This week on The A List, I talk with a country music legend whose career has been defined by a love for the written word.

And I sat there in eight minutes and I wrote All the gold in California is in a ban in the middle of Beverly Hills.

Somebody else's name.

Went back.

We signed with Columbia Records.

recorded the song six Months Later is the number one country song in the world, thanks to Ms.

Anne Louise Jones saying Larry, you need to read this book.

Join me as I sit down with singer and songwriter Larry Gatlin, coming up next on The A List.

Country music fans will no doubt be familiar with Larry Gatlin.

Over seven decades, he has made an indelible mark on American music, often alongside his brothers Steve and Rudy.

The Grammy Award winning Gatlin Brothers have earned some of the highest honors in the industry, and along the way, built a legacy of timeless music rooted in their signature harmonies and Larry's memorable storytelling.

A prolific songwriter, Larry has earned a reputation for crafting deeply resonant songs that have been recorde by legendary artists like Kris Kristofferson Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley.

And in 2019, he was honored as an inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

I had the chance to visit Larry in his Nashville home to learn more about his remarkable journey from humble beginning to the world's largest stages.

Well, Larr Gatlin, welcome to the A-list.

Thanks.

I appreciate you having me.

Oh, and thank you for having us in this.

Where you call it your man cave.

It's the man.

First two.

Three.

I call it the office.

This is not and office.

This is the create-a-torium.

I just made that, I like that.

Have a scoop.

There it is.

Create a torium.

Well we we're going to get to a lot of the creative energy in this create a torium.

But first I want to start where we like to start, which is at the beginning.

Tell me a little bi about your childhood in Texas.

I'm an American by birth and a Texan by the grace of a merciful love of God.

And if I hadn't been bor in Texas, I'd gotten there fast.

Humble beginnings.

Grandfathe worked for Sinclair Oil Company.

They were all Pentecostal, Holy Roman, tongue talking Christians.

Granny had, 12 kids with no anesthetic.

I tended to listen to her.

She knew some stuff.

Wonderful people.

They taught us.

Our papa taught us how to sing.

He used to direct the singing conventions and stuff in the.

Is kind of an arcane term but they'd get together on the all day singing and dinner on the ground.

They'd call it the church, go eat their lunch, you know, then go back in the church.

for three or four hour and sing these old gospel songs So we come from, from that background, not a religious, but I spiritual.

Yeah.

Background wonderful people, hard working.

mama play piano.

A dad could sing and play guitar.

He was on the USS Wakefield, going over to Japan for the invasion when, President Truman decided, I think, rightfully so.

Probably saved million of our young 19 year old boys like my father.

We probably wouldn't be there or be here.

So, military family in that sense.

So we he taught us to respect that.

Went to church from, you know, at the time we were but dedicated at a week o two old.

Loved the old southern gospel music, the Blackwood Brothers in the Statesman Quartet and people like that.

Well, and gospel is literally the way you broke into music when your mom decided to enter you in a talent show.

Yes.

71 years ago.

It was March 8th, 1955, in Abilene, Texas, a little talent show.

And, we won the two, four and six year old division.

We were the only ones in the two, four and six year old division, but we won.

They gave us the trophies.

And those are the little suits in there.

We see those later.

We won that little talent show.

One little trophy an a gentleman, name Slim Willett.

His real name was Winston Moore, but his stage name was Slim Wallet.

I mean, you can't get famou if your name is Winston Moore.

I mean, you might be a county judge or something, but.

So, he only had one claim to fame.

He wrote a song.

Don't let stars get in your eyes.

Don' let the moon break your heart.

All of yo people out there, Google things.

So he called us, to be on his little local show on Wednesday night.

And that got us starte we sang in little churches and, Kiwanas and stuff like that.

So we, a couple of months ago, the, folks at Outback Productions, not the steak people, that's a good joint too.

Product placement.

They they did organized, a concert for the brothers, Steve and Rudy and me.

And, you know, Vince came.

Lord Morgan and John Reyes, whole bunch.

Shepherd and Brown, you know, bunch of folks.

And I'm leaving out people, and they'll get there.

And the vocal band showed up, but it kind of celebrated, and commemorated it that 70 years.

we're very blessed.

You know, you mentioned the brothers.

I love how you call them the brothers.

Not my brothers, but the brothers.

And, And it feels just very endearing.

And especially when you think, because I don't know if any of us can talk about you or Steve or Rudy and not think about.

But the Gatlin brothers.

But there was a time when you almost went off on your own, and there may not have been the brothers.

