Miss Patti Page
(Q)- No matter what, it’s still about the song as far as country music and the stardom, isn’t it? Great material stands the test of time.
(A)- Miss Patti Page (MPP)- Yes it does.
(Q)- Do you feel there is “age discrimination” as far as the country genre and country radio or videos goes these days?
(MPP)- Yes. It’s just very hard, you’ve got to fight…. It’s just very hard for anyone over thirty to do anything in the record business today.
(Q)- Were you surprised to see how many artists came out to help you to record your latest album then? (“Brand New Tennessee Waltz”.).
(MPP)- Definitely. I was very surprised to have so many people come out to want to work with me. I was also very honored. I had no idea that they held me with that much esteem. I was very honored, while I was a told throughout the years, I have a very hard head.
(Q)- So watching the artists who came out to work with you and support you was a blessing?
(MP)- It sure is.
(Q)- On
the live album, you worked at Carnegie Hall. It was just surprising that it took all these years for you to get there.
(MPP)- That’s certainly right. I had always naturally heard of it and naturally I wanted to be (perform) there. But, I was never even there for a benefit at Carnegie Hall. But, I don’t know why. (She never did Carnegie Hall before.) Then, there are a lot of things that have happened to me that I never have questioned. It was just fantastic to be there and it reminded me of walking through the museum of classical operatic music.
I always thought it was out of reach for me. But then I realized that through the years, I realized that it wasn’t. but, I still didn’t have anyone to push me in that direction to obtain that goal. It was really a thrilling evening for me and also it was an emotional evening. I had all these people who have been with me for all of the years I’d been recording and they flew in for the concert from all over. And the naturally my family and friends were there for the concert. Then friend whom I’d made throughout the years who didn’t start out as fans.
(Q)-Have you ever met Shirley Temple Black?
(MPP)- No.
(Q)-It seems like all of the major record labels in Nashville are looking for their next Shirley Temple to walk through their doors and win over that huge youth-oriented market that pop music has currently.
(MPP)-Yes that’s true to some extent.
(Q)-Do you see any comparisons between the way Nashville is and the way the major record companies are creating and marketing “country’ music and the era you scored your definitive hits in and the Golden Era of Hollywood and the studio system which was instituted by the movie moguls of that era?
(MPP)-Yes I certainly do.
(Q)-What is your take on the way country music has more and more young people who are scoring major hits at radio and on the charts and all the while they talent is getting younger and younger? Under 21 years of age.
(A)-I don’t mind to see the under-21 age artist enjoying success with their music. However I do see what you mean with the drive and the goals, it’s all (What is happening currently within country music business and thus the musical genre.) very similar to when I was first starting out. With the drive and the goals, I think it’s all parallel in the sense that, parents have been the driving force today in country music. Not the child’s dreams. It seems to be more connected with parents dreams living vicariously through their children. And they push and when the kids are 18, they push it the other way. You know, I’ve seen it happen so many times. I just think that a lot of the people who have made their mark (in country music history) as far as the legends are concerned, took the root that most people did, back then and by that I mean their parents didn’t go out and do it for them (The talent’s parents didn’t manage the careers of their children as often in the Golden Era. They had professional management.)
(Q)- Well, it’s gotten to be that in country music, some of these artists think that with two hit singles, they’ve established themselves and have a, “recording career”.
(MPP)- Yes. (She laughs.) Some of them do. You are too young at that age and when something like this happens to you that you’re so successful, when you’re that young (under 18) you don’t know how to handle it that well. At least, I don’t think so. And, I would love to be proven wrong.