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IT'S NOT EASY BEING GREEN

July 10, 2008 12:15 am

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.

By the early '80s, Green had found a measure of success making exclusively gospel albums. Along with Elvis, he is the only singer to be inducted into both the Gospel and Rock 'n' Roll halls of fame.

In the early '90s, Green made his way back to soul and R&B's mainstream.

"It was like a family reunion" he remembered. "Everybody hugging each other and laughing."

While most of Green's contemporaries had passed away or retired, like a fine wine he was getting better with time, playing scores of dates around the world every year to sold-out audiences.

If you ask Green how his voice has fared over his career, he'll tell you, "It's gotten better--I can do more now than I could when I sang the old songs."

That's not just an idle boast; the evidence is his latest album, "Lay It Down." Released just over a month ago, it entered Billboard's Top 200 chart at No. 9.

"It took all of us by surprise," said Green--who was also just recently presented a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BET network.

"You have to love this business to stay in it as long as I have," said Green.

After 40 years, this just may be his secret:

"I like to burn the candle just a little bit at a time, not too brightly."

'Doc' Henley Smythe is a local DJ and musician. Reach him at rockwithdoc.com.