Greenwood blessed by more than one big hit
“God Bless the USA” has been a bit of a mixed blessing for Lee Greenwood.
The 1984 hit established the husky-voiced singer as the poster boy for patriotism in country music, continuing to strike a chord through the decades from the Gulf War to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In 2003, it was named in an online poll as America’s “most recognizable patriotic song,” besting “God Bless America” and the national anthem.
It’s bound to be a centerpiece of Greenwood’s appearance with the Spokane Symphony on Saturday, in a SuperPops season finale that will honor local service people recently returned from Iraq.
But as much as the song has meant to Greenwood, 62, it tends to overshadow the rest of the resume he has built over the past 20-plus years – including seven No. 1 country hits, a Grammy and male vocalist of the year awards from the Country Music Association (two years in a row) and Academy of Country Music.
” ‘God Bless The USA’ is an umbrella for my career, not a parachute,” Greenwood said when releasing his 24th album, “Stronger Than Time,” in 2003.
That career took root when the California-born Greenwood formed his first band, the Moonbeams, in junior high. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he was a seasoned performer by the time he graduated from high school, even skipping the ceremony because he was booked to play a gig in Reno.
Las Vegas became his base throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, where he worked as blackjack dealer by day and as a musician at night.
In 1978, he finally left the lounge scene for Nashville, where he recorded a demo session with the help of the Mel Tillis Band. That led to a contract with MCA Records and a string of 19 Top 10 country singles from 1982 through 1987, including a collaboration with Barbara Mandrell, “To Me.”
“God Bless the USA,” named song of the year by the Country Music Association in 1985, was back on the charts in 1991 thanks to the Gulf War. Suddenly in demand, Greenwood found himself playing two or three shows a day.
In 1995, he decided to take a break from touring to start a family, and built his own Lee Greenwood Theater in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
But before long he was back in the public eye. After the September 2001 terrorist attacks, “God Bless the USA” again returned to the charts and Greenwood hit the road again for everything from an a cappella performance for rescue workers at Ground Zero to an appearance at game four of that fall’s World Series.
More recently, he sang “God Bless the USA” at a February ceremony in Washington, D.C., to dedicate the Ronald Reagan commemorative postage stamp.
“I’ve loved the ride – the ups and even the downs – and it’s only thanks to God and a lot of good people around me that I’ve stayed pretty steady no matter how hard the ground shook,” Greenwood said in an interview quoted on his Web site.
“I think it’s a lesson we all collectively learned as a nation on 9-11. The ground shook, but when the dust cleared, we stood strong – prouder than ever to be Americans.”