Pat Green

(Q)- Is there one sentence that sums up Pat Green’s music?

Pat Green- I’m fun enough to be still called country but I’m not rowdy enough to be rock and roll. (He laughs.)

(Q)- Does Pat Green have anything that he does, either prior to recording in the recording studio or choosing a song to record or perhaps a ritual he does prior to every show each and every night he performs?
Pat Green – Yes. I don’t know if anybody else does this or if anybody cares but I’m crazy about my wife and the last thing I do before I walk on-stage every night is call her.

(Q)- No matter were you are performing in the country?

Pat Green- No matter where I perform. Her name is Kori. I also call her right after I walk off the stage.

(Q)- What do you talk about?
Pat Green- I tell her how the show went. I’ll say something like, ‘The show was great. (or) The show was bad.” I’ll tell her how it went. At the end of the night when I do call her, she is usually in already in bed sleeping, so (If she has been sleeping.) I’ll tell her “Goodnight”.

(Q)- Why do you keep in touch so often?
Pat Green – She is the biggest part of my life. Much more so then anyone or anything else.

(Q)- Where do you reside currently?
Pat Green- We live in Austin, Texas.

(Q)- You’re well known in Texas. Fans are known to travel for hundreds of miles to see you and experience your music live in concert. Why are fans so loyal to you in Texas? What is so special about Pat Green?
Pat Green- Well, when people drive one hundred miles one way to see you in concert, you’d better show up and be ready to do the right thing. You cannot leave anything on the table so to speak.

(Q)- Why is Texas such a great state for country music?

Pat Green- There is something that is getting lost right now in country music with the new country bands or new country artists. Some of them, a whole lot of them, have never toured before and some of them have only a radio hit and then they’re out there on the road (In Texas.) with a massive radio hit single, so they expect to go out on tour in Texas and fill up the (Houston) Astrodome.

(Q)- Is there a country artist, who is a veteran, who is a strong reference of what you’re talking about?

Pat Green- Yes. As much as you look a Willie Nelson and say, “Oh,he’s an old guy.” Well, he’s an old guy, but he has a hit single this year. Willie plays every night he wants to, to capacity crowds. He’s creating music on the same level when he had his first plateau with his career in the Seventies and he’s been able to maintain that.

(Q)- One theory I have been told by personally by Willie Nelson, that Willie says he believes in and practices is the power of positive thinking. Is Pat Green always an optimist?
Pat Green- Yes, that’s fair to say. When I say that I have no room in my life for negativity is this. I can still recognize pain and suffering as human emotions. What I’m getting at is, when I am picking out in life subjects to think about I personally am going to pick on the positive ones.

(Q)- Why does Pat Green connect with country fans even though his singles do not have all that many spins at country radio?

Pat Green – I think I relate to people on several levels. On a shallow level, I think my music relates to people who have followed my career for a three to five year period of time. More importantly, I think that I have a creative freedom that is rare right now in country music. Longevity in a band or with an artist is not only about having a hit at radio.

(Q)- How do you personally define longevity in a recording career within the current country music genre?

Pat Green- To me longevity is about making an acceptable living by touring and playing to people and working, then keeping that level there for years to come. You know? It’s about not sleeping a whole lot, waking up some mornings with a sore throat and then getting rest and going out two days later and playing and singing a strong show. Like Jack Ingram says, “It’s about taking the music to the people.”

(Q)- Why is that so Pat?
Pat Green – What I’m trying to do is make people happy. And a way to do that is by having the freedom to make the music you want to and then making that music and bringing it to the people. Most recording artists in country music are primarily concerned with having a radio hit single currently. A lot of people are much more concerned with having a radio hit, then taking a chance with their music. Radio ha never really been a big ally for me so I’ve become used to that fact. Now, I don’t have any trouble selling concert tickets, I’ve done quite well having people come out to see my shows. So, when I went into the studio to record music, I’m thinking about making quality music and delivering a quality product. Now, I have some stuff (music) that is radio-friendly, but that is not the goal. The goal is to make good music. So I really think if you concentrate on doing the right thing then that makes your music more interesting.

(Q)- Why is country genre a great place for Pat Green to be as a recording artist and touring performer right now?

Pat Green – When I first started out back home, that’s what I was, I was a “country” artist. I was with an acoustically driven band, a fiddle, you know? So we were an acoustically driven band. Now I was opening up for Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and that was the places (As a support act.) we were the most comfortable.

(Q)- Is recording and performing your music, to you about a “Journeyman’s Experience”?
Pat Green- It has to be. If music isn’t that way, then you’re a one hit wonder and that’s what you want to be. It’s about a complete guess, you’re throwing caution to the wind, putting up a sail and seeing which way the wind will blow. That’s what it is about.

(Q)- Is the time right currently for Pat Green to have a upswing in his career since country music is about to possibly change dramatically?
Pat Green- Yeah. Here’s been a real disassociation between what the radio is trying to accomplish and what the public wants to hear. My comment back to them is ‘Who are you to judge me? Enjoy yourself and lighten up.’

(Q)- What about country music overall? Do you foresee that country music is growing in popularity with an even broader audience?

Pat Green- I think our time has come.