left: 1969 at the 12th Gate in Atlanta (Jeri Littman)

Right: 2019 "Poets & Prophets" at the Country Music Hall of Fame (Kelli Dierks)

Pat Alger / American Songwriter

When I first saw the oil painting “Poppies” by Andee Rudloff, it held my gaze as great art will often do. I didn’t know much about poppies, but there was a serenity to the scene that drew me to it. The painterly brush strokes and harmonizing bands of color suggested an infinite landscape that awakened the metaphorical side of my brain. I began to wonder how I might be able to use her artwork for my new CD. I’ve been a graphic designer for many years, so I worked up several ideas only to reluctantly admit that the small scale of the CD package simply did the painting no favors. Here on the website however, you can view it exactly as I did and I encourage you to use Andee’s link at the bottom of the homepage to enjoy the painting and other creative projects on her website and social media.

     Poppies were the first plants to bloom in the upturned earth of Flanders Fields, the final resting place of many World War I casualties in Belgium. Over time, tens of thousands of these indigenous poppies transformed into a beautiful natural memorial, but if you try to domesticate them in your home garden it can be difficult to get them started. Once established though, they’ll spread freely from self-sown seed pods but their wild nature often means they’ll sometimes end up among your roses or in a neighbor’s yard. They’re not unlike the scores of unproven songwriters who are carried by the wind to Nashville every year, hoping to scatter their musical “poppies” for a chance to be heard – a characteristically American story, ready-made for songwriting. 

     Up until my early thirties, my own story was as shaggy and driftless as I was. I went years without a bank account, utility or telephone in my name and a post office box as my only address. After more than a decade of singing my songs at countless colleges, festivals, nightclubs and bars “with no direction home” as Bob Dylan put it – I arrived in Nashville in 1981 and everything changed. I became part of a community unlike any other. Music, which gives the city its nickname, along with the people who create it, are at the center of its atmosphere and culture. I felt like I belonged here immediately, and with the help and support of friends, collaborators and colleagues, I had some extraordinary success as a songwriter. When that period inevitably faded, I continued to write songs but the music business went on without me and I found other ways to stay in tune with the music scene. 

     I bet everything on Nashville – this fertile ground that has nurtured me ever since – and I remain grateful that I was one of the lucky ones who ultimately thrived here. To quote a song I wrote with another restless wanderer, my dear friend Ralph Murphy: “we’re all just seeds in God’s hands” – as close to the truth as I’m likely to get. It’s been an interesting life – I couldn’t have dreamed it up.

On the Road

In late summer of 1946, my father, a gregarious and sometimes nefarious native New Yorker, met a shy gentle southern belle in LaGrange, Georgia on a weekend furlough from nearby Ft. Benning. After a whirlwind courtship, the unlikely couple were married in a modest ceremony which the bride’s father did not attend. A few months later, they were on their way to Queens, New York where I was born a few months later in Long Island City. The small-town girl who had never been further than Atlanta, was suddenly living in one of the most diverse, densely populated places in the country. For seven difficult years she struggled to make a home for us there until my father, always determined to do things his own way – often the wrong way – finally found some trouble he couldn’t talk his way out of. He was forewarned that for “health reasons” it might be best to head south, so one summer afternoon we boarded the “Crescent” out of Penn Station and the next morning we woke up in Georgia.

     In 1954, LaGrange was a sleepy textile town of about 20,000, still racially segregated and geographically divided into well-off middle class and working class poor communities. It would be hard to imagine any place more different from the raucous streets and noisy tenement I was accustomed to. I was a skinny, tow-headed yankee refugee – easy pickings for the older bullies in the neighborhood. Gradually, out of self-defense, I learned to soften my accent and tried to blend in with the other cotton mill kids until eventually I was just another barefoot ragamuffin too. Both of my parents worked, so I was often an unsupervised child. Like most of the boys I ran with, I played pick-up baseball, basketball and football and in summer we hung out all day at the community pool. We rode our bikes freely all over town and when we inevitably got into some minor mischief, we’d hide out in the thick woods behind my house until the coast was clear. Luckily, the Methodist church youth group I belonged to and my Scout leaders managed to keep me out of potentially bigger trouble. When I was 15, I got a cheap acoustic guitar for my birthday and my focus completely changed. I loved folk and pop music and I quickly taught myself the basic chords I needed to play a lot of my favorite songs. I even tried to write a few myself, most of which were forgettable of course. Music became my passion, although I never had any illusion about it being a profession – there was no reference point whatsoever for that. The Vietnam war was looming over all young men of draft age, so higher education was the obvious destination for graduating seniors – at least it was for me. I was still seventeen when I landed at Georgia Tech with a borrowed suitcase, an old Martin guitar and a $20 bill in my wallet. Life on my own had begun. 

