Bluebird Cafe' concert series offers a peek behind the hit-writing scenes

Feb. 16—Marv Green was perfectly content writing hit songs and letting other people sing them. But for one weekend, he was almost part of a star country duo.

Green, who will play in Santa Fe this weekend as part of the Bluebird Cafe's Songwriters Concert Series at Bishop's Lodge, says that several years ago, he considered teaming up with Jeff Stevens, a successful songwriter who would go on to produce Luke Bryan's records. Green and Stevens ultimately worked together on "True," a No. 1 single for George Strait in 1998, and just before that, Green says, they momentarily considered fronting their own act.

"Jeff called me one Friday," Green says. "He said, 'Warner Bros. just called me. They offered me a record deal but want me to be a duo. Would you be my duo partner if I do this thing?' I thought about it, and I was like, 'Oh gosh, I'm getting a record deal thrown at me.' So I said, 'Alright, I'll do it.' And he thought about it. Finally, he called me back Sunday night and said, 'Man, I don't think I want to be an artist anymore. I'm just going to write songs.'"

Two decades later, Green doesn't think about what could've been. He's written several No. 1 country hits for such artists as Strait and Carrie Underwood, and his song "Amazed," recorded by Lonestar, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1999.

Green, who grew up in Southern California, says he first picked up an instrument at about 10 years old, and because his brother Art had chosen the guitar before him, he first started learning the bass.

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The Bluebird Cafe Songwriters Concert Series at Bishop's Lodge is an homage to the legendary listening room in Nashville, which helped launch the careers of such artists as Taylor Swift and Garth Brooks. The concerts give songwriters an opportunity to perform and share the stories behind the songs at the resort's Bunkhouse.

* 6 p.m. Friday, February 16, and Saturday, February 17; March 15 and March 16

* Bishop's Lodge

* 1297 Bishop's Lodge Road

* $75, $195 for VIP tickets (check for availability)

* 888-741-0480; aubergeresorts.com/bishopslodge

Inspired by the weekly TV series Hee Haw, he picked up the banjo and then started learning guitar when he was in sixth grade. By the time he was in eighth grade, he was entering local talent contests with his brother and playing after local football games.

The musical brothers graduated to playing restaurants and bars before they were even old enough to buy a drink, and Green says he started several projects while still in high school.

"There were weeks where I was in a honky-tonk playing lead guitar and singing harmony with my brother and then maybe Wednesday night going down to Hollywood and playing with my other band, my high school buddies," he says. "That was very late '80s influenced — not that great pop. I wouldn't call it rock. It was a strange time in music. There were keyboards involved, unfortunately. It's pretty laughable to hear my voice on those songs now."

But gig by gig, Green was building his chops. He briefly enrolled in Santa Barbara City College as a music major but realized that wasn't his path. He was playing at bars four nights a week and writing his own songs when he decided to move to Nashville in 1993.

He did his homework and knew who many of the producers in town were and was vaguely familiar with some of the songwriters. Six months into his stay in Nashville, he got the opportunity to drop off a few songs for producer Scott Hendricks. He was told he might not hear back for a few months, but, Green says, he heard back the following Monday.

"It was all timing. He was starting a publishing company," Green says. "He was looking for someone he could help develop, and my tape landed on his desk right about that time."

His early days as a songwriter were ideal for his development as an artist. He had proven he could write songs by himself, but now he was sitting with other writers Hendricks connected him to and bouncing ideas off their heads. He had pieces of songs, and people who could give him feedback.

"That was my other schooling," he says. "I was getting to do it every day, granted not for very much money. And it turned out to be a beautiful thing I wasn't getting advanced very much money, because you have to pay that back. That was my way in, and it still took a couple years."

Green's first Top 10 hit came on a 1997 David Kersh song called "Day In, Day Out," and soon after, Strait brought him into the stratosphere with "True." Strait and Green hit No. 1 again in 2006 with "It Just Comes Natural," and Underwood took Green's "Wasted" to No. 1 in 2007.

Pull Quote

The hits, Green says, opened new doors. He could write with other writers he hadn't known before, and record labels knew him as a writer on the rise. He grew up listening to Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, and he was honored when they recorded his song "Live This Long" as part of their Django and Jimmie album in 2015.

He also had a front-row seat for the rise of an American phenomenon. Long before she dated Kansas City Chiefs' All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce, Taylor Swift was just a young Nashville songwriter with big aspirations.

"I remember Taylor's mom dropping her off at my studio. She hadn't even made the first record yet," says Green. "I remember it was like, 'Well, this girl's got her stuff together. She's motivated. She's a great little writer for 16.' But who knew that she was gonna become the Taylor that we all know today?"

Green says that for all his accomplishments in the music industry, he hasn't released an album that captures his own signature sound. While his work may appear on playlists on most of the major streaming platforms, he has spent more time writing songs for other artists than he has recording for himself.

"I didn't hit Nashville until my late 20s," he says of his career trajectory. "If I had arrived in Nashville in my early 20s, which I very well could've, it probably would've been a different story. But by the time I was starting to have hits, I was liking the idea of staying in one place. Ironically, that's when I met my wife, so with success came love, too, and it was one of those things where I was ready to not be rambling all over the United States and beyond."

Green says he's never been to Santa Fe before, and he's looking forward to playing Bishop's Lodge and sharing stories from his life in music. He has the best of both worlds: He's had songs that top the charts but also has anonymity.

"I'm not going to lie," he says. "I can hop on a bus and go to a show that's 20,000 seats and be backstage and go, 'God, that must be a rush.' Because I never got to feel that. But I get to do my thing when we play the Bluebird, and I have a couple other venues around here too."