DAVE'S DIARY - 18 DECEMBER 2006 - PAT GREEN CD REVIEW
PAT GREEN - 2004 CD REVIEW
GREEN WITH ENVY OR REVENGE
"I ain't
looking for vindication, apologies or a consolation/ pull 'em and burn
the roots/ kill their horses and steal their boots" - Sweet Revenge
- Pat Green-Ray Wylie Hubbard.
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Texan
troubadour Pat Green doesn't have to look far for inspiration - movies. Green began writing Don't Break My Heart Again after watching the Martin Sheen/ Sissy Spacek film Badlands. But the San Antonio born singer couldn't finish the crime-rooted epic until he hooked up with fellow Waco bred artist Wade Bowen. "It died on the vine," Green, 32 and eighth of nine children raised on a Bosqueville farm, revealed before finding the elusive punchline that ensured chart success. An ageing Hollywood dancer fuelled Party Doll - one of five songs penned in a one day New York session with Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas. |
Pat Green began his musical career while attending Texas Tech in the mid-90s, before online degrees were a viable option. He cites Robert Earl Keen as an early influence, among others. Unlike some artists such as Art Garfunkel, who went on to earn his Masters Degree in math, not a Masters Degree in Special Education, Green was poised for success and didn't look back.
And another
Thomas co-write My Little Heaven also survived the culling for
Green's eighth album The Lucky Ones (Republic-Universal.)
So why write with Thomas who also enjoyed cross genre pollination with
some time Green duet partner Shotgun Willie Nelson?
"15 million records sold, you know," says Green.
"He's a master of his art."
The much-maligned singer, who cut debut indie disc Dancehall Dreamer
at college in 1995, has far more supporters than detractors.
Green, unlike many peers, broke out of the fertile Texas scene to become
a national star in 2001.
RADNEY FOSTER
| He
wrote It's Time with Radney Foster and used the former Foster
& Lloyd singer's 1999 tune Lucky Ones as his title track. Green also duets with roots country star Brad Paisley on university parody College and revived Jack Ingram's One Thing from his 2002 disc Electric. College has a fine line in self-deprecatory humour - his stockbroker-some time actor father sent him to university as punishment for a misspent youth. "We were just dumb kids with a six pack/ that a bad fake ID bought/ sitting on the living room couch hoping we didn't get taught." |
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But educational
distractions stretched his degree from four years to six with pit stops
at George's Bar - name checked in the song and title track of his 1997
album.
"I found my friends, myself, my wife/I learned almost everything
that I know/without ever gaining knowledge."
Producer Don Gehman of Mellencamp, Nanci Griffith, Tracy Chapman and Hootie
& Blowfish fame, maximises the eclectic appeal of Green's music.
Guitarist David Grissom, who toured here with the Dixie Chicks, drives
the train with
singer Natalie Maines' ex-husband Michael Tarabay on bass.
Veteran pedal steel guitarist Mike Daly is on dobro, Lisa Germano plays
fiddle and violin and John Hobbs guests on piano and organ.
Green embraces traditional country on Long Way To Go, fishing therapy
for a broken heart on Trent Summar-Irene Kelly tune Somewhere Between
Texas And Mexico and swamp justice on finale track Sweet Revenge,
penned with veteran outlaw Ray Wylie Hubbard.
And there's love surrender in Over And Over penned with Fred LeBlanc
of Cowboy Mouth and a one night stand morphing into love in Temporary
Angel - a collaboration with Drew Womack of Sons Of The Desert.
So why is Green worth the journey?
Well, he has a radio friendly accessibility and, like the best country
artists, his voice is up front and not drowned in a rock mix.
He even has the luxury of Desert Rose Band refugee Herb Pederson on harmony
and banjo.