Well, we started when I wa three before they could do it.

And in fact, mama was going to send me.

to the little talent show that which I, you know, by myself and our Aunt Nelle Said Billie, said, let all three of go.

She said, they cant sing.

She said, go in there.

Listen.

No they're singing around the hi fi And so that's when she and I came to Nashville first.

They were still in college.

We're the first generation of either side of our family to get to go to college.

It was important that they go.

And we knew our little sister who joined the group, later decided she didn't, you know, more.

wanted to do church music, and she and her husband did not hang out with the beer joints.

You know, we had to on the way up, but, it was always my dream when Dottie West brought me her to write songs for her company, to get the brothers and LaDonna at that time, and, in fact, the late, great Mr.

Chet Atkins He offered me a contract at RCA, to be a solo artist.

I said, Mr.

Atkins I am honored beyond what I can say.

I mean, this man was Mr.

Nashville playing at the studios and producing work.

I said, m dream has always been to have, sing harmony with my brothers and our sister.

And he said, Larry, I don't know anything about producing groups.

I just kind of like Eddie Arnold and Elvis And some of those guys, some of those guys.

But he we always remain friends.

He's always very gracious.

And a couple of weeks later, Dottie took me a session that Kris Kristofferson was doing with Monument Records of the late, great Fred Foster in the late, great Kris Kristofferson Miss him every day.

And Fred.

Stopped the session.

When Dottie and I walked in, he saw that flaming red hair through the, the window to the control room.

He said, Dottie, he stopped the song in the middle.

They said, you still got that tape of them kids from Texas?

And he was an English major.

He can use them kids if he wants to.

Kris Kristofferson can do anything he wants to.

And so they listen to this song called rain that I had written literally about Ira Hayes.

You know, the old marin who was on helped Raise the Flag on Mount Suribachi.

He literally wound up drunk, passed out and drowned in two inches of water.

And John called him drunken Ira Hayes, he Don't answer me anymore.

Just a whiskey drinking and or the marine who went to war.

Oh, Johnny Cash, the Ballad of Ira Hayes.

So I kind of continue that a song called rain.

We did a little tape of it, you know, reel to reel.

In Dotties kitchen.

She played for Kris.

He stopped the session, had to go get the tape.

He played it for Fred and Fred said Come to the office Monday, son.

We're going to make music history.

So I did a couple of solo albums while they were in school, brought them up here and we, So it was always their intention to follow you here, rejoin me.

To rejoin you Hows that?

Words are important.

I know you didn't mean anything snarky.

Watch it, lady, to rejoin you in Nashville.

And then how soon after that did you see your career as a group really take off?

Well, we had I believe I had to go back.

And you, I believe they san a little bit on some of the solo Pilgrim album, which was more it was solo.

We had a little backing, but like I say, they were Texas Tech, in Lubboch getting you getting their college education.

And I knew, Tammy Wynette and, Dave and Sugar.

I think that group were her backup singers for a while, I think.

And they left to start their own group and I may have that wrong, but I think at that.

So I just asked the if I could bring them over and and have them kind of audition.

And she said, why, sure.

We went over there.

I said, Miss Tammy, would you sing the lead part for us?

On amazing Grace?

He said, why, sure.

She started amazing and they went in right behind he and they got to, amazing Grace.

How sweet the sound.

She said, youre hired.

That fortuitous audition in Nashville was just the beginning of a remarkable journey, as Larry's dream of building a career with his brothers blossomed into a lifelong musical partnership rooted in the support of his family.

Larry's path to success has been marked by talent, persistence, and faith.

And while the harmonies he created with the brothers are legendary, it is his deep love for the written word that has truly solidified hi place in country music history.

I want to talk about your songwriting.

No.

Yes.

It's important.

Heres my arm.

Twist.

What do you want to know?

It feels like the songwriting is is your true gift.

And the music is what allows the songwriting to be shared with the world.

That that's close and and not that.

I mean, you are a beautiful singer, but the way that you have attached yourself to words and the spoken language, and, I mean, we are not just here surrounded by the books you love and cherish and the authors that you are obsessed with.

And I know Shakespeare is among the top of our own.

Tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day to the last syllable of recorded time at all our yesterdays.

And like it fools the way to us to do out.

How we've kind of left for a walk.

And shadow would be a player who struts and stretches out upon the stage, and then is heard no more.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and story, signifying.

She is my baby.

She.

Well, you're making my case, right?

The words are powerful.

The music adds to the sacred soul of it.

But the words are powerful.

Well, thank you, I'm very blessed.

It's kind of how you said it.

