January UPDATE:I went out to Pegram last weekend to hear the great singer Clare Lynch along with her duo partner guitarist Jim Hurst. It was a terrific show and I was so pleased that she sang one of my songs Be Ready To Sail and as always sang it beautifully. She also told me she would be recording another song I wrote called The Mockingbird's Voice for her next album.
Also at The Tennessee State Museum this month there is an exhibit about the painter John Baeder. John has been painting the diners and roadside attractions of America for 35 years and is an old friend of mine. A short film on his career is part of the exhibit and my song Blue Highway 29 is featured along with my on camera commentary. The film debuts at The Tennessee Museum on February 7. Thanks for listening
Born in Long Island City, New York, but raised in the small southern town of LaGrange, Georgia, Pat Alger came to songwriting from a south by north direction. As a teenager he taught himself to play guitar and began writing songs that combined a sophisticated interplay of language and melody with a down to earth quality that would eventually bring him much success as a popular songwriter. In the late sixties, trying to earn money to continue his education at Georgia Tech, he evolved into a popular performer playing traditional and original material in the burgeoning folk scene in Atlanta clubs and in colleges all over the Southeast. Pat played the same club circuit and often shared the stage with such artists as Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Goodman, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Jonathan Edwards and Jimmy Buffet.
In 1973 Pat migrated to Woodstock, New York becoming part of that legendary musical landscape, eventually recording and performing with the celebrated Woodstock Mountains Revue, a casual musical conglomeration that included, at one time or another, the singer-songwriters John Sebastian, Eric Andersen, Paul Butterfield, Rory Block, Happy and Artie Traum, John Herald, Roly Salley, Jim Rooney & Bill Keith. Together they made 3 critically acclaimed albums for the then fledgling Rounder Label. Later he formed a duo with acoustic jazz guitarist Artie Traum, recording a well-received album on Rounder that led to several tours of Europe and the United States.
After a short stint in the Boston area and a couple of years trying to break into the songwriting mainstream in Manhattan, Pat finally scored his first hit in 1980 with Livingston Taylor, James Taylor’s younger brother. The song, First Time Love became a top 40 Pop and a top 10 AC hit and with that success under his belt, Pat headed south once again, this time to try his luck in Nashville.Music City turned out to be the ‘Promised Land’, a town that celebrated the art of the song and where the songwriter, if not the star, was the center of gravity for the music business. Exploring the Nashville craft of collaboration, while fine-tuning his already well-developed skills, Pat soon blossomed into a successful songwriter. Early on, his songs were recorded by such classic country artists as Mickey Gilley, George Hamilton IV, Dolly Parton and Brenda Lee, as well as by legendary pop artists The Everly Brothers and Peter, Paul & Mary.
Ultimately, Pat hit the top of the country charts in 1988 with Kathy Mattea’s version of Goin’ Gone, a song previously recorded by Texas singer Nanci Griffith. Other Number 1 hits followed, including: She Came From Ft. Worth also by Kathy Mattea; Small Town Saturday Night by Hal Ketchum & Trisha Yearwood’s Like We Never Had A Broken Heart. His songwriting collaboration with Garth Brooks yielded 4 Number 1 singles for the mega-star: The Thunder Rolls, Unanswered Prayers, What She’s Doing Now & That Summer, remarkably going on to collectively sell over 60 million albums and still counting.
Other hits include: True Love by Don Williams; Lone Star State of Mind & Once In a Very Blue Moon by Nanci Griffith; I’m Takin’ My Time by Brenda Lee; Calloused Hands by Marc Collie; A Few Good Things Remain and Seeds by Kathy Mattea and the AC hit City Lights by Livingston and James Taylor. In recent years, his songs have been recorded by: Chely Wright, Tim O’Brien, Maura O’Connell, The Seldom Scene, Mary Black, Paul Brady and the great bluegrass singer Clare Lynch. His song, The Man She Thinks I Am, is featured on 2006 Canadian Country Music Association’s Male Vocalist of the Year George Canyon’s latest album.
