Texas Country Commander

Pat Green on new album, returning to his roots and getting into the restaurant game

Pat Green may not be Willie Nelson, but few musicians have been as identifiable with Texas country in the last 20 years as Pat F-ing Green — from his independent label days as the figurehead of the late ’90s Texas music wave to chart-topping major label releases in the 2000s. He just finished recording a new album, Home, and he's looking for an independent label to release it.

Green can also add restaurateur to his resume; he is a co-owner of The Rustic, a new restaurant and live music venue in Uptown Dallas that opens October 10. We chatted with him about that new album, getting into the restaurant game and being part of the old guard of Texas country musicians.

CultureMap: Why did you decide to get into the restaurant business?

Pat Green: Well, Free Range concepts asked me if I would like to, you know, join in making the music side of the restaurant. I said just tell me when and where. Since then I’ve just been having an absolute ball.

CM: What have you learned about the other side of the music venue business?

PG: It’s a lot more complicated now. It’s very expensive to get going. I’ve been trying to educate them on the music side as well as getting my own education about how restaurants work.

CM: What kind of hand will you have in The Rustic moving forward?

PG: I’m interested in seeing it succeed and thrive. Part of my job is to have a presence and show up when I can. Not only that, but help get as many great acts as humanly possible.

CM: It’s been five years since you released an album of your own music. Do fans have something to look forward to?

PG: We’ve got the new album recorded, and we’re finding a home for it. I’m very proud of it. We ended up getting Sheryl Crow, Lyle Lovett — a lot of people I’ve always wanted to work with.

I think the songwriting is great. As far as why did I wait so long, my feeling is that in the music world and being on a label, I was putting out an album every year, and I was in the studio all the time. It wears on me to have to keep that up. Plus, they can’t miss you if you never leave.

CM: A few years ago, you said on Texas Music Scene that you were returning to your Texas roots and independent music. How will that sound after your foray into more mainstream country during the mid-2000s?

PG: When I was making records for the bigger labels, I wasn’t forced to create a sound that wasn’t mine, but there was a committee giving their opinion while I was making the albums.

When I was very young, I was making very acoustic records because I had never done it before. I had to develop my taste in the studio while working on my style. About the time “Three Days” and “Wave on Wave,” I started feeling that this is what I want it to sound like. There are records I like more, and some I’m not proud of.

CM: You and guys like Roger Creager and Cory Morrow brought in the new wave of Texas country in the late ’90s. Is it hard to stay hungry after such a long run of success?

PG: I put out my first record in 1995, and I was playing a bit before that. There are certain elements of burnout that come with any career. I’m not experiencing it right now. When I was doing 250 days on the road and never getting a chance to see my wife and children, I was burned out. Now I have a good balance.

CM: Considering that 20-year span and the fact that you’re married with kids and in your early 40s now, how has your style, lyrically, changed?

PG: Like anyone else, people become more discerning, in any avenue — even relationships. I don’t get in nearly as many fights with my wife as when I was young. We were never wrong back then. I think my lyrics follow that path.

I can tell when a lyric doesn’t suit me or I don’t like the way it’s going. I have the ability to say no and to move on and change direction. When I was younger, I didn’t really ever try to turn around if it wasn’t going in the right direction.

CM: You released a book on dance halls called Pat Green's Dance Halls & Dreamers. What are your favorite places to play?

PG: If we’re talking dance halls, it’s probably Gruene Hall. It’s such an iconic place. As far as any place, I don’t know, in Texas, Stubbs in Austin is up there, though my restaurant has a venue, so maybe that’ll change. And you have to throw in Madison Square Garden and House of Blues in Chicago.

CM: Are there any young Red Dirt artists you’re enjoying these days?

PG: I think the Turnpike Troubadours know how to write a really good song in a young stage in their career. There’s a lot of talent out there, but I like them.

CM: How does it feel now considering you’re part of the “established” group of Texas country musicians?

PG: It’s natural, but it feels awkward to me sometime. I feel blessed to have a career that’s spanned 20 years. I can’t believe it, but I love making music and having a spot as a big fish in the little pond. Who wouldn’t? And Texas is a pretty big little pond.

Green (left) teamed up with Josh Sepkowitz, Kyle Noonan and Brian Manion to open The Rustic, a restaurant and live music venue in Uptown Dallas.

Movie Review

New biopic 'Jimmy' salutes Jimmy Stewart's service in World War II

KJ Apa in Jimmy

Photo courtesy of Papaian Studios

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Actor Jimmy Stewart, thanks to movies such as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Shop Around the Corner, and The Philadelphia Story, had the reputation early in his career as the everyman in Hollywood, someone to whom most audiences could relate. That became even more true when Stewart entered the military during World War II, a period that is explored in the new biopic, Jimmy.

The film was co-produced with Fort Worth-based Papaian Studios and received a red-carpet premiere as part of the Lone Star Film Festival on Wednesday, November 4. Stewart had several ties to Fort Worth, which were celebrated at the event.

Stewart (KJ Apa) was riding high in 1941, coming off his first (and only) Oscar win for The Philadelphia Story. As depicted in the film, his life is upended when he receives a military draft notice as the U.S. prepares for war. He’s determined to serve, but people like studio head Louis B. Mayer (Jason Alexander) try to talk him out of it. Already an experienced pilot, he eventually joins the war in Europe, flying the B-24 bomber.

Despite his celebrity status, Stewart requests to be treated the same as any other soldier, which means flying multiple missions over enemy territory. He moves up the ranks, becoming a leader tasked with, among other things, reporting the deaths of service members to their families. He also starts a friendship that develops into a romance with Lady Julia (Kara Killmer), giving him a distraction from the horrors of war.

Directed by Aaron Burns and written by Justin Strawhand, the film has the clear goal of being a hagiography for Stewart, showing all of his good qualities and few of his bad ones. In fact, the character of Stewart is harder on himself than the actual movie is, chastising himself over the deaths of fellow soldiers that he likely could not have prevented. The filmmakers go to great lengths to show how good and well-respected Stewart was, something that may well be true, but doesn’t make for great drama.

The bulk of the film features Stewart at war, following him and others as they fly multiple missions and commiserate over the price of combat. The sequences are fine, but the film’s budget does not appear to be high, and so the CGI needed to recreate the scenes is noticeably subpar. Because Burns and Strawhand usually keep to surface-level storytelling and don’t go deep on any character besides Stewart, his time at war is engaging but slight.

The film is bookended by Stewart and Frank Capra (Max Casella) making It’s a Wonderful Life, Stewart’s first film after coming back from war. It’s here where the movie becomes most interesting as Stewart, still affected by his war experience, struggles to bring the character of George Bailey to life. The behind-the-scenes look at the film-within-the-film and the recreations of its iconic scenes are catnip for anyone who knows/loves the Christmas classic.

Apa, best known for starring as Archie on the TV show Riverdale, does extremely well as Stewart. He nails Stewart’s quavering voice and the way he ambles about plays right into the actor’s established persona. Casella and Killmer get the most play in supporting roles, and each does solid work as characters trying to understand Stewart. Alexander, Sarah Drew as Hedda Hopper, and Rob Riggle as a colonel each go a little too big in their respective parts.

Jimmy is probably best watched as an approximation of the man Stewart was in the 1940s, not as something that’s completely true to life. The film elides or stretches the truth on multiple occasions, which is par for the course in biopics. It could have used some stronger storytelling to make Stewart feel like a real person, not merely a replica of the famous actor.

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Jimmy is now playing in theaters.

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