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Pat Green
Texas Singer Songwriter Shares His Thoughts on Music and Life
© Katy Magazine - Katy, Texas 2005
September 15, 2005
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Born and raised in Texas, Pat Green was feeling quite at home during his most recent visit to West Houston. After reviewing the country star’s resume it was pretty easy to see why. He just had his first Top 5 hit, his first ever
Gold Album Wave On Wave, and he has performed at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo five times in the past four years. In 2004, he was nominated for Country Single of the Year, and over the summer he toured with 2005 Entertainer
of the Year, Kenny Chesney, newlywed husband to Katy’s own Renee Zellweger.
Green credits his family for his being in such a great place right now. Like many of his once college-aged fans, this Texas songwriter has grown up and is now a loving husband and proud father of a little boy. Both have caused him
to wonder how he ever made it without them, but if you have ever seen him live on stage, you know the answer. Pat Green loves to perform. So with an open date and permission from his people, Pat chose to spend one of his few
nights off performing at the Firehouse Saloon, a small venue just off 59 and Fountain View. A place in west Houston where, he says, he and the band can put on a show that will take us back to the ‘good ole days’. But before he
makes his way onstage, he sits down and answers some questions for his fans out in Katy, Texas!
Katy Magazine: After performing at Reliant Stadium in front of fifty thousand
Pat Green fans, what are you doing playing at the Firehouse?
Pat Green: I’m a firm believer in giving my fans what they want. Our fans love to see us play anywhere, but they seem to miss the intimate shows. So five to ten times a year we try to play a smaller venue, a place where we
can treat them to an old fashioned show.
Katy Magazine: Is there a difference when you play in a saloon or dancehall versus some of these cavernous sports arena?
Pat Green: No. Jack Ingram (country artist), a good friend of mine once told me that it really doesn’t matter if there are ten, or ten thousand out there. It’s still the same show. That’s still the truth.
Katy Magazine: Tickets for tonight’s show are being sold outside for a hundred dollars a piece. How does that make you feel?
Pat Green: (laughs) I’m flattered, but I don’t think anyone is worth that much money. And that is not what we are selling them for. That is a real compliment though.
Katy Magazine: When on stage, do you ever forget the lyrics to your own songs?
Pat Green: Of course. It’s funny, I might go two hours and not make any mistakes, but then in the next two songs I will forget a couple of versus. You have to imagine giving the same speech for two plus hours every night.
You’re going to forget a paragraph now and then. We all do.
Katy Magazine: We all have a favorite Pat Green song and mine just might be College, off your new release Lucky Ones, what is your favorite Pat Green song?
Pat Green: Wow. (pauses) I actually wrote College with Brad Paisley, but for me I think that it would have to be somewhere between Carry On and Nightmare.
Katy Magazine: Having attended many of your shows I noticed that you never wear shoes. Why do you tend to perform barefooted?
Pat Green: It depends on the show. It just seems that there are times when it really helps me get the juices flowing. Then there are other times when the stage is not the type of place where you want your shoes off. There
is no method to that madness.
Katy Magazine: Where is your favorite place to perform, either in or outside of Texas?
Pat Green: I enjoy being back home in Texas, but my favorite show is always the next one. It’s just a great feeling to go out and perform in front of the fans, and the thought of that really gets my blood flowing.
Katy Magazine: There was a time when some said you sold out to Nashville, yet last year Wave On Wave became your first Gold Album and you were also nominated for single of the year. How satisfied are you today?
Pat Green: I’m in a great place in my life. The truth is that Texas music has a rightful place in country music, and that place is up there on the highest platform. But at the same time we have to plug Texas music into the
mainstream in order for it to be heard. But this is a really good time for all of us.
Katy Magazine: Your friend, Mark Chestnut, (country star) said that your music is special because you’re not worried about what people in Nashville are worried about. Outside of Bud Adams moving the Tennessee Titans out of
town, what do they have to be worried about?
Pat Green: (laughs) Nashville is just trying to create commercial music. I worry about writing and singing what comes natural. I think that if I do anything else, then it will just not come out right. If I sing about
something that is not real to me then I think people will notice it.
Katy Magazine: Tell me about Kenny Chesney and what made you decide to tour with him this summer?
Pat Green: He asked! We have been buddies for about a year and he is just one of those superstars who doesn’t act like it. We are going to be playing for over a million and a half fans all over the country, and this gives
us another chance to share some Texas music with them.
Katy Magazine: In Texas you’re just as big as Kenny Chesney, any chance you can get him to open for you down here?
Pat Green: (Long pause) I might be able to ask him, (laughs) but he is pretty pricey and I don’t know that I could afford him. And in the big cities we can both draw quite a few fans. That’s why I’m not touring with him
when he comes through Texas.
Katy Magazine: His new wife is from Katy, Renee Zellweger. Do you get to spend much time with them?
Pat Green: That’s right. I had heard the rumors and I was informed before they got married, but so far we haven’t had much of a chance to hang out. I am hoping to get them together for lunch before the tour is over.
Katy Magazine: Speaking of families, you and Kori (wife) have a very important birthday party to throw this October. How has life changed since becoming a father?
Pat Green: Yes we do. My son (Kellis) will be two years old and I don’t know how I ever did it without them. You know, back when I started all of this I signed up for the long haul, so together we will continue forward
because this an amazingly lucky thing that I have going. Right now I think the biggest difference is just having twice as many people to worry about.
Katy Magazine: So many of your songs are about Texas. What do you love most about the Lone Star State?
Pat Green: That’s easy. The diversity and the pride about itself.
Katy Magazine: Here you are known as a Texas songwriter and almost as a college friend to many of your listeners. How does the rest of the country view Pat Green?
Pat Green: There is a lot less beer in my music now, and that is because there is a lot less of it in my life. But the college crowd still comes out and supports where ever we play. Now I can just see a few more that are
older. Maybe we’re just all growing up together.
Katy Magazine: Now that you have become so successful, how has your relationship changed with other songwriters from Texas?
Pat Green: I don’t get to spend as much time with them as I used to, but once I had my son I spent a lot less time with everyone. Other than that everything is pretty much the same.
Katy Magazine: You once said of your friend Willie Nelson, “If anybody wants to know how to live your life, just give him a call and find out.” What is your advice to living life?
Pat Green: Honesty is the only thing that works. That’s one of the things that I stand behind, being honest.
Katy Magazine: Speaking of Texans, George Strait once said that he would always perform at the Houston Rodeo, so long as it continued to sell out. After four straight years, can you imagine saying “no”, and not performing
for your rodeo fans?
Pat Green: I can’t ever imagine having a reason. No, I wouldn’t want to not play it.
Katy Magazine: The Firehouse Saloon only holds six hundred people. What would it take for Katy to land one of your intimate stops on next year’s tour?
Pat Green: I don’t know. In Houston if I am playing the smaller places I usually play Tin Hall or here at the Firehouse. Anything is possible, but I don’t know where we might play next year.
Katy Magazine: It’s about time to wrap this up. Any final words for you fans out in Katy?
Pat Green: Yeah, tell them all that I really appreciate them. All of Houston supports me and I always enjoy coming back to town.
Special thanks to Pat Green for making the time to interview with us before his recent show.
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