{"id":29733,"date":"2024-08-20T17:32:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T21:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=29733"},"modified":"2024-08-20T17:32:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T21:32:54","slug":"lauren-braddock-revisits-paul-mccartneys-juniors-farm-through-her-latest-song-the-green-green-grass-of-juniors-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=29733","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Braddock Revisits Paul McCartney’s “Junior’s Farm” Through her Latest Song “The Green, Green Grass of Junior’s Farm”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Q&A by Brad Balfour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timed to coincide with the 50-year anniversary of McCartney’s “Junior’s Farm,” Lauren Braddock\u2019s story might strike your fancy –especially if you’re a Beatle’s fan or love country music. This Nashville singer\/songwriter blends colorful autobiography and Gen X nostalgia in her new single, \u201cThe Green, Green Grass of Junior\u2019s Farm.\u201d Penned with and produced by her dad, Bobby Braddock — the Country Music Hall of Fame songwriting legend — the tune recalls the 50-year anniversary of former Beatle Paul McCartney’s six-week working holiday at the 133-acre Wilson County, Tenn., farm of Braddock\u2019s frequent collaborator, Claude \u201cCurly\u201d Putman, Jr., and wife Bernice. Paul had taken to calling Curly \u201cJunior,\u201d and that inspired McCartney to write \u201cJunior\u2019s Farm,\u201d which would become a Top-Five hit just months after their visit in October 1974. Recalls Lauren, \u201cAs a Beatlemaniac, that thrilled me! When I was little, I remember saying I wanted to be a magician, like Daddy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s certainly no shortage of magic in the hundreds of songs her father has written and had recorded. Scores of artists including Marty Robbins, Tammy Wynette, Jerry Lee Lewis and Toby Keith, are among those\u00a0\u00a0who have performed his songs. The only living songwriter to have written number-one country songs in five consecutive decades, Braddock celebrates standout lines in more than 80 country masterpieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braddock signed with music publishing giant Tree in 1966, the year Lauren (nicknamed \u201cJeep\u201d) was born, and the same year Tom Jones had a global smash with Putman\u2019s \u201cGreen, Green Grass of Home.\u201d Two years later, Braddock and Putman scored their first Number One as co-writers of \u201cD-I-V-O-R-C-E,\u201d the hit recorded by Tammy Wynette. In addition to his songwriting, Braddock also produced country superstar Blake Shelton\u2019s first three albums and co-produced the fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when daughter Lauren played \u201cThe Green, Green Grass of Junior\u2019s Farm,\u201d for him, Braddock couldn\u2019t help but contribute to its realization. Produced at Sony Music Publishing Studios, the single features some of Nashville\u2019s A-list musicians, including drummer Chad Cromwell, bassist Mike Brignadello, keyboardist Mike Rojas and Bobby playing mini-Moog. Don Henry, who produced, sings and plays guitar on Lauren’s joyously Beatlesque \u201cHippie Farmer,\u201d the single\u2019s B-side, also plays guitar, banjo and contributes backing vocals to \u201cThe Green, Green Grass of Junior\u2019s Farm.\u201d A fellow Beatles aficionado, Henry is a prolific tunesmith perhaps best-known for the 1990 Grammy-winning hit, \u201cWhere\u2019ve You Been,\u201d co-written with Jon Vezner and recorded by Kathy Mattea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following exclusive Q&A was conducted via email this mid August just in time to celebrate the summer and this song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Q: Comment on the idea of carrying on the family tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My father’s first big gig after moving to Nashville in 1964 was touring with superstar Marty Robbins as his piano player. When I was very little, accustomed to falling asleep to the sound of my dad\u2019s piano in the wee hours of the night, I used to say that I wanted to be a \u201cmagician\u201d like my dad when I grew up. I\u2019m sure that I meant \u201cmusician,\u201d but witnessing the act of him and his cronies creating for a living definitely felt magical and left a big impression on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a teen, I would go to this music industry hang-out called \u201cTavern on the Row\u201d with him where you might see people like Johnny Cash on any given night. My dad would instigate games around the table with me and his songwriter buddies of making up limericks — with each person contributing a line. If you wanted to hang out, you had to be quick and keep up!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m happy to be keeping the family tradition, writing on my own and occasionally with him today. He and I just got our first cut together by a major recording artist last year — Kenny Chesney — which is slated to be on his next\u00a0\u00a0album.