"Where to go from here 
It's really hard to say 
We've got to help each other 
Like our heroes did that day 
Don't let it be for nothing 
So many loved ones gone 
Stand proud we're still Americans 
United after 911"
        -- From the song "911" by Gary R. Harvey 

     When professional musician Gary Harvey watched the news unfold about the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, he experienced the same emotions as virtually everyone else. 

     He just expresses them differently. 

     The day after the attacks, the Port Charlotte-based guitar player penned a song titled "911," praising how the heroic deeds of New York's firefighters helped unite Americans despite the devastating blow struck by the terrorists. 

     Harvey was scheduled Wednesday to fly to Maryland to join up with his current gig, playing guitar in the Jim Morris and the Big Bamboo. So, he said he took one hour, rushed into a Port Charlotte recording studio and cut a single take of him singing the tune. 

     His voice is deep and raspy, not perfect in pitch. The melody is a cross between blues and rock, the guitar strumming basic. 

     "I think it has great potential," said Cord Coslor of Celebrity Direct Entertainment. "I think it's a powerful song. 

     "I picture a guy with a guitar singing his heart out," he said. 

     The song has apparently already struck a chord, not only nationwide but worldwide. Cord posted an audio tape of the song on the Internet and e-mailed his entertainment contacts around the world.

     In response, radio stations from France, New Zealand, Austria, England and all over the U.S. e-mailed Harvey seeking more information on how to get a hold of the record. 

     Harvey said he plans to charge $15 for each copy he produces -- of which $10 will go to the New York Firefighters Fund. 

     "I'm real tickled because it's getting a lot of attention around the world," said Harvey, who's originally from Amarillo, Tex. 

     Harvey cut his musical teeth playing in churches and country music halls in Texas. He then moved to Los Angeles where he graduated from the Musicians Institute of California. 

     He then joined the Jimmy Collins and the Wild Oats Band, which cut such hits as "I love Texas." 

     The band also hit the big time as a backup act to Willie Nelson for his Farm Aid concert held in the Texas Stadium in the late 1970s. 

     Harvey then hit the road with the Debbie Burch band. Eventually, that band took Harvey overseas on a Department of Defense tour of U.S. military basis around the Mediterranean. 

     The tour included stops in Italy,Greece, Spain, Germany, Egypt and Israel. 

     That tour exposed Harvey to both the sacrifice of American servicemen and the devastation of terrorism. 

     "I got to know Green Berets and other soldiers," he said. "I also got to see the torn up buildings of their many wars. I think that added a little to the song." 

     Since then, he also worked in Las Vegas with a "Samoan Elvis" band named Blue Hawaii. Finally, he joined Monroe Powell's Platters, which he left in May. 

     While watching the news coverage of the suicide hijackings, writing a song couldn't be furthest from his mind, he said. 

     "I was watching TV and, you know, it just kind of knocked the wind out of me," he said. 

     But, Coslor suggested he use his talent to express his thoughts, and the rest may soon become entertainment history. 

     Harvey will appear as a guest on Kix Country Radio at 8:20 a.m. today and is set to perform the tune at a country music and patriotic rally tentatively set for Sunday at the Charlotte County Stadium, he said. 

By GREG MARTIN