Al Green
SO GOOD TO BE HERE
Gospel, Soul, and Pillow Talk: For the Legendary Al Green, Everything’s OK
The Rev. Al Green isn’t short on hits or personality. The 58-year-old singer recently reunited with producer Willie Mitchell, the man who helped craft his signature sound, to record Everything's OK, the second comeback album since Green’s self-imposed exile from secular music. Green’s made peace with his sacred calling and the music that made him famous, and now he just wants to share it with the world. In a spirited phone conversation, the Good Reverend sang, laughed, and flirted his way through an eclectic chat with Barnes & Noble.com R&B editor Tracy E. Hopkins.
Barnes & Noble.com: Tell me about your new album, Everything's OK.
Al Green: It means love me now. Don't wait until tomorrow. Don't wait until next year. Love me now.
B&N.com: Does the title also signify where you are personally?
AG: That's exactly what we're talking about. [sings] "Everything's OK. OK." But wait, why don't you tell me your name and where you're calling from?
B&N.com:I'm Tracy Hopkins, and I'm calling from New York City.
AG:Hi, Miss Hopkins. You’re in the Big Apple. How ‘bout that.
B&N.com: Where are you?
AG: I'm in Memphis, Tennessee. And I have a red pickup truck.
B&N.com: Are you in your truck right now?
AG: No, I'm inside the office because I had a chance to come and talk to you.
B&N.com: Tennessee is where your church is, right?
AG: Everything is here -- the studio, the business office, and the church. It's like a compound.
B&N.com: Do you still preach on Sunday?
AG: Yeah, I'm there every Sunday. We lay it down.
B&N.com: Sounds like you have a fun church.
AG: We have a young choir and they stomp, baby. We have a good band, too. They get down.
B&N.com: For a long while, you stopped making secular music. What made you go back to it?
AG: Gospel is wonderful. I made gospel [music] for like 7 or 8 years and didn't make any secular music. But once you understand the plan that God has -- see, there's a plan. We're not just here talking on the phone together [by] accident. No, there's a plan behind what God does. He said: "I made Sunday, Al. But I also made Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I'm not just having you sing these songs. I'm having you sing these songs because this is people music." Loving you whether times are good or bad, happy or sad. Do what? Let's stay together. I don't care what I did. I don't care what you did. We have to work it out. [Or] there's no continuance in our relationship. And we can't have that. [loudly yells] Go on girl!
B&N.com: Your vocal style has influenced many younger artists. But who were your influences?
AG: I was influenced by the artists of my time period, which were Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, and Wilson Pickett. But I don't think Willie [Mitchell] let me get my sound from them. He told me to sing like Al Green and I was trying to figure out, how's that? Well, in 1972, I was trying to figure that out. I was like, what is Al Green supposed to sound like? He said, you're Al Green, you ought to know. Ah man, we had a good fussin' going on and then we quieted down and went to [make] the music. I thought, I'm not going to try to please this man at all. I'm gonna just sing whatever comes out. So I started singing: [sings] "Spending my days, thinking about you girl." He said, "That's it!" I never knew Al Green before [Willie] introduced me to [songs like] "I'm Still in Love With You" and "Let's Stay Together."
B&N.com: Before 2002's I Can't Stop, you and Willie Mitchell hadn't collaborated since 1985. What brought you back together?
AG: We reunited because he can't finish the oil painting without me. And I can't finish the oil painting without him. In order to get the painting done, we had to go back in the studio. And now we're starting on album number three. The third album is gonna be [pauses] a little bit more sensual. We're gonna let Al be Al and stop trying to prep him. I Can't Stop was a prep record to connect to "I Can't Get Next to You" and "Call Me." Now that Everything's OK, Al is getting ready do what he wants to do, [which is] run wild on the open range. Wait a minute, lady, you got me sweating in here [laughs]. Like the people said on the plane, your music is very sensual. It's love music. So you start playing that stuff and the fireplace is going, and all the kids have gone to bed…. Well. [clears his throat and laughs devilishly]
B&N.com: How does your congregation feel about you making mood music?
AG: I don't want to hide anything from them. I tell them to listen to it and see what they think about it. I let my mom hear it, and she's 84. And she says, [in a sweet southern drawl] "Al, that's just beautiful." But she knows what I really mean. It's not so much, baby this and baby that as it is trying to live a good and positive life.
B&N.com: Who are some of the contemporary soul artists you like?
AG: Miss [Alicia] Keys, Usher, and Run D.M.C. are very good. Different ones. I'm in the music business, so I have to listen to everything regardless of whether I want to or not.
B&N.com: You did a song with Queen Latifah on The Dana Owens Album. What was that like?
AG: We did "Simply Beautiful" in Atlanta. We had a ball. She's a great gal. I just didn't know she was that talented. I didn't know she could really sing, sing. She can.
B&N.com: Have you heard the song "Slow Jamz," where Jamie Foxx sings your name?
AG: I haven't heard that. I only watched him in the Ray Charles movie. It's wonderful. He played Ray better than Ray played Ray. [laughs]
B&N.com: What album have you listened to lately that really impressed you?
AG: The Immortal Soul of Al Green [box set] -- disc number three. I've been listening to that thing for two months and that's kind of gotten me by. It's got a hold on me and I haven't been able to stop playing it. Those songs and the way they're compiled together. I don't even listen to Al Green because I know what's going to happen and I know him. But when I listen to disc three, it says it all. You don't have to put anything else with it.
B&N.com: That disc contains some of your gospel songs.
AG: It has "Take Me to the River." But the second song, "So Good to Be Here" -- that's cream, baby.
April 15, 2005
© 2009 All Media Guide, LLC