Country music is a sentimental part of my childhood. I remember my dad had an old guitar in the closet with rusty strings that I was so fascinated by. During car rides I would memorize every word to 90’s country songs. I fantasied about being like Shania, Martina or Faith with a guitar in hand. Later my dreams changed to writing the stories of country musicians. When I visited Nashville earlier this year, the deep melodies of Greg Pratt captivated my heart. He is definitely an artist I play in my car and try to memorize the the words just like I did as a kid. He has the “traditional country sound of tomorrow” that I could listen to on repeat all day. From hard core fast paced guitar pounding songs to soft melodies with deep vocals to tug at your heart strings. Greg Pratt is “sewing up the heart with Different Strings.” Read my interview with Greg to learn about winning his dad’s approval, his responsibility as a songwriter to affect someone’s life and his newly released album!
Q. Take me back to the beginning of your career, tell me how you found your love and talent for music and decided to make it a career aspiration?
A. “I started playing guitar at a young age. I opened up my Dad’s guitar (a top-of-the-line JF-30 Guild American Classic guitar) and I was not allowed to play it, so he put it right back in the case and gave me this old guitar (a weathered Ovation) that was painful to play with rusty strings. I didn’t start singing until right before I moved to Nashville so it was a pass time, it didn’t become serious until the past three years. Once you get it in your mind, you can’t get it out and it has become a career.”
Q. How did you make the decision to move to Nashville?”
A. “I quit college to come pursue this (music), I worked in a kitchen for the first year and did no music because I didn’t know how to get into everything. There would be times when I went home to visit my Dad for Christmas and I didn’t have the nerve to play the song for him. I put a song out to play on radio in 38 states… it was cool to get that phone call from him saying he heard the song and is supportive as a dad.”
“To me, country music has always been around the lyric and what you build around that lyric to send that message to change someone’s life if you can.”
Q. Who’s your biggest musical influence?
A. “I grew up listening to traditional country including Alabama, John Denver, Garth Brooks, George Straight and George Jones. To me, country music has always been around the lyric and what you build around that lyric to send that message to change someone’s life if you can. I feel that’s critical to country music and there’s several ways to do that. One person’s method of getting that point across is different from someone else’s.”
A. What was the inspiration for your latest project? What does it mean to you?
Q. “It’s an album of eight songs called Different Strings, it’s a song I played tonight about my Dad. What I try to do with my projects is have songs that are all different, there are no two songs that sound the same, and they’re not interchangeable. Each one has it’s own story, vibe and feeling that will put you on a different island so to speak when you start the track.”
Q. What do you enjoy or look forward to most about writing, recording or performing music? Tell me more about the process.
A. “Someone told me to treat a song like a kid. I’ve never had a kid, but I’ve raised several dogs. If I treat a song like my dog, it takes time, training, care and develops a lot of different facets over the course of its growth. A song is kind of the same. When you first perform it out you don’t know what’s going to happen, but I play writer’s rounds and play downtown six days a week. The circles I play in allow me to play those originals for a brand new crowd everyday.”
Q. What is a memorable experience for you in your music career and how has it impacted you?
A. “My first one was when my dad actually gave me the guitars. There was an original song of mine and this lady came up and gave me a hug, crying and told me a story about something big that happened in her life and the song touched her in a way that she hadn’t felt in a long time. She said to me to keep doing what I am, my Dad saw that and he decided to give me the guitars. Those guitars are rare and I haven’t seen another one like them.”
“You have a responsibility as a songwriter, down to the individual word, to put it in a way that affects somebody else’s life…”
“Here at The Commodore, I was performing the song ‘What a Minute Really Means’, from my last project. A woman came up and said she lost her son in a car wreck a year ago, his funeral was last winter and she was so dead inside and didn’t even cry, but she cried with me.”
“…If we all adhere to that responsibility it will make an impact.”
“You have a responsibility as a songwriter, down to the individual word, to put it in a way that affects somebody else’s life. You’re playing to speak to someone else and it’s not always about the person performing it. It can be easy to write what’s going on inside of you, but to open that up to speak to someone else and their experiences can be more important. It’s a responsibility for songwriters and performers to deliver that message in a way that someone’s emotions can be dead for months or years but when they hear a tune or set of words in a song, immediately there’s life. If we all adhere to that responsibility it will make an impact.”
