This is Up and Country on 93.7 The Bull. It’s powered by VLiveCast. I’m your host, Sue Bonzell. Let’s get this show started.
All right. He’s got a new album coming out, and he is playing all over Nashville. I’m excited that Greg Pratt is here. Welcome, Greg.
Greg Pratt: Thank you for having me out here.
Sue Bonzell: I’m excited. So, this is our very first interview here in our studios in Nashville, which we’re excited about. So we’re doing a little experimenting. Greg gets to be our guinea pig today, so I thank you for being the guinea pig on the show. So we were talking a little bit earlier and I’ve seen that you play a lot of gigs in downtown Nashville. How many gigs a week are you doing, just on average?
Greg Pratt: When it started… So I’ve been in Nashville for about six, six and a half years now. When it started, when I first figured out that I could kind of do music down there and actually make it sort of a living, it was like six days a week. Now it’s kind of backed it off, and it’s more of like Friday, Saturday, the high volume during the day, some closing shifts that are a little bit quieter on Saturday night. But then Mondays is at Justin Timberlake’s place, Twelve Thirty Club, which is…
Sue Bonzell: That’s a cool venue.
Greg Pratt: That’s at 500 Broadway. It’s downtown, but it’s not technically Broadway, I think.
Sue Bonzell: It still is.
Greg Pratt: Regardless of…
Sue Bonzell: It’s like right across, kitty-corner from it, right?
Greg Pratt: Yes, it’s kitty-corner. You would say catty-corner.
Sue Bonzell: I was going to say catty-corner or say kitty-corner.
Greg Pratt: But it’s nice. Justin’s is a little bit different because when I go into Dierks and do my show, it’s still a solo, and I have the one-man, three-piece thing. I put the tambourine on my foot. I use my guitar to have a little bit of a percussion on it too when I hit the bridge pin. That’s why I think I’m one of the only people I know, guitarists, that have two calluses there from the percussion side, which is interesting.
Sue Bonzell: Interesting.
Greg Pratt: So there you could straight up…
Sue Bonzell: Something to look for when you’re hanging out with musicians. You’re like, “Hey, let me see your calluses.”
Greg Pratt: “Where are your calluses at?” That’s weird.
Sue Bonzell: That’s a weird conversation, right?
Greg Pratt: But at Dierks, you can really honky-tonk it up, and it’s a good time. Places like the Grand Hyatt or Justin Timberlake’s, it’s a little bit nicer. So I kind of have to ease everybody into the honky-tonk mindset by the end of it. So it takes a little bit longer, but it’s fun.
Sue Bonzell: And you were definitely honky-tonk. I’ve seen some of your shows, and it’s like you were having a damn good time. You totally interact with the audience, which I love. And you have a group of fans that are following you around too, right?
Greg Pratt: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Sue Bonzell: What’s your group called? Do you have a group?
Greg Pratt: I don’t have a group. One day there will be, I’m sure.
Sue Bonzell: I have a name for it. Are you ready?
Greg Pratt: Uh-oh, here we go.
Sue Bonzell: It’s ‘The Pratt Pack.’
Greg Pratt: That’s not bad. That’s not bad.
Sue Bonzell: It’s ‘The Pratt Pack.’ You want to be part of the Pratt Pack, you join his fan club. So there you go, and you can come to the shows and hang out and all that good stuff.
Greg Pratt: Do I have to like pay you for that?
Sue Bonzell: No. Free advice.
Greg Pratt: Intellectual property right there.
Sue Bonzell: I’m here all week. So now, okay, I did see a video of you because I did have to stalk you a little bit on TikTok and Instagram and stuff like that, because that’s like the job.
Greg Pratt: I hope you saw the right video and not the wrong one.
Sue Bonzell: I saw some of them. So I saw a really cool video. There’s been several of you with the jeans, the Wranglers. What’s the deal with the Wranglers? In the very tight jeans, might I add.
Greg Pratt: It depends. There’s somebody… You know, I talk to my… Let’s put it this way. I have another, we call them my second family. We call him Pappa Cowboy, and then he’s got a whole family of people that work on his ranch, 55,000 acres out in Douglas, Wyoming. And I met them through an original song that I wrote. One day I was playing, and it was in the middle of winter. So it was when Miranda Lambert’s was Crazy Town, and it was on the very top floor, and nobody would show up for the entire four hours I was playing. So I would just literally serenade the bartender for those whole four hours. And it was cold outside, cold as crap outside. So these people from Wyoming that don’t have a lot of clothes on, so they don’t mind that it’s cold as heck outside, come up there and start listening as I play that song, Different Strings, that I wrote about my dad. And that is where our whole relationship started.
