She recognized his talent and ambition long before he was old enough to actually articulate how he felt. She says that at the ripe old age of 2 1/2, "Wade would rather sit next to his father as he played the guitar and sang, than play with his toys. There was something about the way he would watch his father when he practiced with his band" that told her this was more than a passing fascination. And she was right.

His passion for entertaining never wavered. Wade was well aware of the sacrifices and hard work required by his career choice, since he had witnessed first-hand his father’s struggle to make a living as a musician. But he never gave up on the dream and in 1992, with loving support and encouragement from both of his parents, he left for Nashville.

Trisha Hayes did a lot of praying for the first year Wade was gone and she was grateful to have a new grandchild nearby who could "temporarily distract her from worrying about Wade". She knew that he was working in construction during the day and singing in clubs as night. She was concerned that "he might be too tired during the day and hurt himself on the job". But when Wade would call home and express his doubts about staying in Nashville, his parents kept their concerns to themselves and presented a united front as they encouraged him to stick it out. They reassured Wade that this was "the right time" for him. They truly believed in him and in his talent and it wasn’t long before others recognized that talent. By 1994, Columbia signed him to a recording contract and Sony/Tree signed him to write songs. His career was launched and he hasn’t slowed down since.