Aidan!!! Say it isn't so!!!!
Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 10:51 am
Actor John Corbett goes country with Nashville album By Pat HarrisTue Feb 7, 8:55 AM ET
"Don't quit your day job" is the popular advice for would-be singers trying to break into the music business in Nashville.
So there was skepticism among Music Row executives recently when they settled into the Mercy Lounge, a grungy little Nashville nightspot, to hear actor John Corbett and a band showcase a self-titled album he calls "country rock with a little bit of roll."
Corbett kept them in the room.
And the actor, famous as the philosophy-spouting disc jockey in TV's "Northern Exposure" and the love-smitten Ian Miller in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," is in no hurry to go back to his day job.
"I know people came out to see how bad we were. Then we win them over and they stick around," said Corbett, who plays rhythm guitar.
"The money's fine in movies," he added. "But it's like punching a time clock. Same lines over and over. I do things by instinct and I've had this instinct about music ever since I was a kid in West Virginia. I'm 43 and some day won't be able to handle young romantic roles. Besides, music is just what I want to do."
In contrast to his clean-cut film persona, the 6-foot-5-inch singer now tosses a mane of shaggy, shoulder-length hair as he lopes around the stage clad in appropriately country denim and boots.
A HOT SINGLE
Although he attracted some major label attention Corbett decided last year to put out his first album on his own "Fun Bone" label. The single just released to radio in advance of the scheduled album release in April is "Good to Go," which Corbett has started promoting with radio interviews nationwide and through TV's Home Shopping Channel.
The single landed on Billboard's country radio chart at No. 48, not bad for an independent label.
Corbett, who received a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Aidan in the TV series "Sex and the City," was tapped some of Nashville's stellar songwriters for his songs.
The album's first tune, "Whole Other Bottle of Whiskey," was written by Jon Randall who scored big with his "Whiskey Lullaby" and by Gary Nicholson who had a hit with "Trouble With the Truth."
Other songs carry the professional touch of writers Hal Ketchum, Tim Nichols and additional award-winning tunesmiths.
Recorded in Nashville, the album features an array of musicians including Black Crowes' drummer Steve Gorman and Music City bassist Mike Brignardello laying down a steel-belted rhythm behind guitarists Kenny Vaughan and Pat Buchanan and others including veteran Jimmy Hall, former lead singer of southern rock 'n' soul greats Wet Willie.
In his younger days in Wheeling, West Virginia, Corbett worked as a K-Mart checkout clerk and steel factory welder. He and his mother lived five blocks from the Capitol Music Hall -- home to the famous Wheeling Jamboree where country music shows began broadcasting in 1933.
"I hung out at Uncle Phil's Club Madrid nightspot where my mother was a waitress and my grandmother sold hot dogs and sauerkraut. I got to go backstage at the Jamboree and watch the show and then visit with musicians who stopped by the club later," Corbett said.
Making money as an actor, he said, "simply meant money to launch my music career."
He did that in 2004 when he and rockabilly guitarist Tara Novick came to Nashville to hang out with the city's top musicians including songwriters. By that time, Corbett had achieved fame in "Northern Exposure" and had managed to get the producers of "The Tonight Show" to let him and Novick have a high-profile try-out on network television.
STORMED THE TOWN
Both men began working Nashville's music community at whirlwind speed, picking out songs and memorizing the tunes while sitting in their car in a hotel parking lot and then hiring a band.
"We recorded over a dozen songs we had just learned the day before," Corbett said with a laugh about the album. "I knew before I went in to record that I couldn't screw up. These musicians were the best and I'm sure they felt at first that I was a joke."
Once his recordings started making the rounds, Corbett began getting concert offers warming up crowds for ZZ Top, Lisa Marie Presley and Charlie Daniels.
After becoming impatient over the lengthy time required by labels in releasing a CD, he turned down an offer by an independent, deciding to release his album on his own label.
The CD sports photos taken by actress Bo Derek with whom he lives in a California home. Derek took the album cover photo of Corbett and is deeply involved in his music career.
Would he ever go back to acting?