The the singing and the music and and listening to, those old gospel groups and those who, you know, Stewart, Hamlin and Moses, listen to those incredible How Great Thou Art.

And, when I survey the wondrous cross and those, you know, the music got us here singing harmony, the gospel.

Now, to your point, I believe it all along, and especially with my love for words.

I think singing and hearing those song and being an English major lover that prepared me for that.

But if it werent for.

But in my mind's ear, every time I write a song, I can hear Steve singing the low part.

You know, people say in my mind's eye, my mind's ear, I can here him.

over here.

I hear brother Rudy singing the high part.

that music thing.

And here brought it.

It engendered and planted that seed because I'd heard so many.

I'd written one song in my life.

When Dottie West heard me making up a song in her dressing room, when she's getting her hair done, I. Dottie, can I borrow your guitar?

Its that one.

And I wrote, like, the boy who robbed the cookie jar.

I ran away.

And hid.

I don't know why.

I just did.

it was drivel.

drivel in the key of G. That's a good album title.

She said you're making that up, aren't you, Larry?

I said, yes, ma'am.

She said, you know, you look so much like Mickey Newberry You got to be able to write a song.

If you write some songs and send them to me, I'll try to.

help you.

I went home to Houston and wrote eight songs.

sent them to her and she sent me a plane ticket.

So when I get the words right, the words hum the melodies in my ear.

So you write that down.

The little numbers, Nashville numbers, the way we do.

And, I cherish it.

The man who love his job is always on vacation.

I've never, never, not one that's not true.

Maybe for 2 or 3 minutes Ive worked at it.

you know, come in here and have an idea and work it, and it aint workin.

Lets go play golf.

It's clear that for Larry, songwriting is not just a profession, but a sacred craft, and his creative process is fueled by a lifelong curiosity and meticulous attention to detail, right down to the pencil he uses to put words to paper.

All right, s is this where the magic happens?

And by that, I mean the writing magic.

Well.

Thank you.

Sometimes.

Yes.

But it happens, different places.

Airplanes, own barf bags and, you know, at night.

Well I'm just I'm obsessed with this.

What is this, a trove of used pencils?

This is where they go to die, to.

To hang out, to find their peace.

I was coming back from La, and I had bought The New York Times because I wanted to read the Sunday Book Review.

So I read the part the review of Thomas Steinbeck's book about his father, John Steinbeck.

And he said, the first thing I remembered as a child is listening, hearing the sound of my father downstairs sharpening 100.

Brand new Palomino Blackwing 602 pencils.

So I Google that this is a fairly recent like the last ten, 12 years, and I've written some hit songs, a couple number one record, right, with book.

So Bill Gaither and so I bought, I got the pencils and that one I've already sharpened because I did use it writing a song with Bill Gaither last week.

So we're going to do a different one.

We're going to do one that here it is now they have a brand new.

Fingernails.

Okay.

They have a brand ne this is the John Steinbeck box because he liked the black the black black wings.

He didn't want the I forget what they called it the 10th the pens, the the track tool or something like.

That's the power.

The eraser comes.

Okay.

He didn't want a different color.

So that was his.

So here's the Blackwing 602 is and it has two different blades.

The one over here is a little thicker blade to knock the big so it can not.

So you, you know, you're meeting a fellow like nerd and word nerd or, you know when I'm like, fascinated by you sharpening your pencil by hand.

And I'm gonna let you do it in minute.

so you do it there first Yeah.

Well, now, look that if you can see it.

But he's flat on top.

It's flat on top.

It looks like a duckbill platypus or something.

I don't know.

So then you put it over in the finer too, and you just kind of round to come on.

You could do eye surgery with that sucker right there.

Is that wonderful two step sharpening process.

Yes.

Now what's this?

When I do a master class, I hate to call it a master.

When I get to go visit with.

I do not pass this down, okay?

I pass it along.

Okay.

So here's the deal.

Cameraman, you need t come over here and watch this.

This product placement pitch for.

I tell the kids I sit.

You see that the short point.

Okay.

What's this?

You can't go.

Okay.

What's this?

Oh, do you see there?

It broke.

That's when the magic starts.

I'm such a sucker.

Whether he' crafting a lyric in his create a torium or capturing an idea on the go, it's clear that songwriting is intrinsic to Larry's DNA.

In fact, some of his most iconic songs are rooted in lessons learned long before he ever stepped into the public eye.

in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills, Well, in your songs.

Don't just tell a story.

I kno you have stories behind the song and how some of them were written.

Will you share one of those with us?

