The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville is home to some of the best short-story writers around; Ultimately, the story is what makes a great country song. And every writer—especially acclaimed one, like novelist James Patterson, knows how hard it can be. "I tried to write some really country-western songs," he said.
Correspondent Lee Cowan asked, "Did you ever perform them?"
"No!"
That's because, in part, Patterson was too busy becoming a novelist. He has written or co-written more than 200 of them, and he has more bestsellers than anyone.
He is at home in Music City. He earned his master's degree from Vanderbilt University, and he's never forgotten the faces of wannabe country stars who frequent wanderlust: "You couldn't sit in one of those bars for more than 10 minutes, without any Come on the street, sitting down, and playing."
For her latest novel, Patterson decided to write about someone coming to Nashville with the dream of becoming someone. He even admits that it's a well-worn story like an old pickup, which is why he needed a co-writer who was really into that life to give the book a little shine. had lived.
"I asked him, 'Why do you need me? You're doing great on your own!' Dolly Parton said.
Patterson said, "He said, 'He's the guy who writes about serial killers, right?'"
"Yeah, I knew."
This may seem like an odd pairing at first—the girl from East Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains who became one of the queens of country music teamed up with a bookworm from a former Manhattan advertising executive who could barely hit her guitar. Touched life.
They didn't meet until 2019, when Patterson flew to Nashville to pitch Parton on the idea. She even used to take him to the airport to pick him up. "I'm always there to pick him up. I wouldn't dream of him coming into town."
"It's so sweet," Cowan said.
"But that's what you do for respect. But if I can be there I won't send anyone after that."
"If you guys hadn't clicked and particularly liked each other, would it have worked?"
"It doesn't happen, no," said Patterson.
"No, we didn't have to do that," she said. "I don't make that many friends. A lot of my old friends are gone. And I have some friends, you know, but relying on them after you're famous, you don't know who is a friend and who is not."
Their collaboration is called "Run, Rose, Run", the story of a young country singer named Annie who comes to Nashville, only to find that the music industry can be as heartbreaking as she is taking secrets. Is.
Annie finds comfort in a retired country music icon named Ruthna, who is read to the audiobook - who else? - Parton himself.
He pointed to a perfect, blood-red nail in Anneli's heart. "Here's my advice to you, Annie Keys," she said. "Get the hell out of Nashville as long as you can."
Anne swallowed. "Pardon me?" She gasped.
"It's a tough, tough business," Ruthanna said. "A little thing like yours? You'll be chewed and spit like a hunk of gristle."
"When we do a film of the book, I'm looking forward to playing the character we hope to do at some point," Parton said.
"The book is, in many ways, a cautionary tale about the music business," Cowan said.
"It is. It shows a lot of the dark side of it that people who've been in it, like me, you know, 'cause you've lived it."
"Have you experienced this a lot??"
"Oh yes," said Parton. "You see all that. All the managers, the people who will rip you off, they try to steal your songs, they will cheat you, they will do anything. I've seen it all."
She was a repository of country music research for Patterson, but as it has been all her life, Parton doesn't record anything to do it halfway: "If I do a job, partner with someone. , so I'm gonna do my part. I mean, if I didn't have some involvement, how would I be able to promote that book? How would I allow that? Because if people asked me, I would feel like the biggest liar in the world. "
Instead of simply helping to write dialogue or block chapters, Parton added songs.
Cowan asked, "Did they come to you too easily?"
"Oh yeah. Songs come easy to me, especially if I know what I'm writing about."
The lyrics to Patterson's characters were written by Parton himself.