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: When did you first know you wanted to write music? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: It wasn\u2019t really a conscious decision but it was something I kept coming back to. I always loved to write but it started out as poetry. I have great admiration for poets like Maya Angelou and Dorothy Parker who were both fierce writers\/poets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the third grade I wrote a faux campaign song to the tune of the Libby\u2019s Libby\u2019s Libby\u2019s commercial jingle which garnered a lot of attention from the adults in my sphere. The gist was how the candidate wouldn\u2019t \u201cmake Watergate\u201d but he ironically did end up being about as corrupt as Nixon! Things like that encouraged me as a young writer.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found a piece of one of the first poems that I wrote as a seven or eight year old and took it to my producer Don Henry years later and we wrote a song around it called \u201cIf I Was Your Man\u201d that was recorded by Blake Shelton among others. The line was \u201cIf I was a cloud I\u2019d have baby raindrops and they\u2019d feed the treetops if I was a cloud,\u201d it\u2019s the first line of the song and was our jumping off point. So I knew I wanted to write music when I was young but I wanted to do other things artistically as well, focusing on writing music more after I got out of school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Did performing come first? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: Yes. As a small child I was too hyper for piano lessons and opted for art and dance instead and then acting and moved to New York as a teenager to go to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. So acting\/musical theater did come first although writing was always present. I was always writing songs in my head but I didn\u2019t learn to play guitar until later and started playing my own music in coffee houses and acoustic clubs in LA in my early twenties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Having a father deeply involved in music can be good or bad depending on circumstances — sounds like it went well for you but talk about how it worked out both the good and bad? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: When I was a baby my dad was working on music late one night and my mother said that it might wake me up and he said I\u2019d need to get used to it. I did!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No real negatives except for the possibility of people thinking you are a \u201cnepo baby.\u201d I told a hit songwriter once that I had gotten a Blake Shelton cut and he said \u201cof course you did\u201d knowing that my dad was producing Blake but honestly dad had nothing to do with it and was shocked when Blake heard it independently and told him he wanted to record it since it was not country at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Growing up in Nashville, and with your family tradition, who were the influences outside the family?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: As a kid my dad introduced me to the music of Hank Williams, Ray Charles and the Beatles among others. I loved Melanie and Cher and the Eagles and Elton and the BeeGees as a \u201870s kid might and I loved musical theater too… Grease, Rocky Horror, etc. As a young teen in the early \u201880s after getting into John Lennon and Yoko Ono\u2019s Double Fantasy and then being devastated by his assassination, I did a deep dive into the Beatles’ music becoming pretty much thoroughly obsessed with them. I also got very into punk rock and new wave. I loved Aretha Franklin and REM, the B52s, Prince and Edie Brickell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Country music was always there too and there were wonderful female role models for writing like Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton (I like to call her the Dolly Lama!) A perfectly crafted song is always very exciting to me whether it\u2019s Bobbie Gentry\u2019s \u201cOde to Billy Jo\u201d or Tracy Chapman\u2019s \u201cFast Car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond my dad, who is truly my hero, I grew up surrounded by so many incredibly talented songwriters and I\u2019m sure that influenced me. Harlan Howard. Sonny Curtis who one time out at dinner with us whipped out a guitar and started playing the Mary Tyler Moore theme song which he wrote and sang and then Buddy Holly songs (he was also a Cricket!) Roger Miller, who my theater friends in NY couldn\u2019t believe I knew and my roommate freaked out when he called my apartment to make sure that I was coming to see his play \u201cBig River.\u201d John Hyatt. Matraca Berg and Rafe Vanhoy who both wrote their first number one songs with my dad when they were very young. John Prine. \u201cUncle\u201d Ron Hellard. Deborah Allen. And Don Henry who ended up being a very important person in my musical journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Are there folks you want to perform with — and what various tales of collaborations can you talk about?