The Country Music Hall of Fame is featuring a year-long exhibit honoring the legendary Lee Greenwood in preparation of the 30th Anniversary of the release of his benchmark single, “God Bless the USA.” He also has a new book out, “Does God Still Bless the USA?” I had the opportunity to talk with him for a few minutes in front of his exhibit in the Hall of Fame. It was great chatting with one of my musical heroes. Find out what he had to say about his book, the exhibit, and more!
Q: Tell me about your new book; what are some highlights our readers should know about?
A: Well, “Does God Still Bless the USA?” took us almost a year to write, and the reason we wrote it, because we figured America’s moving away from it’s traditional values, and I don’t think it’s a good thing. I know we need a balance, I know we need to move forward, because the world is getting more liberal. I don’t want my children to be so liberal that they don’t know what morals are and what friendship is and citizenry is and respect. And so I think all those things are reflected in a faith. And a country without faith has very little moral quality, so that’s why we wrote the book. Now I do answer some questions in the back because I am a Christian and that’s a little bit of a biased report. My wife is also Christian, she wrote the Prayers of a Patriot, which is in the back of the book; a 30-day calendar to tell you, or to offer up what you might like to pray. There’s also two songs that I wrote in the book to express my faith, and one is a Christian song called “Show Me The Way.”
Q: What does it mean to you to have the Hall of Fame honoring you with an exhibit here as you celebrate your 30th anniversary of “God Bless the USA?”
A: Well you know, Mike…this particular exhibit opened May 10th this year, 2013. It is 29 years to the day that we released the song, “God Bless the USA,” so that makes me very proud. So the next year, we’re going to celebrate 30 years of “USA” being an anthem for America. This exhibit, as it runs for a year, I’ll come make visits occasionally, have a lot of visits by people who are from out of the state or out of the country. And I’ll be an ambassador for Nashville in that regard and an ambassador for country music. A lot of the things in the exhibit represent not just my military association, not just my country music awards; a lot of my personal life is in here as well. Whatever is behind the glass, you will see 50 times of that behind the wall that I gave them. They were stunned, I had so much. It’s just because we’ve saved a lot over the years, I just can’t let anything go.
Q: Have you ever passed up on recording a song that you regretted, that went on to be a hit for someone else?
A: There was only one song I think that got away from me that, I didn’t pass on it, but I didn’t realize that I, I wasn’t going to get to have the hit, and that is “The Wind Beneath My Wings.” I was the first one to record it. Larry Hanley gave me the recording, it was on an album that had another song that won us a Grammy called “I.O.U.,” so the choice of the two songs, we released “I.O.U.” first. If we did release “Wind Beneath My Wings” first, nobody else could’ve covered it. But it turned out that Gary Morris covered the song, had the hit with in country music, and then Lou Rawls, Sheena Easton, Gladys Knight, and then Bette Midler. But it did give me a release in Great Britain, and it became my hit in the United Kingdom, “The Wind Beneath My Wings,” so it didn’t totally get away.
Q: Do you remember the first time you ever heard yourself on the radio, and what was your reaction?
A: Yes, I was pulling into a Holiday Inn in Oklahoma, and I came in to register the band because we were traveling in a Travel Craft with four musicians, and I heard the band playing it inside the club, and so I ran up to the stage, the guy singing it looked at me kinda strange-like, I mouthed to him, “I’m the guy that sings that song!” And he blew me off, and then it took a guitar ride, and while they were taking a guitar ride, I jumped on stage and grabbed the mic and started singing it. Why would I do that now is beyond me, but I was so excited to know that I had gotten a hit on radio for the first time.
Q: What’s something that you are very passionate about?
A: Well I’m passionate about health. I love sports, unfortunately I don’t play sports like I used to because of physical disability, but I played basketball, racquetball, up into my 60’s, and I’m very passionate about health because of it. And I think if someone stays active and exercises a lot, they will stay healthier longer.
Q: What’s the #1 item on your bucket list?
A: Getting both of my kids out of college!
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring artists?
A: The best advice I could give any artist who is brand new, and I’m assuming they’re in their 20’s or even their teens, is be prepared to give up EVERYTHING. If you want a career, there’s always that quote, “be careful what you ask for,” because it’s gonna cost you a lot. If you have a passion for the music and for the stardom, and they don’t necessarily go hand in hand, but if you have a passion to be where other artists are, and being played on radio and having the touring schedule, it has a lot of pitfalls, you will lose everything you love if you pursue it with your entire life and passion, so just be careful what you ask for.