An accomplished guitarist, Pat played acoustic guitar on several of his hits including: The Thunder Rolls by Garth Brooks; Like We Never Had a Broken Heart by Trisha Yearwood; A Few Good Things Remain and Seeds by Kathy Mattea and Once In a Very Blue Moon by Nanci Griffith. As a solo performer he toured as the opening act for the Everly Brothers in the U.S. and Great Britain for several years.
Celebrating 40 years in the music business, Pat Alger remains a popular performer in the Nashville songwriter scene in addition to touring other musical outposts such as Ireland, Canada & the Sundance Film Festival. As a 2-term President of The Nashville Songwriters Association International, he was respected as an effective advocate for creators in the battle for intellectual property rights. Regularly mentoring younger writers, in 2006 he taught the ASCAP Country Writers Workshop in Nashville. Recently he has 4 songs on the current Number 1 Country CD - Garth Brooks, The Ultimate Hits as well as the Christmas single Nothin's Gonna Bring Me Down (At Christmas Time) by Randy Travis from his holiday album Songs Of The Season.
Career benchmarks include:
3 solo albums:
True Love and Other Short Stories - 1990 & Seeds - 1993 on Sugar Hill Records plus 1994’s Notes and Grace Notes on Liberty Records.
1991 - Songwriter of the Year – Nashville Songwriters Association International, Music Row magazine and Cashbox magazine.
1991 – Song of the Year – Small Town Saturday Night – Radio & Records
& The Thunder Rolls – The Gavin Report.
1991 & 1992 – CMA Triple Play Award for 3 Number 1 records in one year.
1992 – ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year.
1992 – National Jukebox Association ASCAP Songwriter of the Year.
1993 – Album Seeds nominated for best Folk Album at Nashville Music Awards.
1998 – President’s Choice Award – Nashville Songwriters Association International.
1999 – Co-wrote and produced with Harlan Howard, Hockey Tonk, the theme song for the inaugural seasons of the Nashville Predators hockey team.
2001 – Produced and performed on A Songwriter’s Tribute to Garth Brooks for VFR Records - one of the biggest selling independent records of that year.
2004 – Produced and performed on A Songwriter’s Tribute to George Strait for Compadre Records.
2005 – Unanswered Prayers voted Number 6 in CMT’s top 100 Love Songs.
2005 & 2006 – Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Nominee.
CURRENT NEWS - IN FEBRUARY PAT WAS A FEATURED PERFORMER AT THE BELFAST, IRELAND SONGWRITER'S FESTIVAL , AND ALSO PLAYED A SHOW IN DUBLIN WITH DON SCHLITZ AND RALPH MURPHY.
EARLIER THIS YEAR PAT HAD A SINGLE IN CANADA WITH CANADIAN ROOTS ARTIST SEAN HOGAN TITLED GENUINE LOVE.
LOOK FOR BAT MCGRATH'S LATEST ALBUM TITLED COMMUNICATE CO-WRITTEN BY PAT. CHECK IT OUT HERE AND GO TO www.batmcgrath.com TO PURCHASE - PLEASE SUPPORT THIS GREAT ARTIST.
AUGUST NEWS: RALPH MURPHY has just recorded an album surprisingly titled "Ralph Murphy" and our song "SEEDS" is being released as a radio single in Canada. Ralph has a long connection with the Canadian Music business going back over 40 years. The album, which is available from CD Baby, features several songs that we have written, in addition I played guitar on several tracks and wrote the liner notes.
SEPTEMBER UPDATE:
Watch for Pat's song "LIKE A HURRICANE" as performed by the legendary bluegrass band THE DILLARDS featured in the new Diane Lane - Richard Gere movie: "NIGHTS IN RODANTHE" premiering on September 26. The song co-written with Mark D. Sanders, was originally the "B" side of Kathy Mattea's CMA Record of the Year "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses" and was on the Dillards' CD "Take Me Along For The Ride".