Q. What advice would you give to someone who may have a dream in music, but is struggling with having the confidence?
A. “There are several confidence levels; one is actually getting here (to Nashville). My advice would be to not worry as much about what you sound like, but focus on delivering your message and making it a moment. Don’t focus so much about being on key, it’s important, but not what music is all about. It’s about getting that message out to spark emotion in people.”
Q. Can you tell me some of your exciting plans for 2018? What long-term goals do you have for your career?
A. “I’m trying to make sure quality music is made this year and get to the next level. That will take longer than a year, but it’s important not to give up. The website is up so anyone in the world can purchase music and merchandise and open up the opportunity for gigs across the country.”
“Focus on delivering your message and making it a moment… It’s about getting that message out to spark emotion in people.”
Visit www.gregprattcountry.com to support Greg’s music and find upcoming shows!
His new album Different Strings is now available!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/different-strings/1385860286
Schedule for CMA Week:
Saturday, June 9 – Crazytown 10 a.m. floor 2 and Jason Aldean’s 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 10 – Jason Aldean’s 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.
Mellow Mushroom Broadway 2 p.m.- 6 p.m.
Social Media:
Photo Credit to Greg Pratt Facebook and Instagram
A. “I knew I wanted to move to Nashville since I was little. I told my parents I want to do music. So the decision to move to Nashville was something I always wanted to do, but it happened on a whim. Two guys I knew from the musical circuit back home called one day and said, ‘We’re biting the bullet, we’re moving to Nashville.” It was in like two weeks, but it was now or never, so I did. We didn’t know what we were going to do, where we were going to live. I slept on a hotel floor the first couple nights in Nashville. I looked for jobs on Craigslist and just made it work.”
Q. How did you start meeting other songwriters and the people you are working with now?
A. “I moved back to town (Nashville) to be a songwriter, that was my goal. I started going to the writers rounds. You find your place and the people you like to write with. One of my favorite things about music is the creative process with endless possibility. I imagine it’s how an artist feels looking at a canvas. You can do anything with a melody or lyric and watching that creative process happen with people in collaboration is so cool. Everyone has a different process, but it comes together to get something you’re all proud of.”
Q. What is a memorable experience for you in your music career and how has it impacted you?
Q. What advice would you give to someone who may have a dream in music, but is struggling with taking the steps to make it a reality?
Q. How do you guys sleep? I would have song lyrics in my head all night!
Driving through the Oklahoma plains in the back seat listening to the harmonic sounds of 
This is why I couldn’t have been more excited to hear they were making their way to the heart of the Midwest to perform in Lima, OH right before my 29th birthday. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than rocking out to their music with $2 beers at 
“Within six months we had a publishing deal. I could stop waiting tables and he could stop selling software. It was a blessing. When we got our first deal, we went down to Mexico to write some songs. For any of you that have been down to Mexico, you know there can be some distractions down there. With the tequila, food and the women. This song was written on an airlines napkin on our way back from Mexico about a girl we met. We shot a music video in Key West a couple years ago. We weren’t going to put it on our record, and then our label said that song is going on your record because it reminds everyone of their first trip to Mexico.”
“I (Jordan Walker) was at a bar and a guy came up to me in a Carhart jacket, ball cap and a big red beard. He said his name was Luke and he just moved here (Nashville) from North Carolina and I want to write songs. He said he knew I was in a band Walker McGuire and he would love to write a song with me someday. I said, ‘Luke I got a plan. Since these beers are $4.25 a piece and I got a 12 pack at my house and drink my roommate’s beer’, since he had a little bit of money and I had zero dollars at the time.”
A. “If it’s what you want to do, just believe in yourself and go for it. There’s going to be people that ask what’s your plan? You’re not always going to have a plan; it’s an uncertain career path. You got to chase after what you love and once you decide to do it, it’s like anything else. You have to treat it like it’s more than a 9 to 5 job because you can never clock out. It’s practice, write, and reading helps a lot lyrically. When you are ready to do it, you have to be in a city like New York, Nashville or LA to write and network with other writers that can feed your creative process and help you grow.”
