Pat Alger

Pat Alger (born September 23, 1947 in LaGrange, Georgia^[1]) is a country music songwriter, singer and guitarist.

Biography

Alger attended Georgia Tech studying architecture but decided to concentrate on writing songs. He started as a solo folk performer at folk clubs.^[2] He began his career as a musician and songwriter working together with Happy and Artie Traum as a member of the Woodstock Mountains Revue. The group included the Traum brothers, John Herald and Maria Muldaur among others. Some of the songs he wrote during this period were "Old Time Music" and "Southern Crescent Line."^[1] In 1980, he had his first success as a songwriter when Livingston Taylor had a hit with "First Time Love". Between 1984 and 1988, he toured with the Everly Brothers in the United States and in Europe.^[2] He later teamed up with Nanci Griffith and co-wrote Griffith's hit songs "Once In A Very Blue Moon" ( with Eugene Levine) and "Lone Star State of Mind."(with Eugene Levine and Fred Koller) ^[1] Some of his songs have also been recorded by Kathy Mattea such as "Goin' Gone", "She Came From Fort Worth" and "A Few Good Things Remain." He wrote some of the number one hits of Garth Brooks like "Unanswered Prayers", "What She's Doing Now", "The Thunder Rolls" and "That Summer." He also wrote hits for Hal Ketchum, "Small Town Saturday Night," for Trisha Yearwood, "Like We Never Had A Broken Heart," for Don Williams, "True Love", and for Mark Collie, "Calloused Hands." Through the years, his songs have been recorded and performed by such diverse artists as Peter, Paul and Mary, Dolly Parton, Lyle Lovett, Brenda Lee and Crystal Gayle.^[2] He has recorded three critically acclaimed solo albums in the 1990s featuring backup by Griffith, Lovett, Mattea and Yearwood.^[3]

He has well over 20 hits to his credit, including eight number 1 hits and has played venues all over the world, including a year long tour as opening act for the Everly Btothers. He starred in the 30th anniversary of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts gala. He has been featured on NPR Radio's "All Things Considered" and "Fresh Air" several times, and has hosted, along with fellow HOF inductee,Tony Arata, WSM's radio show featuring past HOF inductees. The Music City Center, in Nashville, is to open in May of 2013 and will house the first permanent home for the NSAI inductees. The first floor gallery and outdoor courtyard features past and future Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame members. It is the project of the Nashville Songwriter's Foundation, of which Alger is a board member. His advocacy for the songwriter and their intellectual property rights is well known as is the efforts of NSAI and NSF/

Awards

In 1991, he was voted Songwriter of the Year by the Nashville Songwriter's Association International, and the same year he was voted Jukebox Songwriter of the Year by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, ASCAP. In 1992, he received the Country Songwriter of the Year award from ASCAP. Country Music Association gave him two Triple Play awards given to those who have three number one hits in a year. In 2010, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwiters Hall of Fame. He currently serves as Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation and is a two time past President of Nashville Songwriters Association International. Pat Alger is to be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in September 2013 ^[4]

Discography

Alger first recorded one duet album with Artie Traum and then three solo albums:

• From The Heart (1980)
• True Love & Other Short Stories - Sugar Hill Records (1991)
• Seeds - Sugar Hill Records (1993)
• Notes and Grace Notes (1994)

Notes

References

• Carlin, Richard (2003), Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary, Taylor & Francis
• Miller, Zell (1996), They Heard Georgia Singing, Mercer University Press