learning. My dad would call it frammin.’ He’d say, ‘What’s all that frammin’ you’re doing? Can’t you play a country song or something that sounds like music?’ All I wanted to do was play electric solos by Dokken or Bon Jovi or Poison or every band I shouldn’t have been listening to.”

Bonamy’s father, it turned out, had nothing to worry about. James soon combined all that frammin’ with a smooth vocal sound and transitioned into the country genre. Bonamy went on to attend the University of Alabama, but returned to his native Florida after one year, playing in clubs around Orlando. 

In 1992, he joined the cast of a country music show at Nashville amusement park Opryland, U.S.A., where he became close with his castmates, including a college student from East Texas who only planned to be in Music City for the summer.

“This was an opportunity for me to move to Nashville,” Bonamy said. “I was staying. Amy Jane was just going for three months. It was a summer job for her.

“Our whole cast grew close, so we would all spend a lot of time together. Amy Jane and I grew as friends really quickly. It wasn’t love at first sight, but I knew there was something special about her. As the summer drew to a close, she was about to head back. I couldn’t see spending the rest of my life without her.”

Amy Jane had similar feelings and after wrestling with the decision, stayed in Nashville. The two were engaged two months later and married in January 1994.

Television Shows and Record Deals

During their engagement, James was selected to appear on the nationally televised talent show Star Search, advancing to the semifinals and garnering newfound attention on Music Row. In an odd way, a resulting appearance on The Nashville Network’s Nashville Now turned out to be his big break.

“I was having lunch and two ladies walked up and told me they saw me on Nashville Now. They said, ‘Our husbands just got signed by Atlantic Records and we know we can get you a deal.’

“I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, right.’ But they gave me a name and an address to take a demo tape. I figured it couldn’t hurt, so a couple days later I walked into this tiny office with a guy sitting behind a desk chain smoking. He’s got cassette tapes stacked at least a foot-and-a-half high on his desk and on the table behind him and on the table next to him.

“I didn’t know what to say. ‘Uh, two ladies from Longhorn Steakhouse said to come by and drop off a demo tape.’ He said, ‘OK, just leave it here.’ I had no idea who he was.”

A week later, Bonamy, who by then had left Opryland and was working as a roofer, received a call from a management team wanting to meet him. He entered into a deal with the agency and got out of the construction business. A few months later, Bonamy was signed by Sony Epic Records.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zTmUl5-KtSk" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hitting it Big, Falling Flat and Finding Christ

It was October 1995 before Bonamy’s first single, “Dog On a Toolbox,” was released. The next year, “I Don’t Think I Will,” his third single off the What I Live To Do album skyrocketed to the top of the country music charts, and its video climbed to No. 1 on the Country Music Television list. “I Don’t Think I Will” was one of four Bonamy songs to appear on Billboard’s Hot Country Top 40 during his career.

Bonamy seemed to be on the fast track to stardom. In 1997, he joined Kevin Sharp and Trace Adkins as nominees for ACM’s Top New Male Vocalist award, won by Adkins.

But even with his notoriety, life was far from easy. As a new artist, he had very little say in the direction of his career, and money was still tight.

“My band was making more money than I was,” Bonamy said. “All your money is going out the door. If you want good band members, you’ve got to pay for them.”

But the band members were family to the young couple. “He loved his band. He was not going to have any dissension,” according to Amy Jane.

Some bandmates were married to each other, including James and Amy Jane, who was one of his background singers. Many of the musicians, as well as their publicity agent, helped look after the young couple. The squeaky clean values of Bonamy and his band weren’t something most people in the country music world were used to seeing.

“Promoters would say ‘They are strange,’” Amy Jane said. “They’d say, ‘They’re good people, but everybody brought their wife.’

“We still have a lot of relationships with people that we knew when we were 21 and they were shepherding us through the music business,” she said. “God used them to keep us focused and on a straight and narrow path.”

As Bonamy came off the road and began to concentrate on songwriting, what little money he and Amy Jane did have was rapidly dwindling. He said it was the greatest financial struggle they have gone through as a married couple, who by then had two young children.

“But looking back, I almost wish we could go through it again,” he said. “It resulted in the most dependence on God, when we didn’t have even the basics of life. At times, we didn’t know how we would feed our kids or put diapers on them.”

While James was working at Walmart overnight and writing songs during the day, Amy Jane took a job at a local daycare, which allowed her to work and still be with her kids, who attended at no cost. It didn’t hurt that she knew that when they were at the facility, the boys would be able to get a hot meal.

“I’m so thankful for James’ humility,” Amy Jane said. “He just wanted to take care of us, and he was willing to do whatever he needed to do. It was really hard financially, but every time we needed it, God would provide exactly what we needed.”

It was during that period that Bonamy spent much of his free time reading Charles Stanley’s “The Wonderful, Spirit-Filled Life.” While reading it, Bonamy gave his life to Christ.

“For all the years that I thought I knew Him, I had no clue what it meant to live for Him and be surrendered to Him,” he said. “So, I made that decision. And it wasn’t like I received immediate provision, but I did receive immediate peace.”

