Pat Reedy has a lot of experience writing under pressure. He wrote much of his upcoming album That's All There Is (out April 6 on Muddy Roots Records) while working construction around Nashville.
Videos by Wide Open Country
"Everyone has a different songwriting process. Mine seems to be a hangover and a dump truck," Reedy says, laughing. "I definitely had to write some of the songs really quickly because I was supposed to be doing something else."
Reedy's experience as a working musician is at the heart of the album. Over a decade before he made the move to Music City, Reedy spent several years busking in New Orleans, where he formed his band the Longtime Goners. Today, Reedy and the Longtime Goners can be found keeping the locals dancing with their brand of hard-driving country music at Nashville haunts like Betty's Grill and the American Legion Post 82.
"Bloodshot Heart," the first single from That's All There Is, is an ode to finding solace in whiskey and honky tonk music.
Working During the Party
Taking inspiration from songwriting legends like Billy Joe Shaver and James Hand and peers Leo Rondeau, Luke Bell and Riley Downing (of The Deslondes), Reedy writes about a different side of Music City on the standout track "Nashville, Tennessee at 3 AM."
"This is the second tourist economy that I've lived in," Reedy says. "It's a weird feeling to be working during the party and in the aftermath of it."
Still, Reedy is quick to explain that he has nothing but love for Nashville. But the song will resonate with the working men and women who keep the city running after the tourists have stumbled back to their hotels after a night out on Broadway.
"I certainly don't mean to sound negative about Nashville. I've lived here only a couple years and it's been a warm, welcoming place to me," Reedy says. "I almost didn't put the song on there. I just moved to this place and thought 'you haven't lived here long enough to talk shit, you know'."
Another album standout, "Conversation With Jesus," was inspired by Texas troubadour Ray Wylie Hubbard's "Conversations With the Devil." The song imagines a conversation with Jesus Christ and calls out hypocrites and those who use religion for their own gain.
"Just like anybody I've seen televangelists that live in mansions and fly private jets and I was raised with the Bible as well and apparently it was a different Bible," Reedy says. "In the Bible that I read, Jesus Christ drank wine all day and hung out with prostitutes. I'm closer to following the footsteps of Jesus than the televangelists."
Armed with the wit of Billy Joe Shaver and the swagger of Waylon Jennings, Pat Reedy is one to watch.
For more information on Pat Reedy and the Longtime Goners, visit here.
