Artist Guide

Patrick Green

#55 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Understanding "

Patrick Green

Composed by Patrick Green

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See "Tidbits" below for the latest updates on Patrick Green. To automatically link to Patrick Green's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other references, go to "Green, Patrick" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique

The name sounds as Irish as a four-leaf clover, but the introduction to the song "Understanding" leaves no doubt where Patrick Green hails from.

"I'll tell you what.
I wasn't raised in the ghetto for nothing.
And if I can't do nothing right,
I can sure express myself."

Like another young artist by the name of Vick Allen, Patrick Green specializes in a rhythm and blues that's almost "pop"-sounding in its technical crispness and underlying optimism.

"What's all that talk about leaving?
Girl, you know you ain't going anywhere.
I get so tired of your complaining
When we go out somewhere."

"Understanding's" melody carries a remarkable undercurrent of energy and buoyancy, so much so that the apparent anger in the lyrics is made to sound almost festive. The lead vocal is a primer in soul-singing technique, and Green carries it off with the flair of the song's hero, whose crumbling relationship has mobilized all of his mechanisms of self-defense.

"That lady you saw me talking to,
She was a second cousin of mine.
It wasn't really necessary
For you to act such a clown."

Over a stately but swinging soul background, complete with horns and female chorus (a wonderful cameo by Jewel Bass), the song quickly becomes an anthem for put-upon males, the story of a righteous man throwing off an emotional burden.

The signature line--the line that defines the song and burns itself into your memory--is:

"Seven years bad luck.
Broke the mirror in my pickup truck."

And Green delivers the passage with a wrenching yet exhilarating growl. The song (also written by Green) is a remarkable achievement by a young artist steeped in Southern Soul rhythm and blues, but it is by no means Green's only claim to fame. Songs with strong melodies, passionate vocals and soul-steeped arrangements abound in the "PG Man's" rapidly growing catalog.

"Let's Grow Old Together" is a sweet-tempered, superbly executed ballad--another upbeat tune with just the right mix of the down-to-earth and the romantic. And "Do You Feel Me" is an infectious and upbeat tune reprising much the same theme as "Understanding," namely the relationship between a spirited man and an independent-minded woman. Once again, the woman is "accusing" him, and once again, P.G. is "holding firm."

"Please don't be stubborn, baby."
I'm a hell of a man."

Your Daddy B. Nice first heard these latter songs, from the CD Still A Thrill, break onto the chitlin' circuit in September of 2004, and they are proof positive that Green is not going away any time soon. Still A Thrill may be Patrick Green's best album yet.

If sensitive "woman's man" performer Willie Clayton should ever stumble professionally (unlikely as that is), Green is poised to pick up the old-school baton and carry on with the kind of good-time, soulful music fans of rhythm and blues crave.

--Daddy B. Nice

About Patrick Green

Patrick Green hails from Houston, Texas, where he got his start in the music business in the early nineties with the release of a disc named All I Have to Give. His song "Understanding" has taken on near-cult status on the chitlin' circuit since its inclusion on Green's debut CD, The PG Man: Here Am I. (Waldoxy, 2000).

Both Willie Clayton and Mel Waiters contributed producing and arranging assistance on the P. G. Man CD, and "Rock The Boat"--the radio-featured single from Tears In My Heart, Green's second CD (Across The World, 2002)--features Green in a duet with the widely respected Clayton.

A third Patrick Green CD, Still A Thrill, emerged in the fall of 2004. Deejays greeted it with gusto, especially the tracks, "Let's Grow Old Together" and "Do You Feel Me".

Obscurity, marginalization and limited means--the challenges facing so many southern Black musicians--have continued to hamper Green's career, but his determination to continue making records has slowly but surely made him a "name" amongst Southern Soul deejays and R&B fans willing to beat the bushes to find his material.

Song's Transcendent Moment

"Things always happen to me.
I'm lucky in love.
That's my destiny.
What you need is understanding."

Tidbits

1.

Nov. 23, 2006. Southern Soul, published by Across The Board Records in August of this year, has already netted Patrick Green a new chitlin' circuit hit ("I Need A Do Right Woman"), with another track ("Bit Off More Than I Can Chew") gaining airplay across the Stations of the Deep South as the year winds down. "I Need A Do Right Woman" may have been inspired by Ms. Monique's popular "Mr. Do Right," also a chitlin' radio stalwart through 2006. Southern Soul luminaries Rue Davis and Harrison Calloway contributed to the CD.

2.

February 26, 2007. Southern Soul has spawned another chitlin' circuit hit, "Door Knob," currently making its presence felt on deejay charts, including your Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles (#3) for March, 2007. Three solid singles--"I Need A Do Right Woman," "Bit Off More Than I Can Chew," and "Door Knob" ("Don't let the door knob hit ya/ Where the good Lord split-cha") is a pretty good indication a CD is worth buying: Patrick Green has a CD to be proud of. DBN.

3.

September 4, 2008:

Patrick Green's Popcorn Man is a lackluster effort from a usually solid, middle-of-the-pack Southern Soul performer. Green has all the tools (voice, arranging, material), but they're not much in evidence here, even on the album's first single, "Popcorn Man." I'd recommend sampling Green's back catalog, especially The P.G. Man: Here Am I, rather than risking disappointment with Popcorn Man.

(The above piece ran on Daddy B. Nice's Corner in July & August of 2008 under the title "Better Skipped This Time Around.")

DBN