I’ve been working on a memoir for a while now that would be difficult for me to summarize from this point on. Until it’s finished, following this introduction you’ll find a timeline which provides the basic details of my career from 1965 up to the present.
     Today my wife and I are beginning to come out into the sun after a crazy year in hibernation. We live a quiet life among family and friends on the outskirts of Nashville, hopeful that this dark time is finally passing. Some of the old songs remain popular so I’m very fortunate to be able to make a living while contemplating the future. I’m teaching lyric writing at Belmont University, working on new songs and still trying to improve. In the process of teaching, I’ve discovered how much I know – and how much is left to learn. 

     At this point, I’m not sure when or if I’ll go back on the road again. Sooner or later we all arrive at that intersection, but the pandemic has forced me to contemplate the ephemeral nature of things. A lot of my friends are gone now and many of my favorite venues are shuttered for good. I realize how fortunate I was to have been a rambling troubadour when travel was a fun part of the gig – when “the ‘craic’ was good” as my Irish friends say. As I’ve gotten older, airports and long interstate drives aren’t as tempting as they once were. It’s uncertain what will happen to the music business that I grew up in, but that’s not unusual, I’ve never really known what lies ahead. What I can assure you is this – wherever there are people gathered together, music will be made. I hope to be among ‘em as long as I can. 

     Meanwhile, I recorded a new CD just prior to the pandemic. Many of the songs have never been heard before, plus a few old favorites. It features old friends I dearly admire like Kathy Mattea, and Jelly Roll Johnson, along with some very talented new friends, like Kate and Forrest O’Connor and Kristin Smith. It was a fun project, imaginatively produced by my pal Jon Vezner. I have no illusions about its chances, but I am hopeful it will find an audience eventually. Thanks for dropping by, I appreciate your interest.

Career Timeline

I’ve been making music and writing songs for over half a century now – often near the bottom of the profession and sometimes at the top. The music business is both easy and difficult – the thrill of writing something you’re proud of keeps your heart in it, but it’s hard to consistently make a decent living from songwriting alone. Most long-timers share familiar stories of sure things and near misses – “I almost…” tales of woe tempered by wild unexpected success. It’s not for the thin-skinned or faint-hearted but if you have some talent and aren’t easily discouraged, songwriting can be rewarding. Here’s a brief timeline of how it happened for me.

1965-1970 / Studied Architecture & Graphic Design in Atlanta at Georgia Tech & Georgia State University. Performed in the Atlanta Folk Music Society’s semi-annual concerts. 

1967-1973 / Performed in Atlanta’s acoustic music clubs as a solo singer/songwriter. Tom Porter produced my first song demos at Otis Redding Studios in Macon, Georgia. Member of various groups including The Hand Band, Hansen & Alger and Milkweed. The Hand Band played local clubs and the first free Atlanta Pop Festival in Piedmont Park in 1970. Hansen & Alger and Milkweed played acoustic music clubs and colleges all around the Southeast. I was the first performer (opening for Jonathan Edwards) to play at the famed Great Southeast Music Hall.

1973-1978 / September 1973 I migrated to Woodstock, New York. First full band demos recorded at Bearsville Studio ‘B’ produced by Artie Traum and George James. Invited to be a member of the Woodstock Mountains Revue, a Rounder recording group that included John Sebastian, Paul Butterfield, Eric Andersen, John Herald, Rory Block, Happy Traum, Roly Salley, Artie Traum, Bill Keith and Jim Rooney. Formed a musical partnership with Artie Traum and toured the US and Europe.

