Lee Greenwood sings on his current tour marking 40 years of hits.
Submitted photo
Three patriotic minutes nearly 40 years ago changed nearly every minute thereafter of Lee Greenwood’s life. No doubt about it in his mind.
And that sizable success allows him to keep a continuing career in perspective, wrapped in gratitude.
”Even with 11 No.1 country hits, without the (1984) song ‘God Bless the USA,’ I realize that my career probably would have waned long ago, and never would have lasted anywhere near this long,” said the 79-year-old country vocalist, speaking from Pennsylvania, one of his recent stops on his current 40 Years of Hits Tour. “I would say that the song has been an umbrella, but not a parachute.”
The Grammy-winning singer promises music both newer and older at his 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 concert at the Brown County Music Center in Nashville. He recalls years of playing the town’s former Little Nashville Opry and looks forward to his first visit to the more modern space.
The set list is so interchangeable among material from his 37 albums that he mentioned that he wasn’t totally sure of the mix to be featured here.
“It’s about keeping it fresh and making it refreshing for us (in the band),” he said. “Sometimes we even change the songs’ arrangements from show to show. You never want things to get stale.”
Some stories about him refer to that heralded, best-known tune that he wrote in the back of a tour bus simply as The Song — one that he has crooned at venues as varied as Yankee Stadium just after 9/11 to the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.
Yet, he wants people to know that he’s still writing, currently perusing through 21 tunes for a new album he ideally hopes to release before year’s end. Six or seven of the cuts are songs that have appeared on other albums. That includes his duet, “We Were Meant For Each Other” with Barbara Mandrell.
Just mentioning a luminary such as Mandrell suddenly triggered an aside for Greenwood, speaking on the day that icon Loretta Lynn’s death at age 90 was announced.
“That is understandably going to consume our day,” he said, taking a moment to recall touring with her. “Loretta was just the most beautiful person ever.”
He said his concert crowd sizes are “beginning to be like the old days” after some post-pandemic drop-off. But he is accustomed to far more than music halls. His performances have included presidential inaugurations, opening of presidential libraries, you name it.
“The kind of performances I have had the honor of having is just staggering,” he said.
Originally, the California native planned to pursue a baseball career. Today, part of his work includes an outreach of his very public Christian faith — promoting the God Bless the USA Bible, complete with in-the-back elements such as the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence.
“People sometimes forget just how this country got started,” he said.
Lee Greenwood seems in no danger of forgetting how his biggest success started.
Three minutes. Years of impact.
About the concert
Who: Country artist Lee Greenwood.
When: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20.
Where: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Drive in Nashville.
Tickets: browncountymusiccenter.com