They got me hooked up with a guy named Lory Merritt, who used to do a lot of work for Wrangler’s, endorsements for about 20 years or more, I think. So they got me hooked up with them right before COVID really started moving. They sent us, God, I think it was a good amount of gear for the entire band, and they helped us out. So it was a pretty nice endorsement. So, luckily, some of the stuff still fits. But so we always make the joke, me and Pappa Cowboy, where we have my money-making jeans that I wear when you have to go out there. You have the ones that make money, and then the ones that actually aren’t as tight. So…
Sue Bonzell: Believe me, I’ve seen the money-making jeans. You guys got [crosstalk] on socials.
Greg Pratt: Yeah, everybody talks about those ones.
Sue Bonzell: Seriously. And there’s a little booty shake thing you got going on too.
Greg Pratt: That started in… I got to say, it’s story time today. That started in Vegas. So I went with a guy named Bigg Vinny Mac. He was one of the first winners of Biggest Loser, I think. And we had him… He called me up one day. This was about four years ago. He said, “Do you want to go play Vegas?” I was like, “Sure.”
Sue Bonzell: “Why not?”
Greg Pratt: Why not? So he said, “We’re putting a band together of our buddies. We call it American Made.” I went out there and played the Losers in the MGM Grand for two weeks or something straight. And there was this woman that came up one day. Me and Vinny would [inaudible]. We’d switch off singing songs. And Vinny’s like a hell of a dancer. He can do the gyro stuff. He does the worm. And he’s kind of a really big guy too. So a woman came up, and I think she dropped like two $100s in the bucket. She’s like, “You two shake it.” Vinny looks at me, he goes, “Do you know how to gyro?” I was like, “I think.” And [inaudible] we turned around and it just made the entire night.
So, that kind of goes along with what you were saying about that honky-tonk thing, is I want people to come to a show and forget about their nine-to-five, forget about all the politics, forget about everything that they are stressed with in a day. And that’s what my job is; getting them to let go and have the time of their lives for at least three to four hours.
Sue Bonzell: I love that, because number one, you’re a very talented musician, number one. But then you also get to be that entertainer, like I said, and interacting with the crowd. And of course, you know, doing a little booty shake once in a while, right?
Greg Pratt: It works for me sometimes.
Sue Bonzell: The ladies seem to like it, so… Now, did I hear right that you auditioned for American Idol?
Greg Pratt: There was… So this is a while ago, but yes, it was when they came… I forget the hotel’s name. It’s right by the Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse on West End, I think. And they came in there, and they were in some of the conference rooms. The week before, I got a message in my email I think, and they said, “Hey, we looked at your Instagram. You need to come out and audition.” So it was kind of one of those different auditions where it’s like normally I wouldn’t have gone because I was working all the time. But I actually think I canceled a shift, and me and my manager, Jace, went up in there and sat in front of the judges and talked to them. And I played my favorite country song of all time, which was Don’t Close Your Eyes by Keith Whitley.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, yeah, I’m with you there.
Greg Pratt: Don’t Take the Girl’s a close second by Tim McGraw. But I played that one and I played my heart out, and they were like, “That was amazing. We love it.” And they sent me home and never called me, which is fine. It’s totally okay.
Sue Bonzell: Maybe if you would’ve finished it up with a booty shake, maybe then they… I don’t know.
Greg Pratt: I don’t know if those go together.
Sue Bonzell: Right. Maybe a different song. I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s too funny. All right. So I also saw you do a song, and I think this is your song, Quickest Hands. Is that yours?
Greg Pratt: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Dude, you got some like mad skills. And when he says, “Quickest hands,” like honestly, on the guitar, I’m like, “Holy crap, that is impressive.” So, I mean, how did you learn… How long have you been playing? I mean, not everybody can do that, really.
Greg Pratt: So I guess the way it started was… So the Gil guitars that I have were given to me by my dad. That’s a whole other thing to unpack with my family situation, what it used to be with them all being doctors and me being a musicians. Big [inaudible]. But so I got those from him. And I remember when I was a kid, I kind of wanted to learn how to do… He lived in Nashville for a while when he was doing residency at Vanderbilt, so he kind of just drew a bunch of chord progressions, like chords that go together, that sound good when you play them all together, and had a sheet of it. And I learned that and kind of how to make the chords. But the rest of it was just trial and error over 10 years.
