Voices Of America

Gwen Orel Talks To Andy Cooney And Crystal Gayle

Whether your pundit of choice is Fox News' Bill O'Reilly or CNBC's Keith Olbermann, "American Voices" will help you feel proud to be American. So says Irish tenor Andy Cooney, who will be playing with country giants Larry Gatlin and Crystal Gayle in Westbury, New York on Thursday.

Check Andy Cooney's website (www.andycooney.com) for other dates (including Kansas and Virginia) and for his solo gigs as well.

Cooney, who spent Memorial Day weekend singing beloved standards in the Catskills, and will be up in East Durham at other points this summer , has been a professional singer since he was 17.

He loves variety - playing the Catskills, then maybe a wedding, then an Irish show, and then this, lights him up. He performed at an event celebrating the flag and honoring veterans in Auburn, New York, and hopes to do more with the military, even something for the USO.

In the Catskills, people really come for Irish music - he's been going there for over 20 years, and has a vacation home there. And he can throw in some rock and roll, and some country. He's proud of his Irish-American heritage.

Emphasize the "American" for the "American Voices" show. Says the straightforward, friendly singer, "I felt the need for a concert like this. With all the stuff we're going through, with the economy, and with our troops overseas, people really need to feel proud of what we are instead of criticizing what we are."

He'd had a dream of doing this show for several years but in all honesty, never thought it would come to pass.

A similar project had worked with the Irish Tenors, but he knew it would be difficult coordinating schedules and availability with Gatlin and Gayle.

Cooney had met Gatlin back in the early 90s. "I was doing a bit of songwriting in Nashville," Cooney explains, "and Gatlin Brothers Music ended up producing two albums for me."

Collaborating with Gatlin and Gayle was a natural: Gatlin wrote the title track to Cooney's 2008 CD It'll Be Me, and sings it with Cooney and Irish tenor Ronan Tynan. And there's also a duet with Crystal Gayle, "You Were Never Too Far From My Mind," which is a high-point of the concert, too.

With each artist on a different label and with different representation, it was challenging to organize the shows. The biggest hurdle was deinitely "Logistics," Crystal Gayle agrees. Finding a time when three busy touring artists could work together was challenging. But Cooney's agents "hit the pavement," and the artists really wanted to do it. They've done four dates so far, and there will be six after this, says Cooney - though they are spread out over the course of months.

Gayle, of the long raven hair and piercing blue, says the project came together when Cooney first approached her about the album. "Andy had done an album Larry Gatlin had sung on. I had never met him, but I thought if Larry Gatlin were friends with him I would be too." She had also seen Cooney's 2004 PBS Special Andy Cooney Live in Concert: An Evening of Irish Classics.

For Gayle, the emphasis on "American Voices" is on "Voices." Though the title is thread tying everything together., "It's not over-patriotic." She will do her mega-hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue." She laughs that she's not sick of it, because the song, by Richard Leigh, is just written so well.

Gayle continues, "We love to sing. We love music. I'm grateful to be able to do that in our country. I've traveled all over and seen places that don't have freedom to do that."

Country is "her roots," but she sings jazz too. She's done an acclaimed album of songs by Hoagy Carmichael in 1999, and she might throw one in to the show in Westbury. Or perhaps a song by Billie Holliday. "My motto is to have fun in what you do, and do the best you can do." And that, she points out, is also about being American. Work hard, do good.

Cooney will do some songs he's known for, including some on point for a show called "American Voices," like "Immigrant Eyes" and Rita McNeill's "The Working Man." And there will be some of the standards he loves - possibly "Danny Boy" or "Galway Bay."

Gatlin will do his biggest hits, too, including "Americans, That's Who," from his 2009 CD Pilgrimage.

Cooney laughs, remembering Gatlin talking about the inspiration for the song coming when he was reading the newspaper and "somebody was trashing America, and the more he read, the madder he got, and he wrote that song. It's a song reminding us of all the great things we have done throughout the world." Lyrics include: "They've built shelters - for people sleeping out in the cold/They've done all the good things good people are supposed to do - Who are these good people? - Americans, that's who."