Q. Take me back to the beginning of your career, tell me how you found your love and talent for music and decided to make it a career aspiration?
A. “That album was totally different, sometimes I feel it wasn’t received how I wanted it to be. I can understand why, because it’s my fifth album now and people had an expectation of what I would sound like because of the previous four albums. The Blue Roof Sessions intentionally wasn’t like that. As an artist, I wanted to do something different. Why would an actor make the same movie over and over? As a writer and producer as well, half those songs I had for years. I wrote the song ‘Work on Love’ so long ago, but just never found the right album to put it on. When I committed to making an edgy record, I had all these ideas of songs that would work so well. Just like ‘Don’t Forget Where You Come From’ or ‘What the Heaven’ wouldn’t have fit The Blue Roof Sessions record.”
Q. What is it like to play new music for a crowd and see how they receive it? 
A. “Take every gig you can and play as much as you can because you never know when that one person that can make a difference is out there listening. It doesn’t have to be a record label; it could be someone like you spreading the word in Cincinnati. It takes that one person to get the ball rolling sometimes. For me in college it was a big deal, I would play at every fraternity and sorority party, every bar that was available to me. It didn’t matter the money, I would play two in one day if I could.”
Q. How are your Texas fans different from when you travel to other states?
“On the new album I have a song called ‘So God Made a Farmer.’ I played at the Texas FFA Convention years ago for 10,000 kids. It was one of the coolest gigs I’ve ever played. I still have some people tell me it was the best show they ever saw 8 years ago when they were 15 years old. In 2013, I was watching the super bowl and there was a 
“In college I got involved in classical piano, I had been taking formal lessons on reading music and playing by ear. I started my own country band and played at local bars. It was always me and a piano at the front of the stage with my band behind me.”
A. “Everyday you start with a blank document; it’s like when a painter starts with a blank canvas. On that canvas you paint a picture of whatever you’re feeling that day. I enjoy sharing my stories of growing up in a small town and on the farm with other writers, both emotional and funny. It’s cool to see the story of however I’m feeling come to life on a blank piece of paper. Nothing gives greater satisfaction than seeing your song come to life in the studio, especially with some of the greatest musicians in Nashville.”
“My fiancé and I are getting married in June and she plays a big part in my career in supporting me. She’s seen the ride of my music ever since ten years ago when we met. She’s from Chicago and we met in our college town of central Illinois. We went our separate ways after college and reconnected years later.”
A. “Taylor Swift made me really break out (into music) and start writing. I also listened to Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana and Disney music.”
Q. How do you develop your set list between playing your originals and cover songs people want to hear?
A. “After living in Pittsburg I moved back home and started playing in local bars. Each crowd and venue kept getting bigger. My friends, family and fans would tell me all the time that I need to go to Nashville and chase my dream. I was working a full-time job, playing every weekend and having a lot of fun. I didn’t ignore those comments at first, but brushed them off for a while. Then it hit me that I could really give this a shot. I love doing it (music) and if I could call it a career and have fun then it’s not a job.”
A. “It’s hard for me on what to call our sound or style of music. It’s definitely influenced by country music, but I grew up playing in rock bands. I love that heavy distortion, big loud cabs and right in your face rock n’ roll. So if we can mix hard heavy rock n’ roll with 90’s to early 2000’s country music sound, that’s what we’re trying to do and find new sounds overtime. The original music we were playing a year ago is different from what we are playing now. We have evolved and are constantly trying to find new sounds and tones to make us different.”
Encouraged by Blake Shelton’s words, Josh values making his unique sound. “Everybody out there is going to find their own way somehow. We are going to go the hard way and pave our own path, find our own sound and eventually be different from what people are used to hearing on country radio,” says Gallagher.
A. “The new single ‘How Bout You?’ will be released in February. This song was written with two good buddies, Mark Addison Chandler and Will Duvall. We sat down and were throwing around some ideas and Will started playing a little riff on his guitar, which is the opening guitar lick on the song. Once we started writing it, all three of us fell in love with it. That song came out of nowhere and they say the best songs come when you’re not expecting them.”
