Tardy for the Party

Ed Davidson pens ‘Tardy for the Party,’ among others

Carly Farrell

FAYETTEVILLE — Central Baptist Church in Americus will be forever connected to the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” (RHOA) TV show on Bravo because of Ed Davidson’s passion and talent for writing and making music.

Davidson wrote eight songs for Kim Zolciak, a cast member on the second season of “RHOA,” and Zolciak recorded “Tardy for the Party,” which is now a single Zolciak performs on the show. She’s also sold a little more than 60 million copies of the song, which has been modified a bit — Davidson’s music had originally been written in a country pop style, and Zolciak’s producer changed the music to a dance beat.

So how did a minister of music in Americus end up affiliated with “RHOA?”

Davidson moved to Americus from Warner Robins in 1984, to become Central Baptist’s minister of music. He stayed for 16 years. In 1999, though, his daughter had a baby girl with disabilities, so in 2001, Davidson and his wife moved to Fayetteville to help his daughter raise his grandchild.

Before he found the job he has now as minister of worship with Lisbon Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Davidson was giving music lessons to make ends meet. Zolciak hired Davidson to give guitar lessons to her older daughter, Brielle.

“One of the things I do with my students to encourage creativity is that we write a song together,” Davidson said. “Kim’s oldest daughter’s very creative and active, and we ended up writing three songs together.”

Davidson said Brielle gave him a few ideas that he took home with him and wrote the music and the lyrics for, and “Tardy for the Party” was one. The song came about before he’d even heard about “RHOA.”

“Kim came to me one day and told me she was chosen for ‘Housewives,’ ” Davidson said. “She said she’d really love me to be a part of the show because I was a part of her daily life, and I kind of reluctantly agreed.”

Davidson said even though he didn’t know Zolciak well, he wanted to continue to have a positive influence on both Zolciak’s children’s lives — at that time, he’d also begun to teach her younger daughter, Ariana, music, as well.

When the show began, Zolciak wanted to be a country singer, and asked Davidson to write a few songs for her to record.

“I wrote and gave Kim eight songs to choose from, and she really liked another song on the album and almost chose that one,” Davidson said. “But, NeNe (Leakes, another cast member on ‘RHOA,’) kinda heard (“Tardy for the Party,”) and suggested Kim record that song.”

During the first season, “Tardy for the Party” became a big buzzword on the set, and Davidson said the show’s producers have been great about giving him credit.

“I even got to go to the premier (of the second season!)” Davidson said. “It’s been kind of fun.”

He’s made appearances on the show about four times during its two-season run.

Davidson hasn’t started getting royalties for his song yet, but he will at the end of the quarter. He doesn’t know how much to expect because he isn’t sure how many times the song’s been played.

But, Davidson still doesn’t feel like he wants to ever take full part in Zolciak’s lifestyle.

“My lifestyle and theirs (is) very different,” Davidson said, “because I had followed the teachings of Christ and been a minister and am still a minister — it’s important to keep my testimony and not betray the trust of people. It’s very, very different than anything I’ve ever done. It was that I was around people whose lifestyles were totally different from mine — my goal was to maintain my Christian business. I didn’t want to reject anybody, but I didn’t want to let down my character — if nothing else, I was a new influence on the kids.”

He said that unless someone approaches him about his appearances on the show, he doesn’t talk it.

Davidson’s also still involved in Central Baptist Church in Americus — every year, the church rewrites a play called “The Day He Wore My Crown” about the Last Supper, which conveys what Jesus may have been thinking during the time, and he’s involved in rewriting it.

“I feel like I accomplished more (at Central Baptist Church) than ever before — they believed in me and followed my leadership,” Davidson said. “Americus has had a huge impact on my life and has really influenced it in a great way.”

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