PAT GARRETT
It sounds like an overnight success story. It took singer/songwriter Pat Garrett exactly one week to get a record deal once he had the idea for his new song, "Moose Shootin Mama". But like the song's subject, Sarah Palin, who seemingly came out of nowhere to become the world's most talked about woman, Garrett has spent years writing, performing and recording before someone with vast experience in the industry finally said "I think you have a hit!"
Mike Borchetta, president of Lofton Creek Records, who signed Tim McGraw when at Curb Records, and was instrumental in the career of LeAnn Rimes, was that person. "Pat's been pitching me songs for years. Then last Thursday morning, I hear Pat singing on my voicemail. As soon as I heard 'She's a moose-shootin' mama', I just knew it was something I had to jump on. I called him right back and told him to come down and cut it." A week later, Pat was sitting in Borchetta's office, playing him the mastered cut.
This talented singer with a rich baritone voice was once signed by Polygram Records, and achieved six nationally-charted Billboard singles. He has performed with legendary artists like Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Porter Wagoner, and little Jimmy Dickens, to name a few.
Also a prolific songwriter, several of Pat's songs have been cut by artists from genres as diverse UK's most popular punk rock group, Artic Monkeys, who covered Garrett's song "Bad Woman" in 2008, and polka king Jimmy Sturr, who along with comedian Charlie Prose cut Pat's hilarious tune "Suck It In". Pat has also had cuts by Grammy-award winning songwriter Hoyte Axton, and Tommy Cash on his song "Old Timers.
In 2003, "The Saddam Stomp", which he recorded as well as penned, hit the Billboard 100 charts, and was featured in Country Weekly, Rolling Stone Magazine, and ABC News. In 2001, Garrett wrote "If You Love America" in response to 9/11, donating the profits of thousands of dollars to the American Red Cross. On the lighter side, his song "The Monica Lewinsky Polka" was a huge hit with audiences, and while never promoted to radio, sold over 50,000 copies within a few months at his appearances alone.
His pure and simple ballad "In the Blue Mountains", a tribute to his home state of Pennsylvania, received rave reviews and was a favorite of Grammy-award winning songwriter and nationally-syndicated radio personality, Bill Mack. His tune Sexy Ole' Lady went number 1 at stations in Ft Worth, Oklahoma City and Detroit in the '80s, and "Jumpin' John".
When not touring with his five-piece group, The Pat Garrett Country Jubilee, which includes Suzy Dalton on vocals and bass guitar, Mitch Wolfe on keyboards, Tom Vollmer on steel guitar, and Danny Vollmer on drums, he divides his time between Nashville and Pennsylvania. Says Garrett, "I've had songs go #1 in certain markets, but I want one to be #1 everywhere. I'm getting closer every time," he grins, "and until it happens, I'll just keep on trying."