Working with Gatlin and Gayle, for him, is like "playing with the Yankees." He's built up a big career since going solo in 1994: he's performed at Carnegie Hall, and collaborated with some of the brightest Irish stars out there, including Cherish the Ladies, Eileen Ivers, and the RTE Concert Orchestra. He's made 15 albums.

But you'd definitely feel in the big leagues working with Gayle and Gatlin: she's had 18 country number 1 hits, has made 21 studio albums, and placed 62 singles on Billboard's country charts. She won the Grammy in 1978 for the single "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue," has won two Country Music Awards, among many other honors, and even has her own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Gatlin too won a Grammy Award, in 1977 for the song "Broken Lady." He's made 22 studio albums, had three country number 1 hits, 33 that went top 40, and has performed with Kris Kristofferson, Dwight Yoakam and Randy Travis. He also starred in the Broadway show The Will Rogers Follies.

But while the perks of his own dressing room and people checking to see he has everything he wants are nice, the real thrill for Cooney is just working with these two musicians.

I got to see Gayle's how star quality is also completely down to earth, even down home - just look at the way husband Bill Gatzimos (her high school sweetheart) answered my email to her site (he acts as her manager) by phoning, and arranged this interview for the very next morning. "It's nice when egos are left at the door," Gayle says. I just love music, and love our country, and touring."

Gayle was so warm and open that I even felt comfortable enough to ask her how long it takes her to wash her floor-length hair. "I have a ritual," she says. "I do it in the shower, it has to dry a little." She continues, "life's too short to be out there and angry over every little thing. When people come up to me and say 'your crew is just great,' I know they must have been raked over the coals by others! I'm not out there to make problems, but to make music and have fun!"

Still, there is a personal stake for each artist in the theme of the timely show. Gayle is a "coal miner's daughter" (the baby sister of Loretta Lynn, who made that song popular).

And she has an Irish connection too - she says her background is "Scots-Irish." Her mother's maiden name is "Blair." And the Irish have always loved her, from the start of her career. She just played Ireland in March. "From the very beginning of my very first trip to Ireland I was amazed. I felt right at home. It was the warmth of the people of Kentucky, in Ireland. I took my mother the first time, and she loved it. They know my songs better than I do, they will chime in when I forget the lyrics. The Irish really love music."

America definitely has issues to confront - Gayle says she is concerned about strip-mining - and the stripping of values from a country hooked on reality shows about the rich, muses "I hope we're going in the right direction. I want America to stay strong, and true to the things that make us American. Sure, we have faults, plenty of them, but we love our country and want what's best for our country."

Gatlin, says Cooney, is "a proud Texan," with a balladeer's heritage going back generations.

Cooney has an immigrant's heritage: his grandparents came through Ellis Island to live the American dream. "My grandparents used to tell me about starting out here," he recalls. "A priest sponsored my grandfather - they were already together as a couple. He was an Irish tenor, and very proud to be American. They didn't have two shillings to put together. They came here, and kept up their traditions of music and their ways, and instilled it in their kids, and my parents instilled it in me."

His people come from Dublin and Monahan. There are just as many opportunities for people today, especially young people, as there were then, he says, although strict regulations make it tougher for immigrants. "I celebrate my Irish heritage in music, song and story - and in this show. We're all from different backgrounds. All the people in America have a story to tell about their life here in America, no matter who they are or where they are from. The show is for everybody."

So although Gatlin regularly appears on Fox News (where the three Gatlin brothers performed it), and subs for the shock jock Don Imus, you won't be turned away if you wear an Obama t-shirt to Thursday's concert.

Cooney declares, "Obama's an amazing story. He believes in what he's doing, and thinks it will make America better. I might not agree with everything he's doing, but 50% of our country does, and that's what's great about America. I support him 100%. He's our president and we have to stand behind him."

Gayle could not agree more. "We're not out there to preach or to do politics. I wish the best for Obama. He's our president and we need to support and respect him, and show respect for the office."

Cooney says, "we need to be brought together as one nation. We may all have different views, but we're family."

And when families sing together, the harmonies always sound wonderful.