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By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor

Composing a "musical tract" has been a three-year labor of love for veteran recording artists Jim and Dee Patton. The gold- and platinum-winning duo have given up chasing record sales and chart numbers, they said, and concentrated on doing musical projects that are close to their hearts.

"We've been there and done that when it comes to the music industry," said Jim Patton in a 2007 interview with the Tyler Morning Telegraph. "How many gold records do you want on the wall before it's enough? It's not really what's important in life."

Dee Patton added, "We left the scene in California and raised our children in East Texas. We don't feel the need to prove ourselves anymore."

The couple now live in northern Smith County. Patton spends his days arranging and producing music.

"We just want to do music in the way God has put in our hearts to do it, and not have someone else tell us how it needs to sound." he said. "Once a music company gets involved, things change and the CDs never sound the way you envisioned it. Producers demand 'money-makers' or 'air-play' cuts. So often, the music suffers."

That's the nature of the business whomever an artist records for, he said.

"That's OK, we don't mind the way the business is run," he said. "We just don't want to do it that way anymore. Now we can write it and sing it the way we hear it."

And what's been on the Pattons hearts for a long time is "The Selfish Giant" rock opera, a 70-minute trip through the life of a man - a giant man - who doesn't have the time for children.

"What's interesting is that this story was written by Oscar Wilde," said Patton. "People don't normally connect Wilde with spiritual ideas to say the least. But the story has everything to do with spiritual ideas. You have self-centeredness, the consequences of it, and the giant wants to escape that."

What Dee likes is that the "childlikeness of God" is illustrated in "The Selfish Giant."

"You don't hear about that character quality very often," she said. "But unless we become as children, we can't see God."

The ending is a surprise, Patton said.

"Come hear the story," said Dee. "It may surprise you."

"And may surprise anyone that Wilde wrote it," said Patton. "That right there proves there is hope for everyone."

And hope for everyone is what the Salvation Army is all about, they said.

"We've based a lot of what we do and how we think on the Salvation Army model," said Dee last week. "William and Catherine Booth didn't fool around. They sacrificed to help people wherever they were, whomever they were and whatever situation they found themselves in. That's how God is."

The Pattons have pursued plenty of projects in their 36 years in music. But "The Selfish Giant" is the best one, Jim Patton said.

"I've wanted to do 'The Selfish Giant' for about 30 years, since I first became aware of it," he said. Patton pulled out old copies of the Selfish Giant he'd collected. Worn graphics showed the use over the years.

"I've had this one since the 1970s," he laughed, holding up a dogged-ear graphic that looked like it was printed in the 1950s. Wilde wrote "The Selfish Giant" in 1888, but to his knowledge, the story has never been set to serious music, said Patton.

"There have been some kiddie shows or sing-alongs or something similar," he said. "But the rock opera we wrote is not that. It's serious music."

Dee Patton wrote the lyrics and husband Jim produced the music. Their two grown daughters Elfin and Bree have joined them to sing the nine characters in "The Selfish Giant" rock opera. The family performs under the name "Bongo and the Point."

The years since he first conceived his project to completion in 2007, have made for a better rock opera, Patton said.

"Basically, I've included everything I've learned over the past 40 years, all the different styles from the British Invasion (early 1960s) well into the 1990s. It's all woven together. And for those aware of it, there are lots of hidden melodies that honor those various styles. I like to do stuff like that. It makes it interesting and the music has to be interesting or no one will listen to it."

But what they really want to do, said Dee Patton, is let people know about the love of God.

"That's what 'The Selfish Giant' is all about," she said. "That's what we hope people will see."