MUSIC NOTES AND NEWS

• BY DAVE RICHARDS
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‘I was doing something right’
Country’s Phil Vassar shopped his songs to labels — hoping for the best, hearing the worst — before he caught a break.

During a rare break at home, country star Phil Vassar started talking about his brutal schedule, then quickly withdrew his complaint.

“I remember when nobody called. Every time I start griping, I remember that,” Vassar said.

That keeps you humble, remembering the sound of doors slamming in your face. For years, Vassar shopped his songs to labels — hoping for the best, hearing the worst — before he finally caught a break.

“It was a long time — years and years of playing clubs, five, six, and seven nights a week, two times a day,” he recalled. “I’d pack up my piano and go to the next bar and play. I was doing that a long time before I started playing my stuff [for labels] and them hating it and telling me my songs weren’t good. Then, I had a demo tape I took to labels and they said, ‘You’re writing is not very good, but you’re a pretty good singer.’”

Ironically, those “not very good” songs from his demo would all become major hits for such stars as BlackHawk (“Postmarked Birmingham”), Jo Dee Messina (“Bye, Bye”), and Tim McGraw (“For a Little While”) among others.

Shows you what the suits know. Vassar knew his songs were good, even if Nashville didn’t. He took the rejection in stride.

“There are just a lot of idiots here,” he said,” with a laugh. “I was out here playing clubs, packing them in, selling out, people can’t get in the door. I knew I was doing something right. You can’t be sitting in your ivory towers; you don’t know what’s going on in the real world at all.”

AFTER BLACKHAWK PUT VASSAR on the map, he got on a roll. Everyone wanted a Phil Vassar song.

“I went from having no hits to five or six No. 1 hits in the next year. It was like, wow, the doors kind of blew wide open,” he said.

Then Nashville label chiefs didn’t mind his songwriting or that his compositions were usually piano-based rather than guitar-driven.

“[Before] they were always like, ‘Well, I don’t know about this piano thing. It ain’t going to float, dude. It just doesn’t work.’ I kept saying, ‘Well, you know Jerry Lee Lewis? Ronnie Milsap? Billy Joel has done good. Elton John — ever heard of him?’

“So it’s kind of funny. But when something’s different, people are scared of it. They want you to put a hat on and play guitar like everyone.”

When Vassar finally landed his own record deal, the hits kept coming, but under his name this time. Six years later, he piled up enough — including “Just Another Day in Paradise,” “Carlene,” and “In a Real Love” — to release his own “Greatest Hits” set.

The CD also includes his versions of songs that became hits for Messina, McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Collin Raye, and so many others. Vassar’s label president suggested the idea of Vassar “covering” his own tunes.

“He just said people need to know you wrote all those songs. Put your career as a writer and an artist together in one package. People would get who you are,” Vassar said.
“So I think it was a great idea. It was fun to do ‘Bye, Bye’ and ‘The Next 30 Years’ — the songs I’ve been playing forever, so folks could hear my versions.”

The set isn’t comprehensive. He didn’t re-record “I Was,” a hit for Neal McCoy, or “Postmarked Birmingham,” to name just two.

“That’s why it’s called Vol. 1,” Vassar said slyly.

BUT BEFORE YOU SEE “VOL. 2,” expect another studio CD, first, most likely in early 2007.Vassar has already recorded a few tracks.

“I have one I cut with Brad Paisley and Keith Urban that’s really cool, with them jamming on some guitars and me on the piano,” Vassar said. “So it’ll make the album — ‘Country Boys.’ We cut it before the ‘Greatest Hits’ record, but it didn’t seem like it should make it, so we saved it.”

Before he finished the CD, he’s finishing up his “Greatest Hits” tour, which stops at the Warner Theatre on Saturday. Erie can expect the best of Phil Vassar, driven by his white-hot, five-member band.

“It’ll be fun,” Vassar said. “I think everyone who’s ever seen our show walks in again going, ‘Wow, they sweat a lot.’ It’s real high-energy, and we love the crowd getting into it, singing with us. We try to pull everyone out of their seats and into the show.”

Country Star Phil Vassar, House of Cards will perform Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Warner Theatre, 811 State St. Tickets, $36, are available at the Tullio Arena box office, Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 452-4857 or 456-7070, and online at www.ticketmaster.com.