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A Conversation with Pat McLaughlin (continued)
Pat: And then I don't know what else happened. Oh, so the New Orleans thing kind of folded because I had kids, and that wasn't practical. Oh right, then came Tiny Town in '97, '98. It came around, did that.
PM: So how did that come about? You knew those guys from--
Pat: The Subdudes were getting ready to fold because they'd been in a van together for about fifteen years.
PM: And they were New Orleans guys, right?
Pat: A couple of them were New Orleans guys--well, three of them, actually. The other guy had been there a lot, too. But anyway, the bass player, Johnny, told Tommy they wanted to make a country record. So they go to Nashville to hook up with me and Kenneth Blevins. But me and Kenneth Blevins didn't know anything about playing country music, so that didn't happen.
PM: Just because we live in Nashville--
[laughter]
Pat: So we--largely, in this building right here, we'd sit around and jam, wrote songs while we were jamming. That's fun. Have you ever done that?
PM: Some, not so much like that.
Pat: With a drummer? I'd never done that. That's incredible, man.
PM: If it's a drummer you can really get along with.
Pat: Yeah. We played loud. We sang into--I didn't have the Vocalmaster then. We all had vocal amps.
PM: Vocal amps?! [laughs]
Pat: And then we'd run the ghetto blaster, and we'd run it all day. And people would sing out a ghosty vocal to some changes, and then we'd listen later and determine what was a song and what wasn't.
PM: Wow.
Pat: It was fun. I'd never done that before. So you get the idea. And we made a record with Bernie Leadon. [Country rock pioneer--Dillard & Clark, Eagles, Burrito Brothers, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band...] He got us a deal. He produced it.
PM: And who did you get the deal with?
Pat: Pioneer, which was a label that Charlie Lico was heading up. That was under the umbrella of Pioneer Electronics.
PM: That was around for a minute, right?
Pat: Yeah, about that. And they were very nice. I mean, for anybody to give you money to go sit around in the studio and play is phenomenal.
PM: Yeah.
Pat: I mean, it's ridiculous.
PM: You're pissing it away immediately.
Pat: Immediately.
[laughter]
Pat: Yeah. So then that happened. Tiny Town, we went around and played--played a lot in New Orleans, because they were all there. But I had kids. So then I decided I'd start playing in Nashville again.
And then I got to playing in Nashville and realized that I had a great band who knew the songs, and that I would make a self-financed record. [We also feature some clips from that 2000 release, Uncle Pat, on the Listen page.] And I almost did it live at Douglas Corner, because you can do that here. But that was just too risky for me, so we did it at this little place where I'd been doing some demos downtown, and I felt comfortable there.
PM: Where was that?
Pat: The Velvet Elvis on 5th Avenue. It's right down by Nick's Deli.
PM: Oh, what a great joint that is.
Pat: Yeah, absolutely. And the Velvet Elvis is a little Protools studio--
PM: Oh. Who runs that? Whose place is that?
Pat: I don't know. But I've worked down there with Chip Matthews, who's an engineer. So that's where I'm at now: I'm just thinking about my next one.
PM: Well, I thought Next Five Miles was unbelievable, a fabulous record.
Pat: Well, I thought it was good too, I really did. I thought it was good. I worked on the songs. I'm just so lucky to have Michael Rhodes and Kenny Greenberg playing with me, and Paul Griffith playing. Paul was not around when I made the record, and I got Chad Cromwell. And Chad Cromwell is a phenomenal musician. And so I had a really good sounding record.
PM: I like both of those drummers, though Chad's a little loud for me.
Pat: Oh yeah, he's really good. You know what he is? He's a Memphis drummer.
PM: Oh.
Pat: And when you realize that, it all makes sense. He's a Memphis drummer, and he's just so good.
PM: Rhodes is a good friend of mine, and I just like everything about him, especially his playing. [See our interview with Michael]. I love Kenny Greenberg's playing, but I never hear him play any better than he plays with you. Actually, he plays amazingly with his wife [Ashley Cleveland, an incredible rock singer and songwriter who's also done a lot of high profile backup singing and earned a couple of Grammys for recent Christian records].
Pat: His wife is amazing.
PM: Yeah. Did you see the John Lennon/Imagine No Handguns gig recently? She looked hot as a pistol. Unbelievable, she looked so good. She sang "The Word" and "Come Together," put the place right on its ass.
Pat: Yeah. I love the way she sings. I think she sings like a little girl almost. It's really weird. She doesn't have a lot of tremolo in her voice, and it's really refreshing. It's really nice. [Ashley is such a powerhouse that it would take somebody like Pat to make this observation.] That's what she reminds me of. I mean, I've sang a lot with her, and she's just an incredible singer, just so natural. It's great. continue
