Singer/Songwriter
Pat Green
Interview
Coming soon!
Notes from Evan Smith
"Pat Green calls himself one of the most famous country singers you've never heard of. The Waco raised singer has catapulted to stardom in recent years after phenomenal grass-roots success.
He sold more than 300,000 albums before landing a major record label deal, and playing to thousands. He is also credited with starting a "honest-to-goodness movement" that's led a generation of young Texans to rediscover their regional roots.
Growing up as the eighth of nine siblings, he first fell in love with music via the stage musicals that his actor father appeared in. As a teen, he discovered Texas' rich country-music heritage via the music of such Texans as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Robert Earl Keen and Jerry Jeff Walker.
He began writing and performing his own songs at 18, while a student at Texas Tech in Lubbock. In 1995, while still in college, he borrowed money from family and friends to make his first self-released album, Dancehall Dreamer. By 1998, he was performing regularly in small clubs and honky-tonks around Texas.
The same year, a high-profile appearance at Willie Nelson's July 4th picnic introduced Green to a wider audience, led to regional airplay, and helped him win his first booking at the legendary Ft. Worth dancehall Billy Bob's.
Before long the artist was headlining at clubs across the state. Along the way, Green released five independent albums that sold nearly 200,000 copies in Texas alone, without the benefit of mainstream promotion or major-label distribution.
It wasn't long before major labels took notice and came calling. But Green says he resisted their offers, preferring to continue making music on his own terms.
Green finally took the major-label plunge with the New York-based Republic. His first album for the label, 2001's Three Days, helped expand his national profile and won a legion of new fans around the country. But where Three Days consolidated the achievements of his independent albums and reprised several songs from those early releases, his second release, Wave on Wave, offers more of Green's independent spirit.
Wave on Wave was produced by Don Gehman, whose resume includes work with the likes of John Mellencamp, Hootie and the Blowfish, Nanci Griffith, Bruce Hornsby and R.E.M.
The album's 13 songs -- 12 of them penned by Green. Green also shares vocals with fellow Texans Willie Nelson, Ray Benson, Waylon Payne and Trish Murphy, and the haunting "If I Was the Devil" finds Green duetting with legendary Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard.
The title track, “Wave On Wave,” was personally produced and mixed by the legendary chairman of the Universal Music Group, Doug Morris, along with veteran producer, Tony Brown." - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 8.7.03