As he impressed Miley Cyrus on The Voice stage, Josh knows what happens off the stage is all preparation for what happens on it. “I’ve been focusing this past year on looking at things from a songwriter’s standpoint instead of the artist; to go into a write with an open mind.
A. “We are all still struggling to get our voices heard that’s for sure. You have to absolutely love it first of all. If it’s a hobby of yours that’s awesome, but if you think you really want to do it for a living, go for it to the fullest extent. When you fall in love with something you do for a living, then it’s not work. You wake up everyday and count your blessings if you get to that point. I’m still counting my blessings everyday, we still have a long way to go, but we are having a good time on the way there. So I would say, if you love it, do it. It’s going to be scary but you got to pull the trigger. Don’t tell yourself you’ll do it next month or even tomorrow, whether it’s moving to Nashville or picking up a guitar or singing.”
Knowing the sky is the limit, Josh pushes himself to accomplish his goals and encourages others to do the same. “You have to be bold and push yourself outside of your comfort zone to get there. When you make yourself do it and push yourself, you find it’s easy. Be persistent, it’s going to be hard, I still struggle with stuff. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it. People are going to tell you the rest of your life, whether you are a musician, a principal, a plumber, a race car driver or whatever, that you aren’t good enough. So don’t let their negativity bring you down, rise above it. Take the high road and then a few years from then you can say ‘I told you!’ says Gallagher.
There is a place where moonshine, mountains and music all come together in Tennessee. When you walk to the melodies on the Island in Pigeon Forge or follow the sound of the banjo through The Holler in Gatlinburg, you will likely find yourself rocking in a chair or dancing with strangers to the sounds of Monroeville.
Masterful Bassist, Paul Watson, remembers watching Monroeville play from the audience years ago and told himself that was the band he wanted to play for. “Matt wanted me to fill in three years ago. Then as soon as I put the phone down with another guy asking me (to play for a different band) Matt called me and wanted to hire me. It was awesome.”
Character is important to the Monroeville brand. Matt learned the integrity of Paul when he was searching for a bassist. “I knew about Chevy before Paul. I didn’t realize what Paul did. Chevy had been filling in with us every few months. I needed a bass player first so I called Paul and asked if his cousin Chevy played bass too. Instead of saying he played bass, he said Chevy could play. Paul was honest even though it was the job he wanted. So that told me about his character,” said Matt.
Q. What is the inspiration and concept behind the album Worlds Apart?
Q. Why is the message of the opening track “Push On” important to share right away on the album?
“I’m beginning to understand it’s not about getting some huge break. That can happen, but it’s more about one fan at a time. We can build a relationship with fans. Every day we have thousands of people that hear us play. If we can just get a handful of people everyday that we connect with, they become apart of something bigger than the band, it’s like a family. Those people support you in some way; as long as you’re playing they’ll always be fans. Once I learned that concept, you can build off that. Monroeville has a brand. We are the guys next door that happen to be rock stars… You have to be true to yourself. Nobody is going to get your dream for you,” said Matt.
Cherish has seen how hard the business is first hand through her father, Johnny Lee (country music legend, Urban Cowboy’s “Lookin’ For Love”) and mother, Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing on hit TV show, “DALLAS”). She quickly gained her own recognition as a singer and songwriter in Music City. “Nashville has been so incredibly gracious to me. I’ve written with the most beautiful and talented writers, performed at the infamous Bluebird Cafe, the prestigious Tin Pan South Songwriter Festival. I’ve also performed with my Papa Bear at The Ryman Auditorium and The Grand Ole Opry, along with so many other bad ass venues around town. I met my husband here, our precious baby was born here, I’ve recorded my album here! I owe so much to this city. I can’t get over how people just want to up lift you and champion you here!”
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Lee just released her first single “Tequila Cowgirl,” along with her music video debut. It is about an all American girl- a hard worker; she’s got her head on straight, knows right from wrong and lives by that. She loves Jesus and tequila. She loves her animals and is thankful for what she has. While she doesn’t need a man and won’t share her bed with just anyone, she is looking forward to meeting the right one. Any guy would be considered lucky to bring her home to meet his mama, and every girl wants to be her best friend! The song has an intimate, nostalgic feel to it with a healthy dose of country music.