1978-1980 / Moved to Manhattan to concentrate on songwriting and publishing. In 1979, Artie Traum and I recorded a duo album for Rounder Records, one of the first acts to use famed Skyline Studios. In the spring of 1980, “First Time Love” a song from that album, became a #37 Pop & #13 AC Billboard hit by Livingston Taylor. 

1981-1987 / Headed to Nashville in July 1981 to work primarily as an independent songwriter/publisher while doing free-lance graphic design for the Country Music Hall of Fame and others. My songs immediately began to be recorded, starting with a top ten Canadian country hit by John Allen Cameron, ironically titled “Overnight Success”. Sang the final version of the popular Miller Beer TV jingle, “If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer”. In 1987 first #1 Country hit “Goin’ Gone” by Kathy Mattea.

1984-1985 / “I’m Takin’ My Time” recorded by The Everly Brothers for their EB 84 reunion album. Hired as the opening act for the first two years of the Everlys’ reunion world tour and I continued to open a segment of every tour through 1993. 

1987-1993 / Partnered with Forerunner Music, an independent publishing venture begun by Jim Rooney, Allen Reynolds, Mark Miller and Terrell Tye as a staff writer and co-publisher. Began working with Garth Brooks and Hal Ketchum. Formed an acoustic band featuring Trisha Yearwood and recorded 2 albums for Sugar Hill. 

1991 / Nashville Songwriters Association International Songwriter of the Year; Music Row Magazine Songwriter of the Year; Cashbox Magazine Songwriter of the Year; Radio & Records Magazine Country Song of the Year, “Small Town Saturday Night”; The Gavin Report Country Song of the Year, “The Thunder Rolls”. 

1991-1992 / 2 Country Music Association Triple Play Awards for 3 #1 songs in a year.

1992 / ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year; National Jukebox Association Songwriter of the Year (with Garth Brooks); American Music Awards Favorite Country Single, “The Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks. 

1993 / Album “Seeds” nominated for Best Folk Album at Nashville Music Awards.

1995-1996 / President of the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

1998 / NSAI President’s Choice Award presented by President Jim McBride.

1999 / With Harlan Howard wrote “Hockey Tonk”, the theme song for the inaugural seasons of The Nashville Predators.

2002 / Co-produced and performed on “A Songwriters Tribute to Garth Brooks” for VFR Records, one of the biggest selling indie records of the year.

2004 / Produced and played acoustic guitar on “A Songwriters Tribute to George Strait” for Compadre Records.

2005 / “Unanswered Prayers” made into a Lifetime Network movie and voted #6 in CMTs top 100 Love Songs contest.

2010 / Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.

2012-2018 / Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation.

2013 / Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee.

2013-2014 / First President of the Nashville local of the newly merged SAG-AFTRA union.

2014-Present / Consultant for the songwriting degree program for the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, while teaching a master class in lyric-writing. 

2017 / Mayor Jim Thornton proclaims Oct. 27, “Pat Alger Day” in LaGrange, Georgia followed by a concert at LaGrange College with Georgia blues artist E. G. Kight.

2018 / The Georgia Music Foundation “Flamekeeper Award: For tirelessly preserving and promoting Georgia’s musical roots and traditions” presented by Governor Nathan Deal on the annual “Georgia Peach Pickers” show at the Ryman Auditorium.  

2019 / Featured songwriter at the Country Music Hall of Fame career retrospective, “Poets and Prophets”.

2021 / Released “Somewhere in a Song” CD produced by Grammy winner Jon Vezner.