And while Bonamy was focusing on writing and growing in his newfound relationship with Christ, continuing his recording career was still a possibility. He was offered the opportunity to record a third album with any producer other than Doug Johnson, who produced his first two albums but had recently parted ways with Sony Epic.

But Bonamy was steadfast in his desire to have Johnson produce his next album.

“Sony said no. And that was the end of Sony for me.”

A couple years later, Johnson and Bonamy discussed working together again but couldn’t come to an agreement to make it happen.

In the meantime, Bonamy took a temp job at a site acquisition company in Nashville, which led to full-time employment with Crown Castle, a growing wireless infrastructure provider. Crown Castle offered to move Bonamy and his family, who had been longing for an opportunity to move to Texas to be closer to Amy Jane’s family in Longview, to Houston.

“I’d just given my life to Christ, we were on track to move to Texas, I’m offered this incredible job with a great salary and I felt like I hit the lottery,” he said.

Despite Bonamy’s insistence that he wanted nothing to do with a large Baptist church, the family eventually became active members at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Houston. Not long after joining, Bonamy was serving as one of The Met’s primary worship leaders, even while working full-time for Crown Castle. The family was a part of The Met’s fabric for most of the decade, and after taking a short hiatus from the church, Bonamy returned as its interim worship pastor.

“Whatever it is, God, I’m In”     

But God was working in Bonamy’s heart. For the previous five years, he had been wrestling with the idea that God was calling him to something different. He spent that time praying and waiting on Him for the answer.

“We were rolling along. I had the best of both worlds and God had granted us tremendous provision through Crown and a place to serve at The Met. Then, He revealed my idea wasn’t His idea.

There should always be that transition where we realize, 'My gift is not my own. My gift is to be used for God's purposes.'

In 2010, Bonamy was on vacation in Florida when a friend working at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach, Fla., called and said church leaders would like to talk to Bonamy about the worship pastor position there. Thirty minutes later, another call came. Bonamy was offered the worship pastor position at The Met on a permanent basis.

Bonamy loved working at Crown Castle. And he loved The Met. The Christ Fellowship situation was more than intriguing, and he knew the offer to join its staff would come. He knew he had a calling and a God-given gift, but he had no idea how much money somebody working in ministry made. Could he take care of his family?

“I had spreadsheets out and all kinds of stuff,” Bonamy said. “But I went out on the beach one morning, and it was so peaceful. I had this feeling of provision. And I saw a bird, and it didn’t take too long to think about Matthew 6:25-26, where He talks about taking care of the birds. It was one of those little birds walking along the beach, pecking in the sand and getting little bugs to eat.

“I thought, ‘Man, I don’t know when Christ Fellowship is going to offer it or how much money they’re going to offer, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is, God, I’m in.’”

The offer did come, and for two years, Bonamy led and invested in the worship team at the multi-site church.

“That was a tremendous experience,” he said. “While we saw great favor and great fruit from what God was doing from a ministry standpoint, we saw that our kids were making some bad decisions and some really bad stuff was happening. We didn’t know how to rectify that because we were certain of the calling.

“As much as you can be plugged into an amazing ministry at your church, your family is your first calling and your first ministry.”

A Thanksgiving trip to Longview to spend time with Amy Jane’s family sparked a change in the kids and put a crazy thought in James’ head.

“It was almost like a switch was flipped,” Bonamy said of his kids’ attitude and behavior. “When they got around their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents, it was like they were different kids.

It was like they came alive.”

The family was back in Longview for good before school started that January.

Connecting on a Deeper Level      

Bonamy is working for Crown Castle again, based out of Longview and leading worship at The Crossing venue at Mobberly Baptist Church. Most Sundays, Amy Jane is right next to him on the platform, joining the band in leading a few hundred people into intimate moments with God.

“My job as a worship leader is to set the table for there to be an experience for Jesus and His bride…period,” Bonamy said. “If I’m doing anything other than that, I’m not doing what I should be doing.”

Remembering his days in Nashville, the tempo of Bonamy’s words picked up as he described old times with a sense of wonderment. You could almost hear the wheels turning inside his head, like he was watching somebody else’s story flash before him

“It was the time of my life,” he said. “I loved it. Every second of it was awesome. I made great friends. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. 

“I look back and think, ‘I can’t believe I got the chance to do that. What in the world?’ I got a chance to be on a major label and tour with major artists and be on the radio and in People Magazine and on Regis & Kathy Lee.

“I think, ‘Man, did that really happen?’ It’s so surreal.”

He has no plans to record again – “I’m sort of an old man now,” he said – but he does miss connecting with country music fans and hearing stories about what certain songs meant to them. However, he says he gets that on an even deeper level now.

“There are stories that I’ll never know until I get to Heaven,” Bonamy said. “I look out there, and every Sunday there is somebody breaking down. It happens every week. I see somebody crying, somebody embracing somebody else during a song. There is something going on in peoples’ lives that I will never know about until I get to Heaven. It’s just God moving.

“That’s it for me. That’s why I do it. I certainly worship because God has called me to be a worshipper, just like he’s called all of us to be worshippers. But those stories I’ll hear about in Heaven, that’s where it starts and stops for me.”

Originally appeared in Mobberly Magazine in 2015