At the 2024 Josie Music Awards this past October, Gary Patrick walked across the hardwood stage of the Grand Ole Opry to receive two awards: Artist of the Year in Americana/Folk and Vocalist of the year in Americana/Folk. 

The Josie Music Awards bring together the independent music industry, providing an opportunity for the industry to come together, network, and celebrate the best in the business throughout all genres and cultures. After ten years, the Josies were hosted in one of the grand stages of all, the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

While the East Texas native is the latest to be blessed under the beaming spotlight that once shone for the likes of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, his magnetic presence remains. That’s because Gary is the same on the stage as he is in real life. Spend five minutes with Gary Patrick and you’ll realize two things: his infectious love for music and life and his genuine humility. 

Before the show, with the Grand Ole Opry in the background, Gary sat down with TLM and shared what it’s like to be an independent artist, his songwriting process, and what he’s currently working on.

What are you nominated for this year?

I’m nominated for Male Artist of the Year for the Americana/Folk category.

And where are you traveling from?

Wood County, Texas.

What are you looking forward to this year?

Getting to play the CMA theater at the pre-show.  And that’s what I do – entertain people. And to have that experience for the first time in my life with 800 people listening, responding, and cheering. It was exhilarating. You know, life is about experience. About people. So I’ve just been flooded with great experiences. Just walking up here [to the Grand Ole Opry), people were coming up and saying, “Gary, we loved your guitar playing, your performance.” So it’s about people. That’s what I’m looking forward to.

How many Josie Music Awards have you attended before?

This is my first.

Can you tell us what it’s like to be an independent artist? What might surprise some people?

Well, as an independent artist, you shoulder all the responsibility for learning the craft. I mean, it’s not only about writing a song, playing a song, or even performing a song. You have to learn how to promote it. You shoulder that responsibility during that whole cycle of promotion. You have to learn that the goal post moves as soon as the ball is in the air. What works now won’t work six months later. And you have to find out who you are as an artist and where you fit in. And so I would say independent artists have to realize that when you choose to do music for a living, or if it chooses you, the goal is not to be famous. The journey is the destination. That’s where you learn, where you learn to inspire other people, where you get inspiration, and where you keep the inspiration going. That’s the journey.

Some time ago, you made a shift from writing about yourself to writing about the world. What prompted this?

You learn to be more objective about writing, so you find more content about other things in life. When you first start writing, it’s about something so close to you, like your mother and dad, fighting, or close heartaches. When you get older, you become more objective.

What’s your songwriting process like now?

Well, I co-write with Ken Orsow. We’ve co-written for almost 20 years together, and the process is like, “Hey Gary, I got this idea for a song.” Or “Hey Ken, I was humming this idea. It goes like this.” There’s really no set process. What we’ll do is get to a point and think we need more up-tempo songs in our catalog. And so we’ll focus on those. And then we’ll go down and take a deeper cut, and write something more introspective. For me, there’s not one way. But it’ll come to me when I’m driving. That’s when I get very creative: when I drive. So I always need something to write down.

And you don’t have to be sad to write a sad song or happy to write a happy song. That’s the cool thing about getting a little older. You can pull it. That’s the beauty. That’s the beauty of being objective. It’s quite emotional. 

TLM was honored to see you perform in Tyler. When you play, you’re very involved in the community, often engaging everyone by name. How have you been able to build this following while promoting your original music?

Man, that’s my local orbit, you know. Those people inspire. And when I play a local gig, I look for these people. And you can’t pay for something like that because these people will come after work. They don’t have to do that. They spend their time and money, night after night, because they love you. And they love your music, too. You know what I mean? So I guess what I’m trying to say is it’s about relationships. It all circles back to that. 

You used to live in Nashville. What’s Nashville to you and what can a Texan appreciate about this place?

Well, there’s so much heritage here in Nashville. Nashville began recording in the early days of country music. There were these pioneers of the three-chord song. They called it “The Three Chords and the Truth.” That’s how country music originated. The music world revolved around Nashville. I believe Nashville represents the heart of country music and storytelling.

I loved living here. I lived in Green Hills for a couple of years, and that’s when I started co-writing daily with Ken Orsow. He lives in Ashland, Oregon, so we would get on the phone and co-write. I didn’t co-write with anybody here, but I wanted to be immersed in the environment. So Nashville is very dear to me.

What project are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished Montana Moon. It’s my current single, released to radio on Tuesday of this week. In fact, I’m about to release an inside video of us recording the song from start to finish. It’s really cool.

Find out when and where Gary Patrick is playing. Follow him on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also find his music on Apple or Spotify.

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Cover photo courtesy Gary Patrick.

Martin Ramirez is a brisket-eating, Shiner-loving, road-tripping enthusiast of all things Texas. This Dallas-born writer / adventurer is ready to take his ‘78 El Camino to find the best in food, fun, and fitness throughout the Lone Star State.