Country Superstar Lee Greenwood talks about his new album

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Alabama's Morning News. I'm JT. And our friend Lee Greenwood
joined us now obviously proud to be an American four
time Platinum guy, four time Gold Grammy winner, singer songwriter.
You know and love him, and he's got a new
single now I want to know all about this. Lee,
welcome in, Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thank you very much. Great to talk to you, JT.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
So you've been involved in so many different projects musically,
and you know you've been involved with other soundtracks before.
In this Reagan songs inspired by the film track list here,
it's just amazing the album. I'm looking at this. You've
got Travis Trudd on this Alabama, Wayne Newton, Ricky Skagg's Commodores,
and Marty Stewart. I mean, unbelievable. And of course your

(00:41):
song start the World Over Again, which was co written
with Mike Curb from Curb Records and also our former
president Ronald Reagan. When did you guys write this song?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, I've never actually sat with the two of them.
In no surprise, I knew both of them. I was
on Mike Kurbs label for four years here in Nashville.
I knew Reagan quite well because I sang it to the
nineteen eighty four RNC, and Reagan quoted the lines from
my song God Bless the usay during his speech. So
I knew the two of them, but I didn't know

(01:13):
the two of them would sit together, have a cocktail
and say, let's try to write a song. I doubt
if they put much time into it. What I heard
from Mark Joseph, the producer of the film, when he
played it for me, I did not hear a song, really,
And I said, I'll tell you what, I'll rewrite the song,
make it an original. I'll use the title because then
the title it ties the three of us together, start

(01:33):
the World over Again. And only one line in the
song that I use as a lyric from Reagan and
Ad is the beacon of hope.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, that's just incredible. So the album is the album
available now?

Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah? The album it's called There are two albums the first.
The first one is Songs from the film. The second
one is Songs inspired by the film. Both are released
about two weeks ago. The single that I wrote, Start
the World Over Again, is released this week.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Fantastic. I can't wait. I listened to it this morning,
and I want to listen to the rest of the album.
There's some really great songs on here that's you know,
obviously some that have been around for a while. Are
there any other new ones on this album?

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Mine is the only original?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah? Yeah, okay, awesome. Well I got to ask you,
you know, with the situation going on in our country now,
and you've always been a beacon, you know, for America
and stood up for this, you know, incredible country we
have here. What you're seeing now with President Trump relative
to what it was like prior to him coming back
in as the president, You've got to be excited at

(02:34):
the direction of the country right now for the most part.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
I guess, well, if you reflect on Ronald Reagan's presidency,
it's very similar to Trump's, and maybe maybe the stances
is a little bit different. And how Trump only has
four years this time to actually make everything level out
because anywork from immigration to world politics and war. I mean,
I think he's said a lot on his plate, and

(02:58):
every president does. What is in common about the two
presidents is that they both had an altruistic view of
the country. We want to have this country stand for
freedom and be the strongest nation in the world. And
it takes a president to do that, it takes somebody
to reflect their feelings for the rest of the public,
and I believe both men have achieved.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
That one hundred percent. You know, Ronald Reagan when he
was president, he had such a great way to bring
both sides of the aisle together, and I kind of
missed those days. I was actually in Washington, d C.
At the time. Judy and I had moved up there
from here in nineteen eighty four, and during his presidency
had the opportunity to meet him at the White House
one time, and his pleasant demeanor, whether it was standing

(03:43):
there by yourself with him, or he was in front
of Congress or in front of America. He had charismatic
ability and every time he delivered whatever he wanted to
get across. But what I loved about him was his
conviction to his principles, and he never wavered from that
and had a great way to deliver that where a
lot of times the same principles delivered by a different

(04:04):
type of person might not ring as well, especially when
it comes to the other side of the aisle or
people that disagree with you. Your thoughts on Ronald Reagan
as the man and the president.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Well of course he was an actor, and you just
pointed out he was charismatic, and I think forty one,
his vice president, learned a lot from President Reagan about
you can't be serious all the time. Reagan knew how
to have a little quip and a little joke. I
was on the stage with him one time, and if
you remember in Dallas, there was a photographer that took

(04:35):
a picture and was on the stage, and this is
after he was attempted assassination and a light bulb popped
and he ducked and he said, you miss me. And
that kind of humor, that kind of abrupt humor, was
what forty one had to learn. And when I work
in forty one's campaign, he did learn that Donald Trump
is necessarily not just such a comedian. He has a

(04:58):
more cynical kind of humor, but you have to get
used to it. But he also understands that you can't
just read off the teleprompter, and as recently with the
United Nations speech, you'll notice the teleprompter did break down
and he delivered his speech directly from the heart, and
that's what the president has to do.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, I think you're spot on with that. You know
you got to take the job as seriously as possible,
of course, but you've also got to be a human being.
In that way people can relate to you and understand
you better. Well, Lee, I got to tell you, I'm
a proud fan of yours and I always have been
in the Congratulations on all your success and now start
the world over again. Your new song on this Reagan

(05:37):
Songs inspired by the film album. Congrats on that and
God bless you buddy.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Thank you for being with me absolutely, JT. Thank you.
Have a great day.