Pat Alger / Artist Discography

I wrote and co-wrote a lot of songs before anyone was interested in recording even one of them. It didn’t take long to realize that the natural arc of songwriting is rejection, followed by more of the same. I tried to remain hopeful but inevitably a sense of futility set in. When I finally had a new album in my hands with one of my tunes on it, songwriting began to make a little more sense as a profession. After I built up a bit of momentum, I was just as puzzled why artists were suddenly interested in songs that had routinely been turned down before. Eventually I stopped thinking about all that and took pride in every recording – whether it was a big hit or a heart-felt performance by an indie artist – often the best cut I’d ever have on a song. When I began to make a list of the songs that have been recorded, I was impressed by the variety of artists and songwriters who have sung them. I’m always honored to hear a new performance of a song that I’ve had a hand in and I continue to be amazed that I’ve made a good living doing what I love. These are some of my favorite recordings in approximately chronological order 1970-2021 . * Denotes a single, and/or title-cut or video.

Hansen & Alger (EP) 

 On the Road, Rainbow 

Rachel Faro

 *Born Among the Lion 

Doris Abrahams 

 Hurricane in My Heart, The Last Unicorn, Dance the Night Away

The Woodstock Mountains Revue  

 Mason Dixon’s on the Line, Old-Time Music , Southern Crescent Line, Ocracoke Time

Artie Traum & Pat Alger

 *Daydreamin’ Dancer / *From the Heart, City Lights, First Time Love, Off Broadway

Livingston Taylor

 *First Time Love, Heart and Soul to Me

Livingston & James Taylor  

 *City Lights

Happy Traum

 Daddy’s Violin

John Allen Cameron

 *Overnight Success

Mickey Gilley

 Easy Come Hard to Go

George Hamilton IV

 The Life I Love, *Your Distant Arms (Duet with Colleen Petersen)

Jerry Jeff Walker

 Mason Dixon’s On the Line

The Everly Brothers

 I’m Takin’ My Time, Julianne

Nanci Griffith 

 *Once in a Very Blue Moon, *Lone Star State of Mind, Goin’ Gone, The Power Lines

Brenda Lee

 *I’m Takin’ My Time

Dolly Parton 

 Once in a Very Blue Moon

Peter, Paul & Mary

 I’d Rather be in Love

The Seldom Scene

 *Like I Used to Do

Kathy Mattea

 *Goin’ Gone, * She Came From Ft. Worth, *A Few Good Things Remain, *Seeds

The Dillards

 Like a Hurricane

Rhonda Vincent

 Goin’ Gone, Lone Star State of Mind 

Tim O’Brien

 Like I Used to Do, Time to Learn

Patti Page 

 One Less Rose in Texas

Mark Collie

 *Calloused Hands

Happy & Artie Traum

 *The Test of Time

Hal Ketchum

 *Small Town Saturday Night, Somebody’s Love, Softer Than a Whisper, Don’t Strike a Match

Crystal Gayle

 What He’s Doing Now, Once in a Very Blue Moon

Michael Johnson

 Heart and Soul to Me

Mary Black

 *Once in a Very Blue Moon, Goin’ Gone

Garth Brooks

 *The Thunder Rolls, *Unanswered Prayers, * That Summer, *What She’s Doing Now

  The Night I Called the Old Man Out

Don Williams

 *True Love, Lone Star State of Mind

Trisha Yearwood

 *Like We Never Had a Broken Heart

Tom Russell

 Strawberry Moon

Ian Tyson

 *Eighteen Inches of Rain, *The Wonder of it All

George Canyon

 Madi’s Song (The Man She Thinks I Am) ~ Juno Album of the Year

Chely Wright

 For the Long Run

Maura O’Connell

 Time to Learn

Claire Lynch

 The Mockingbird’s Voice, Be Ready to Sail, Long After I’m Gone

Sean Hogan

 *Genuine Love

Randy Travis

 *Nothin’s Gonna Bring Me Down ( At Christmas Time)

Tom Paxton

 *Boat in the Water, It’s Too Soon, Hitch to My Gitalong, Red Dirt Rebel

Bat McGrath

 *Communicate, Real Life, A Funny Place, *Find Some Love, Something We Do, Walnut Street