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: Since my current project is completely McCartney inspired and influenced and the Beatles music got me through so much, top of mind would be Sir Paul. That would be a dream come true! And if I am magical thinking perhaps I can invite John Lennon to the party? I always felt a spiritual connection with him as well, there was even an article written about a seemingly paranormal experience I had with him in a UK metaphysical paper called \u201cChat! It\u2019s Fate!\u201d But that\u2019s another story! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I lived in L.A. as a young adult my close friend\/cowriter Sandy Bell introduced me to Jeff Buckley before he became the legendary rock icon he is now known as and he played on our demos for us.What an incredible talent. Michael Clouse (his recording partner at the North Hollywood studio where we made the music) told me that years later \u201cBuck\u201d was listening to one of my songs they had recorded with me called \u201cStud Muffin\u201d and was laughing his butt off. That makes me smile to think of! I should pull those recordings back out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have written with and performed with a lot of people I deeply admire but much of what I do is very personal and quirky so I do my own thing. Or bring in someone trusted like Don Henry. After experiencing infertility and a near-death birth experience in 2004 I wrote a book called \u201cA Journey to the Son.\u201d Don wrote a song for every chapter with me and that became a one women show. It takes a real \u201cbrother\u201d to have the sensitivity to co-write songs about your in vitro fertilization experience and post partum depression with you! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: You have roots there but are there further moves in mind? back to NYC or elsewhere?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: I love it here but as my son gets older and gets out of school I am open to spending more time elsewhere. NYC is always a possibility for theatrical projects. The coast beckons sometimes (my Braddock ancestors were privateers and Florida pioneers!) As I wrote about in the song \u201cHippie Farmer,\u201d the fantasy of having a big no-kill animal shelter where you can take in a ton of strays and have baby goats running around appeals to me sometimes too but I could do that in good ol\u2019 Tennessee! Realistically though I don\u2019t see me and my Jersey-born Manhattan transplant husband bailing hay anytime soon. So for now, instead of doing it myself, I\u2019m just going to just give a portion of the proceeds from my project to the Gentle Barn, an organization that saves and rehabilitates farm animals and then people in need of a cow hug can come visit them for pet therapy – a win win!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Growing up you had lots of animals surrounding you — tell me a few stories about them — there’s a kids picture book or two in there. I have had a lizard but i wasn’t a very good pet owner you must be a master with them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LB: Leaping lizards, love it! That made me literally lol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an only child my pets were almost like my siblings, in fact I had a Siamese cat that I named \u201cBrother.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a minute I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian but then I decided I was way too emotional about them and could never put one down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a song once called \u201cA Walk Down Sesame Street\u201d about how as a literal child of <\/p>\n\n\n\n

D-I-V-O-R-C-E (song my dad and Curly Putman wrote for Tammy Wynette) I would gather my animals (both real and stuffed) on a blanket that became an imaginary boat in front of 70\u2019s television shows to escape the childhood angst that can come from observing parents fighting\/splitting up. I idealized shows like the Brady Bunch and Sonny and Cher for their domestic bliss. Little did I know that Mr Brady had no interest in Mrs Brady and Sonny and Cher were also on their way to a divorce! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went through a hermit crab phase and I would take them with me when I went with my dad to visit his publishing company (Sony\/Tree) to share with the secretaries (though I\u2019m not sure everyone shared my affinity for them). Dad did not like it when one day I went in with him and chose to wear a T-shirt which, next to a big cartoon hermit crab, stated \u201cI\u2019ve got crabs!\u201d I couldn\u2019t understand why that bothered him! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braddock\u2019s “The Green, Green Grass of Junior’s Farm” will be available on September 6th through major digital outlets. This interview was conducted via email in anticipation of the single\u2019s release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more info, go to:\u00a0www.laurenbraddock.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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