You learn how to do tablature, because I was trying to do electric guitar first, because everybody was. When you’re in junior high, everybody loves eighties rock because they have cool licks and stuff. Everybody would spend hours just looking up tabs. Like that was our lunch break. So, a lot of it was just… like the percussive style with beating on the bridge pins with the wrist and all that was just kind of trial and error for a while. I didn’t start singing really until right before I came here. So I’ve only been singing for about just under six or seven years, which was kind of tough coming here with that when you have people that are trying to make it in music and they’ve been doing it for 20, and it’s kind of a tough competition. So you kind of have to do a lot on the fly.
And guitar, for me, was the same kind of way. What’s interesting with me is it’s nice to do that when you’re by yourself and there’s parts when I do a full band show somewhere, I have to learn to let go and let the band kind of drive the whole thing together. And it’s an interesting trade-off because I have to learn to kind of surrender more of my… Because again, when I’m up there in a show, I’m creating the rhythm. I’m creating the music. I’m doing the vocals, kind of the whole nine yards. When you’re with a full band, you have to learn how to back up and play less, and let them kind of fill it in and let their talent shine too. So it’s a good balance there, but yeah.
Sue Bonzell: And so basically, everything’s just an experiment, right?
Greg Pratt: A lot of times in music… I’ve said this before in an interview I had with Devon O’Day, is like when my dad, as a doctor, would make a mistake, which he didn’t make a mistake, never made a mistake…
Sue Bonzell: Let’s make that clear.
Greg Pratt: But when he does something wrong, or if he were to do something wrong, something bad happens. When I do something and I make a mistake and I flub up, it could potentially be something really, really cool. So winging it is not necessarily a bad thing. I know rehearsals are there for a reason. But calling like audibles at the last minute on some stuff, it gets cool. That’s kind of beaty music, so…
Sue Bonzell: That’s kind of fun. Now, what’s the biggest dream, what would be the milestone for you in country music?
Greg Pratt: That’s a tough question. So, when I moved here, I guess the way I can say it is I went to University of Alabama, went back and took some classes at the University of Memphis. I was kind of between both of those, and I left with a credit left to graduate. I was literally a third of a class left. So I made an F, basically, because you missed [inaudible]. And it’s one of those where I actually have to be there, which is why I haven’t gone back and got it. But I left at the very end to come here and do this, and I made the decision when I got here or when I was moving here, that I was going to do nothing else with my life, period. And it’s always been kind of stressful. In the beginning, with my dad being a surgeon, my mom, my uncle, my grandpa, all being pediatricians, sister’s a civil engineer, so it’s…
Sue Bonzell: And you’re like, “Daddy, I’m going to go play the guitar.”
Greg Pratt: Oh, it was an interesting conversation. I think I was kind of hung up on in the beginning. But a milestone for me is I kind of view it as that’s a way you can help people. Music has a way of helping somebody that no pill, procedure, anything can. It’s a whole different type of an ailment sometimes where we have an ailment of the soul or an ailment of something like that, your emotions. And music is the healing tool for that. Whether it’s getting people up out of their seats and getting them going with a fast song, or whether it’s a song that’s going to get them to really look inward. So the milestone for me is I only got so many years to live, so I want to help as many people as I possibly can through that and get as many people out of their chairs and dancing as I can before you kick the bucket. I guess that’s really the only way I know how to look at it.
Sue Bonzell: I like it. Well, okay, so you got a new album.
Greg Pratt: A single.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, a single.
Greg Pratt: Four singles coming out, and EP…
Sue Bonzell: It’s kind of like an album. It’s EP.
Greg Pratt: The EP will be out… We’re probably going to do the EP later on this year. But we got four coming out first, with the fourth one being August 25th. And I think we’ll put the EP together after that.
Sue Bonzell: All right. So you got a song right now, just came out.
Greg Pratt: Well, it’s about to. So March 10th. We’re one week out. Four years of development and kind of getting the right songs together and putting them together, and it’s been a lot of investment and time and hours. And we’re finally there. We’re finally there.
Sue Bonzell: That’s exciting. Well, congratulations on that. That’s really cool. So, would you be willing to play a little song for us?
Greg Pratt: Yeah. Do you want to hear that one? We can start with that one if you want.
Sue Bonzell: Well, we’re going to take a little break, and then when we come back, you get to play whatever song you want, whatever’s your favorite that you want to share with us. I know any one that you pick is going to be amazing. So we’re going to do a song, and after that, we’re going to play a little game with Greg. So you don’t want to go anywhere because we’ve got music, a music performance, and we’ve got a game. So we’re going to have some fun.