Yeah.

Thought youd never ask.

Odessa high school, 16 years old, 1964.

I was in miss.

Anne Louise Jones, senior English class.

I adored the woman in the right way.

You.

She's elder, I was 16.

The bell rang.

I picked up my books.

Bye, Miss Jones.

She said Larry.

Larry had nine syllables and she said, precious, come over here.

Can I talk to you?

She didn't say, can I talk to you?

She said may I talk to you.

Obviously she could.

May is asking permission.

Surely.

Back to the story, she said, sweetheart, I want you to, write a paper, a book report on, John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath for extra credit.

Well, I looked around, make sure nobody was there.

I said, you know all the students, extra credit said that I don't need the extra credit.

I said, first of all, I'm going to make an A. And second of all, I'm your favorite student of all time.

She said, Larry Gatlin, you are a mess.

Here is my book.

Then she said, you need to read this book.

Here's my copy.

She said, you need to read it.

I read the book.

Guess what?

I made?

Of course I made an A. That was in 1965 70.

Excuse me.

In 1978, 13 years later, I was, stuck in what I call the traffic jam from hell.

You know, where the Hollywood Bowl is in L.A.?

You know, where Vine goes and it goes around or under the 405 ou to Warner Brothers, NBC studios in beautiful downtown Burbank.

I was stuck in this traffic jam.

Right in front of me was a 1958, a 20 year old purple and white Mercury station wagon with Oklahoma license plate.

I said out loud because, as you see, I have no filter, very little filter, very littl internal dialog with all of it.

Because.

So I said out loud, good Lord God, look at these Okies.

They're coming out here from Oklahoma trying trying to think they're going to get rich and famous, you know, because it were pots and pans out the window.

The kids hanging You know, I said, they're going to find out real quickl that all the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills, in somebody else's name.

I took the Hertz rent a ca slip which I wish I could find and all the gold in California is in a bank in Beverly Hills and somebody else's name.

The light changed my erstwhile Joad family rode off into the sunset in the 58 Mercury.

I took my car and of the 40 the Burbank for a meeting lost in the iconic produce Neil Diamond or Fleetwood Mac.

All these people for a meeting with him at Warner Brothers Records.

He was very nice, very nice.

I enjoyed the meeting.

I walked out, Hertz rental car And wrote, oh.

I looked at the clock.

I looked the clock in the car learned what didn't have what.

I remember looking at the clock and it was, 5:07.

I knew tha I had to leave by 5:15 to get, to the Hollywood Bowl fo another meeting over on sunset.

at United Artist Records.

And I sat there in eight minutes and wrote All the gold in California is in a bank in the middle of Beverly Hills in Somebody else's name.

Went back.

We signed with Columbia Records.

recorded the song six Months Later is the number one country song in the world, thanks to Ms.

Anne Louise Jones saying Larry, you need to read this book.

Not I want you.

You need to read this book.

See, you can say that's an accident.

You want to, I don't believe that.

I wrote a song last week.

You want to hear it?

Sure.

Said, Ive sung my old homemade songs at the Carnegie Hall in New York City and in the Great Hall of the people over in Beijing.

At every beer joint, dance hall, taffy pool and hall called.

the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry House in between.

It never ceases to amaze me what the the people stand and cheer when they hear me sing my old song.

It's more than I could have ever dreamed up.

Looks like God, was out dreaming me all along.

I could never dream of all this.

I just want to be a gospel singer.

And is this what God had him?

I said one time on stage when I had the Imperials as our special guest at the Ryman I said, I auditioned for these guys.

I said I didn't get the job.

I said, God had a bigger plan.

Then I said, no, fellas, I apologize.

God had a different plan.

Well, I know we could, as I said in the beginning, be here for ten years and still not hear all your stories.

But as you like to say, I'd rather end ten years, early than ten minutes.

Too late.

Where did you get that done?

I sing that, too.

You might have said that once or twice.

I'd rathe quit ten years, Lord, you know I'd rather quit ten years too early than ten minutes too late.

Ain't about to leave my lead in the fickle hands of fate.

God, I gave my soul to you, sweet Lord Jesus.

So I know.

soul is safe and sound.

Lord your God, you have to tell my heart.

When its time to lay it down.

See, I got the words right now.

and they whispered the right melody in my ear.

Thank you Larry.

Thanks to you.

I enjoyed it.

Watch even more of the shows you love any time with Wtcr passport.

An exclusive benefit for members of TCI, PBS.

Watch your favorite shows and passport on the free PBS app.

Download it today.