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C ountry star Pat Green released a successful
record in 2006: Cannonball. But doing so
wasn't easy, and the album only came out
after some bumps in the road were smoothed
out. The last time he put out a record—the 2004
release Lucky Ones—things seemed to be in place
for him to make some major upgrades in his ca
reer. The CD was getting traction, with a single,
"Baby Doll," moving up the charts, and a tour
with country superstar Kenny Chesney was set to
start. Then everything skidded off track.
"'Baby Doll' was 19 with a bullet, and I felt
like we were coming into the Chesney tour, and
the Lucky Ones project was still selling plenty
of records as far as I was concerned," Green
says. "And the New York side of our record label
[Republic/ Universal] pulled the plug on the
project. I just thought that was the most ir
responsible thing I'd ever seen done to a single,
to a band. We were on the number one tour on
the planet that summer, for 50 dates, and we hi j
a song that was moving up the charts and sell
ing records. Our label pulled the plug. There was
nothinq more infuriating than that."
Universal's decision to abandon "Baby Doll"
prompted Green to ask for—and receive—his re
lease from his record contract. It was a stinging
setback for an artist like Green, who up to then
had built one of the more unique, but geographi
cally limited, success stories in contemporary
country music.
T he Texas native started his career in the
mid-1990s. He released a string of six inde
pendent albums and developed a huge grass
roots following in Texas and the surrounding
Southeastern states, reaching the point where he
could sell out arena venues and was considered
as big a star as a much better-known Texan,
George Strait He's been no stranger to Athens,
either, consistently selling tickets priced upwards
of S20 at the Georgia Theatre over the years.
Green finally signed to a major label,
Republic/ Universal, in 2001, and for a time,
it looked like he might ue ready to translate at
least some of his remarkable Texas success to the
rest of the United States.
The title song from his 2003 album Wave On
Wave became a top-five country hit and sent
sales for the CD past 500,000. But that was
where the CD stalled out Green quickly followed
that album with Lucky Ones, and once again
seemed to have a chance to make a major impact
as the Chesney tour loomed.
But Green has emerged from that setback
with his prospects appearing better than ever.
After splitting with Republic/ Universal, Green
wa> signed by BNA Records, home to Chesney
an J part of the biggest record company there is,
Si/ny/BMG. Green's first CD for BNA, Cannonball,
has so far spawned a Top 15 hit in "Feels Just
Like It Should," while a second single, "Dixie
Lullaby," reached 24 on the Billboard country sin
gles chart. Cannonball is a more polished, pop-
pier take on the heartland rock and rough-hewn
balladry of Green's earlier albums, particularly on
tunes like "Cannonball" "Finders Keepers" and
"Lost Without You." The sound is more in tune
with current trends in country radio.
Green, though, resists the notion that he
tried specifically to create a more radio-friendly
CD with Cannonball. "This is the best way to put
it," he says. "If I hadn't ever made a record be
fore last year, that's what that record would have
sounded like anyway, because that's where my
musical tastes are now."
A nother contrast that pops up in discussions
of Cannonball is that the album boasts a lit
tle more lyrical depth than past Green out
ings, and more of a romantic focus. Green says
the extra attention to detail in the lyrics might
be a function of a freak accident in which he
severely cut two fingers on his left hand. "I was
making breakfast in bed for my wife on her birth
day, and I was opening a box of kitchen knives
that we had gotten for Christmas," he says. "Her
birthday's on Dec. 30. It just got away from me,
man. Yeah, it was a bad kitchen accident."
The injury prevented Green from using one
of his main songwriting tools—the guitar. As a
result, he relied on outside writers for songs; all
eight original songs on Cannonball paired Green
with other writers. Green had to concentrate
more than ever on aspects of his craft, including
writing lyrics, that didn't involve an instrument.
"I wasn't able to play guitar during the entire
writing and recording process for this record,"
Green says. "It was all residing between my ears.
So every time I went to a songwriting session,
somebody else had to play the instrument. I was
really forced to write with other people. There
was no way I could write one single song by
myself... because I couldn't play guitar. That re
ally did put a new focus on the lyric side of life."
Green says he'll continue in the future to apply
some of the songwriting skills he sharpened by
not having the guitar availabre for songwriting:
"It was a great exercise. It's something I plan on
duplicating in the future, just to see what hap
pens. I don't think I'll cut fingers off, but I'll sit
there and pretend I've got no hands."
Alan Sculley
WHO. Pat Green
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Wednesday, September 5
HOW MUCH: $27
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