Pat Alger

Biography

Born in Long Island City, New York, Pat Alger was raised in his mother’s hometown, LaGrange, Georgia. In the mid 1960’s, to earn money to pay his tuition at Georgia Tech, Pat began performing in Atlanta’s acoustic music clubs – The Twelfth Gate, the Bottom of the Barrel, The Bistro & The Great Southeast Music Hall – intimate places where the music was the main attraction. “It was a great time in Atlanta to be starting a career in the music business.” Alger recalled recently.

After becoming an established performer around the southeast, Pat migrated to Woodstock, NY in 1973 - the home of Bob Dylan and the Band - and quickly became part of that legendary musical landscape, eventually recording three albums with the Woodstock Mountains Revue for Rounder Records. In 1978 Pat moved to Manhattan to concentrate on songwriting and in 1979 he formed a Duo with renowned guitarist Artie Traum, recording a well-received album of original material for Rounder Records. One of his songs from that album - “First Time Love” – was recorded by Livingston Taylor and became a top-40 pop hit in 1980 - going on to reach #13 on the AC charts. That momentum took him to the ‘Promised Land’ for songwriters - Nashville, TN.

Early on, mainstream country artists Mickey Gilley, George Hamilton IV and Dolly Parton recorded his songs as well as legendary pop artists Brenda Lee, The Everly Brothers, Peter, Paul & Mary and Livingston & James Taylor. In 1987 he had his first #1 hit with “Goin’ Gone” by Kathy Mattea. A long string of country hits followed including “Small Town Saturday Night’ for Hal Ketchum, “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart” for Trisha Yearwood & “True Love” for Don Williams. He co-wrote 4 number one songs: “The Thunder Rolls”, “Unanswered Prayers”, “What She’s Doing Now” & “That Summer” with Garth Brooks which have sold over 60 million copies.

Pat was elected Songwriter of the Year for the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 1991 & ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year in 1992. In 2010 he was inducted into The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2013 he became a member of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. He is currently the Chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation and just finished his second year as a consultant in songwriting in the Belmont University Songwriting Degree program, teaching a master class in lyric writing.

This year so far / Pat had two songs on the 2017 Grammy-winning Bluegrass album “Coming Home” by The Mark O’Connor Family Band – as well as three songs, including the title cut, of legendary singer/songwriter Tom Paxton’s latest CD project: “Boat In the Water”. In February, Pat shared the stage in Las Vegas with superstar Garth Brooks and continues to perform all over the country including most recently in New York City and New Orleans.

Career Highlights

3 solo albums - True Love and Other Short Stories & Seeds on Sugar Hill Records plus Notes and Grace Notes on Liberty (Capitol) Records.

26 ASCAP performance awards as a writer / publisher.

1984-1992 - Chosen as the opening act for The Everly Brothers World Tour – their first since their breakup in the seventies. Thet record his song Takin’ My Time on their reunion album: EB-84.

1991 - Songwriter of the Year for Nashville Songwriters Association International; Music Row magazine Songwriter of the Year & Cashbox magazine Songwriter of the Year

1991 - Song of the Year - Small Town Saturday Night –Radio & Records Magazine; Song of the Year – The Thunder Rolls – The Gavin Report

1991 & 1992 - Country Music Association Triple Play Award for 3 #1 records in a single year

1992 - The Thunder Rolls – American Music Awards Favorite Country Single

1992 - ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year

1992 - National Jukebox Association ASCAP Songwriter of the Year (with Garth Brooks)

1993 - Pat’s album Seeds nominated for best Folk Album at Nashville Music Awards

1998 - President’s Choice Award – Nashville Songwriters Association International

1999 - Co-wrote and produced with legendary songwriter Harlan Howard Hockey Tonk, the theme song for the inaugural seasons of the Nashville Predators hockey team

2001 - Produced and performed on A Songwriter’s Tribute to Garth Brooks for VFR Records - one of the biggest selling independent records of that year

2004 - Produced and performed on A Songwriter’s Tribute to George Strait for Compadre Records.

2005 - Unanswered Prayers voted # 6 in Country Music Television’s top 100 Love Songs contest and the song was made into a Lifetime Network TV movie.

2010 - Nashville Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Inductee

2013 - Chairman Nashville Songwriters Foundation

2013 - President Nashville chapter of SAG-AFTRA

2013 - Georgia Music Hall of Fame Inductee

2016 – Billboard critics pick What She’s Doing Now as #1 Garth Brooks song & The Thunder Rolls #8

2017 - The Thunder Rolls recorded by heavy metal band “All That Remains” and becomes first country song to hit the top of the hard rock and metal digital chart in Billboard, iTunes and Amazon.com