"I'm not done with acting forever," said Corbett. "I'm very grateful for what my acting has brought me. But you only get one life and you want to do what you enjoy most, and that's what I'm doing now."
"Don't quit your day job" is the popular advice for would-be singers trying to break into the music business in Nashville.
So there was skepticism among Music Row executives recently when they settled into the Mercy Lounge, a grungy little Nashville nightspot, to hear actor John Corbett and a band showcase a self-titled album he calls "country rock with a little bit of roll."
Corbett kept them in the room.
And the actor, famous as the philosophy-spouting disc jockey in TV's "Northern Exposure" and the love-smitten Ian Miller in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," is in no hurry to go back to his day job.
"I know people came out to see how bad we were. Then we win them over and they stick around," said Corbett, who plays rhythm guitar.
"The money's fine in movies," he added. "But it's like punching a time clock. Same lines over and over. I do things by instinct and I've had this instinct about music ever since I was a kid in West Virginia. I'm 43 and some day won't be able to handle young romantic roles. Besides, music is just what I want to do."
In contrast to his clean-cut film persona, the 6-foot-5-inch singer now tosses a mane of shaggy, shoulder-length hair as he lopes around the stage clad in appropriately country denim and boots.
A HOT SINGLE
Although he attracted some major label attention Corbett decided last year to put out his first album on his own "Fun Bone" label. The single just released to radio in advance of the scheduled album release in April is "Good to Go," which Corbett has started promoting with radio interviews nationwide and through TV's Home Shopping Channel.
The single landed on Billboard's country radio chart at No. 48, not bad for an independent label.
Corbett, who received a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Aidan in the TV series "Sex and the City," was tapped some of Nashville's stellar songwriters for his songs.
The album's first tune, "Whole Other Bottle of Whiskey," was written by Jon Randall who scored big with his "Whiskey Lullaby" and by Gary Nicholson who had a hit with "Trouble With the Truth."
Other songs carry the professional touch of writers Hal Ketchum, Tim Nichols and additional award-winning tunesmiths.
Recorded in Nashville, the album features an array of musicians including Black Crowes' drummer Steve Gorman and Music City bassist Mike Brignardello laying down a steel-belted rhythm behind guitarists Kenny Vaughan and Pat Buchanan and others including veteran Jimmy Hall, former lead singer of southern rock 'n' soul greats Wet Willie.
In his younger days in Wheeling, West Virginia, Corbett worked as a K-Mart checkout clerk and steel factory welder. He and his mother lived five blocks from the Capitol Music Hall -- home to the famous Wheeling Jamboree where country music shows began broadcasting in 1933.
"I hung out at Uncle Phil's Club Madrid nightspot where my mother was a waitress and my grandmother sold hot dogs and sauerkraut. I got to go backstage at the Jamboree and watch the show and then visit with musicians who stopped by the club later," Corbett said.
Making money as an actor, he said, "simply meant money to launch my music career."
He did that in 2004 when he and rockabilly guitarist Tara Novick came to Nashville to hang out with the city's top musicians including songwriters. By that time, Corbett had achieved fame in "Northern Exposure" and had managed to get the producers of "The Tonight Show" to let him and Novick have a high-profile try-out on network television.
STORMED THE TOWN
Both men began working Nashville's music community at whirlwind speed, picking out songs and memorizing the tunes while sitting in their car in a hotel parking lot and then hiring a band.
"We recorded over a dozen songs we had just learned the day before," Corbett said with a laugh about the album. "I knew before I went in to record that I couldn't screw up. These musicians were the best and I'm sure they felt at first that I was a joke."
Once his recordings started making the rounds, Corbett began getting concert offers warming up crowds for ZZ Top, Lisa Marie Presley and Charlie Daniels.
After becoming impatient over the lengthy time required by labels in releasing a CD, he turned down an offer by an independent, deciding to release his album on his own label.
The CD sports photos taken by actress Bo Derek with whom he lives in a California home. Derek took the album cover photo of Corbett and is deeply involved in his music career.
Would he ever go back to acting?
"I'm not done with acting forever," said Corbett. "I'm very grateful for what my acting has brought me. But you only get one life and you want to do what you enjoy most, and that's what I'm doing now."
