IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Al Green keeps soul-music torch burning
Date published: 7/10/2008
BY 'DOC' HENLEY SMYTHE
FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR
IF JAMES BROWN was known as "The Godfather of Soul," then the Rev. Al Green could be the Michael Corleone of the genre.
Brown's death in 2006--along with the untimely losses of soul legends like Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson--might have threatened the extinction of classic soul music. Yet Green continues carrying the torch in a 40-year career that has seen its share of ups and downs.
The 62-year-old will visit Wolf Trap's Filene Center in Vienna next Tuesday, on a tour that will take him all across the United States and Canada this summer before he treks off to Europe in October.
In 1971, the album "Al Green Gets Next to You" was released and sent soul music to new heights--and Green's career skyrocketing. That album alone had four gold singles, and it was followed in short succession by "Let's Stay Together," "I'm Still in Love With You," "Call Me," "Livin' for You" and "Al Green Explores Your Mind."
By 1974, Green had four more gold singles and was averaging two chart-topping albums a year. He became a mainstay on the pop and R&B charts, and it seemed he could do no wrong.
However, as Green observed in a recent phone interview from his home in Memphis, Tenn., "I was completely wrong at that time--that was the problem."
Green had succumbed to the life of stardom, and all the trappings that go with it.
"I went through the girls, the champagne and the private planes," he admitted in a 2005 interview with Britain's Channel 4.
But looking back on it now, Green said he appreciated that the experiences of that time shaped some powerful music.
"You can't write songs like that unless you've gone through the things yourself," he said. "You can't write about that kind of compassion or emotion unless you've actually done it yourself.
"That's the way the songs turned out."
In the mid-'70s, Green found faith, becoming an ordained minister and founding his own Full Gospel Tabernacle church in Memphis in 1979.
He sums it up very simply: "My faith is my life. Without faith, I don't have a life."
Green again used his passion and emotion--this time of a more spiritual nature--to fashion himself a name in the world of gospel music.
| What: Al Green performs soul classics and tracks from his latest album, 'Lay It Down,' with opening act Amos Lee.
Where: Wolf Trap Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Cost: $42 in-house; $25 lawn
Info: 703/255-1900
Web: wolftrap.org |
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Date published: 7/10/2008
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