Greg Pratt: Hey, all. This is Greg Pratt. This is my new single called It Don’t Last Long. Comes out March 10th. Here we go.
(singing)
Sue Bonzell: Woo.
Greg Pratt: Woo. [inaudible]
Sue Bonzell: All right. Thank you, Greg. That’s his new single, It Don’t Last Long. So tell us about this song.
Greg Pratt: So this song was actually a pitch. When it came across the desk, it was in the middle of when we were all locked down here. So we really didn’t know… There wasn’t a lot to do when we were fully locked down here. It was just kind of work out, do what you can.
Sue Bonzell: See, this is where he got his muscles. These are COVID muscles, right?
Greg Pratt: It was a lot of like we didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, and it was just kind of an open-ended, “I don’t know.” So, what my team started doing is, what we believe is what you have to do is get up every day, no matter how you feel, what you’re doing. You have to find a way to move your ball forward. And that’s kind of what we started doing. Then this song came across the desk. When I first heard it, I was like, “Holy crap.” It hit me like a truck, and I’m pretty sure that there’s a lot of other people out there that feel just like me, who don’t know where things are going to go or how it’s going to end up.” And that song helped me come to the realization that I only have so long. I don’t live forever. So I have to get up and make it happen every single day, whether it’s having the time of my life or advancing my career or just living. And that’s kind of what it’s all about, and I hope that message hits everybody out there that listen to it the same way it did for me.
Sue Bonzell: That’s awesome. Yeah, it’s a beautiful song. So okay, so we got a live performance from Greg. We did some questions. We’re going to play a little game right now, another opportunity to get to know Greg just a little bit better. So y’all have heard of Truth or Dare, but here’s the deal. We took off the dare. This is Truth and Truth, okay? So this is just some random questions, okay? So you can’t blame me if a question comes up because I’m not asking it. You’re picking your own questions. So…
Greg Pratt: Mom, if you’re watching, get off please.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. I mean, it’s nice. It’s tame. Come on. I’m not going to embarrass you. Okay. All right. You get to pick your first question. It’s Truth and Truth with Greg Pratt. Here we go. What’s it going to be?
Greg Pratt: If you met a genie, what would your three wishes be?
Sue Bonzell: Oh, see? That’s a good question, right?
Greg Pratt: It’s pretty good.
Sue Bonzell: A new guitar? Just kidding.
Greg Pratt: That’s really tough. Maybe like a lifetime supply of Whataburger. It’s really good.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, you know what you need? You need a pass to the front of the line at Whataburger.
Greg Pratt: Oh, I’ve seen that line [inaudible]. Yeah, that’s going to be rough. That would be the first one, definitely, because it’s good. Two would probably be more hits than George Strait.
Sue Bonzell: Ooh.
Greg Pratt: Yeah.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, you know what? If you’re going to ask the genie, why wouldn’t you?
Greg Pratt: Yeah, but I feel you got to work for that too.
Sue Bonzell: That’s okay. That’s all right.
Greg Pratt: So it would be like, “If I work for it, more hits than George Strait.”
Sue Bonzell: There you go. More hits than George Strait.
Greg Pratt: I love George Strait. His stuff is just fantastic, all of it.
Sue Bonzell: I know.
Greg Pratt: The third one would probably be a new Escalade, and I’d probably give that to my mom and dad, and be like, “Hey, here’s a new car. I know you guys still date.” They like to play tennis a bunch, and they’re always hauling that or golf clubs or stuff. So I’d kind of give them a little bit bigger of a vehicle to carry stuff around in.
Sue Bonzell: Okay, you got to love this guy. A little bit for him, a little bit for mom and dad too. So okay, that’s cool. First question done. Well done. How about the next one?
Greg Pratt: Mom may or may not wreck it.
Sue Bonzell: Oh, be nice now.
Greg Pratt: She knows. All right. We got another one? How many of these are we doing?
Sue Bonzell: How many do you want to do? How many do you want to do? You want to do five?
Greg Pratt: That’s a lot.
Sue Bonzell: Three?
Greg Pratt: That’s fine.
Sue Bonzell: We’ll get on a roll.
Greg Pratt: I’m not scared.
Sue Bonzell: Three, we’ll do three.
Greg Pratt: Whew.
Sue Bonzell: He’s not scared.
Greg Pratt: I might need a whiskey after two.
Sue Bonzell: We have that too.