Harper Grae

 *Dear Daddy

Mark O’Connor Band

 *Blacktop Boy, Old Black Creek ~ 2017 Grammy winner Bluegrass Album

Ward Davis 

 *Fifteen Years in a Ten Year Town

All That Remains

 *The Thunder Rolls

Ruby Lovett

 Where I’m Standing Today

Amy McCarley

 A Clue, Clarksdale Blues, Days, Ain’t Life Funny, Happy

Lindley Creek

 *The Mockingbird’s Voice

Sam Hunt

 *What She’s Doing Now

State of Mine

 *The Thunder Rolls

Diane Chase

 *Genuine Love

Artist Discography

1977 Woodstock Mountains Revue / “More Music From Mud Acres” - Rounder

1978 Woodstock Mountains Revue / “Pretty Lucky” - Rounder

1979 Woodstock Mountains Revue / “Back to Mud Acres” - Rounder

1980 Artie Traum & Pat Alger / “From the Heart” - Rounder

1990 Pat Alger / “True Love and Other Short Stories” - Sugar Hill

1992 Pat Alger / “Seeds” - Sugar Hill

1994 Pat Alger / “Notes and Grace Notes” - Liberty

2021 Pat Alger / “Somewhere in a Song” - Rosebriar

I’ve had the opportunity to play acoustic guitar with a lot of great artists and I subsequently played on some of their recordings that featured my songs. The following is a list of some of them. * Denotes song only, **vocal.

Doris Abrahams

 Hurricane in My Heart*, The Last Unicorn*, Dance The Night Away*

Bill Keith

 Bully of the Town

Roly Salley

 Killing the Blues

Paul Siebel

 Weary Blues

Nanci Griffith

 Once in a Very Blue Moon*, Goin’ Gone*, Lone Star State of Mind*

Kathy Mattea

 Like a Hurricane*, A Few Good Things Remain*, Seeds*

Garth Brooks

 The Thunder Rolls *, Friends in Low Places (vocals on chorus only) 

Trisha Yearwood

 Like We Never Had a Broken Heart*

Tim O’Brien

 Like I Used to Do*

Amy McCarley

 Days*

Graphic Design

I’ve been a graphic designer since 1969 and whenever possible, I tried to link music with the design business. The following are some of my favorite projects I’ve worked on.

Homespun Tapes

  Original company logo, catalog designs, advertising brochures and layouts.

Rounder Records Album Designs, Typography & Graphics

• Ola Belle Reed & Family album design
• Tasty Licks (featuring Bela Fleck) album design and custom typography
• Old Originals Vol. 1 & 2 – “Old-time Instrumental Music of North Carolina & Virginia” album designs
• Butch Robins - “Fragments of my Imagicnation” album design and custom typography
• Mark O’Connor - “4-Time National Junior Fiddle Champion” album design
• Mud Acres - “Music Among Friends” (redesign of the original album cover)
• Happy and Artie Traum - “Hard Times in the Country” album design
• Artie Traum - “Life on Earth” album and poster design
• Woodstock Mountains - “More Music From Mud Acres” album, poster & T-shirt design
• Woodstock Mountains Revue - “Pretty Lucky” album & insert design
• Woodstock Mountains Revue - “Back to Mud Acres” album & insert design
• Artie Traum & Pat Alger - “From the Heart” album design
• Nanci Griffith - “The Last of the True Believers” album & insert design
• Nanci Griffith - “There’s a Light Beyond These Woods” album design
• David Olney - “Eye of the Storm” album design and custom typography

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

• The Gift Shop Catalog & The Country Music Journal
• “Dolly” / The Dolly Parton exhibition - exhibit design & promotional material
• The Grand Ol’ Opry / The First 60 Years - exhibit design & promotional material

Other projects

• Rick Beresford – “First of One” album design
• John Prine - “Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian” – jacket design & typography - 45rpm single
• Aztec Two-Step Songbook – concept, design & artwork
• Rick Beresford –“First of One” – album design
• Aztec Two-Step Songbook - concept, design & artwork
• Gerst Haus logo & original draft beer logo, T-shirt design & promotional material
• Sportsman’s Grille logo and T-shirt design
• John A. Lomax Jr. - “Folk” CD package design
• Alive Hospice at the Bluebird Café - poster design and artwork – winner 2019 American Graphic Design Award in the poster category