Greg Pratt: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done? Oh, dear. That’s amazing. Well, so every morning… So my vocal coach, her name is Janet Kenyon. And she is also the vocal coach… She does Easton Corbin, Meghan Trainor, Josh Turner, Brothers Osborne. So she’s really helped me come into my baritone self. But we have these vocal warmups that I do every morning before I do anything. And I didn’t have time to workout that morning, so probably one of the weirdest things I would have to say, because my girlfriend at the time was watching me do it too, I was doing a vocal warmup and doing like squat jacks at the same time.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. That would’ve been TikTok worthy.
Greg Pratt: But I was brushing my teeth as well.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. See…
Greg Pratt: So, that was like… She got out of bed and she was like, “What the hell?” Yeah, that was probably one of the top ones for me.
Sue Bonzell: We’re talking about raw talent right there. I mean, seriously, that’s just plain raw talent. Okay. This will be your final question. I’ll let you off the hook.
Greg Pratt: All right. Thank you. I’m getting to the bottom here. I can’t really look…
Sue Bonzell: There’s a whole bunch of them in here.
Greg Pratt: What is a secret you’ve never told anyone?
Sue Bonzell: Ah, it’s only on an interview all over the internet, so it’s fine.
Greg Pratt: I guess this would be kind of cool. So, when I was a kid, I was diagnosed with horrible ADHD, awful, like energy all the time. That’s why whenever I say it on stage, I’m like, “Hey, anybody in the room have ADHD?” All people in the back, you’ll see them be like, “Yep. Me.” If you can’t tell when I start doing all the whole percussion stuff, it’s like I have to be doing five things at once. When I’m sitting here by myself, I kind of get antsy.
So there’s that, coupled with… We figure it out kind of later what it was. They always call them tics or twitches or… But actually when we looked it up and we did the research, it’s a milder form of Tourette syndrome, which I know one of the pop artists I listen to… I’ve listened to two pop artists. Primarily, one is Elton John. I love Elton John’s stuff. I’d love to cut one of his songs in a country format one day. Then Billie Eilish as well. She’s got the same thing that I do, which is kind of interesting. So it’s been kind of a struggle going through life with it. But at the end of the day, there’s a lot of other worse things I think than what I have to deal with. Mine’s not even really that bad. But I think the biggest secret I’ve never told anyone is I’m definitely used it before to get someone to go out with me, and I kind of regret it.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Now we’re getting to the good stuff.
Greg Pratt: So, and the way it kind of went was I kind of… I don’t know. It’s not good, but it’s not bad.
Sue Bonzell: It’s not bad.
Greg Pratt: I didn’t hide it. It didn’t like [inaudible] something else, but I was like, “I’m not trying to make her feel sorry for me.” But I’m not going to tell you exactly how I did it.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. Don’t reveal the secrets.
Greg Pratt: I definitely used it to my advantage, maybe not in the best way. But you know what? Whatever. I feel like being serious about this is everybody’s got something that they have to deal with. And in my case, I hope that if we knock it out of the park with everything going on that… They always say everybody’s got a cross to bear. Everybody’s got something they’re dealing with. That it’ll at least encourage some other people that have that kind of, what they think might be a setback to them. In that case, it actually worked. I mean, not just being cheeky about it. She actually went out with me.
Sue Bonzell: So there you go.
Greg Pratt: But it’s important that no matter what you think holds you back, if you want something bad enough, you can get out there and you can get it. And life can work like that if you allow it to. So…
Sue Bonzell: I love it. Okay. See, didn’t this work out well? It wasn’t that bad.
Greg Pratt: I don’t want to do four or five though.
Sue Bonzell: Okay. You’re like, “I’m going to pass on the four and the five.” All right. Well, cool. I want to thank you so much for being our first in-person guest at our new studio here in Nashville. Very excited to have you here, and thank you again. We’ll see you around town in Nashville. Come to Nashville. Come see Greg. And make sure you follow him on his socials and download the new song.
Greg Pratt: Absolutely. It’ll be in the bio of my Instagram, which is GregPrattCountry. That’s G-R-E-G P-R-A-T-T Country. Also, if you don’t have Instagram, which some people still don’t, which is okay, my website: www.GregPrattCountry.com. There’s a big old picture of the cover art. If you scroll down a little bit, just click the picture and it’ll take you right there.
Sue Bonzell: So easy to get amazing music. Thank you again, Greg.
Greg Pratt: Absolutely. Thank you.
Sue Bonzell: Thanks for tuning in to Up and Country, where we have new episodes every Tuesday. And be sure to visit UpAndCountry.com for all of the episodes and information about our VIP club, where you’re going to get exclusive back-stage access. And if you’re on Instagram or TikTok, make sure to follow me, Sue Bonzell. I’ll see you next week.
Recent Comments