Article in the Tyler Morning Telegraph - 17 March 2007
March/17/2007 03:47 PM | Work
Posted on Saturday, March 17, 2007
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
On the verge of driving his first Indianapolis racing car in 1969, 19-year-old Jim Patton had a choice to make. He'd recently been "converted" as a result of the "Jesus Movement" sweeping through Southern California and knew once handling the thrilling car it might be too much to pull away from and do what God wanted from his life.
"It was one of those "Indy" Parnelli Jones-type race cars," said Patton. "It was a big chance and right in front of me. All I had to do was say 'yes' and climb in."
But Patton also had being playing electric guitar with local bands in his hometown of San Diego since he was 15. That factor was destined to make a difference in his life.
"Our band had been playing school dances, parties, halls, anything, you name it," said Patton. "Then the whole band became Christians during the Jesus Movement. There was really nothing called contemporary Christian music back then for us to get into, so at our gigs we just told people, 'if you want to talk about Jesus, come see us at the break or after the show.' That's all we knew how to do. We played the same songs we'd played before. We were just Christians now."
'INDY' CAR
Then came the chance to drive the "Indy" car. The offer didn't appear from thin air. Patton was an up-and-coming driver tutored by his semipro racing dad who'd bought his son an expensive quarter-midget racing car years earlier. The elder Patton encouraged his son to drive fast and faster, letting Jim soak in the thrill of soaring inches off the ground weekend after weekend on Southland speedways.
"I loved driving," Patton said. "My friends kept telling me, 'why do you do that racing stuff? It's dangerous.' I'd say, 'hey, you can hit your head and drown surfing' and laugh at them."
While other kids were racing slot-cars, go-carts or doing tricks on "banana-seat" bicycles on sunny weekends, Patton raged like a California wildfire on Southland speedways, eager to follow in his father's tire treads. Racing ran deep into his blood.
"It wasn't much of a question back then what I was going to do when I grew up," he said. "I was going to race."
THE BEATLES
Perhaps it was the Beatles' concert Patton worked in San Diego in 1965 that helped the young guitarist to see his own possibilities in music.
"It was crazy on concert day," Patton said. "My eyes were wide open when the Beatles drove up to the gate my friends and I were manning. There was this huge mob of kids running, screaming just behind them. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We opened the gate and then slammed it shut just in time. Those kids hit it like a big wave, 'smack,'" he said, striking his palms from emphasis, "right up into it. The fence bent inward and we pushed back hard."
When the Beatles came out of their motor home, Patton was helping with the gear. He took a good look at these international "idols," the point men of the British Invasion who were nearly worshipped around much of the world.
"When they got out, they just struck me as such normal guys, just like me and you," he said. "That's how a lot of the musicians in this (musical) British Invasion seemed back then. They were just regular guys, and they could play. I was a regular guy and that meant I could play too."
Being encouraged, and then finding that "lead" or melody playing came easily, Patton found a temporary place in music and racing, even after becoming a Christian. But when the offer to step up to serious driving came, Patton said he prayed from his newfound perspective of being a "disciple" of Jesus.
"Jesus was the deciding factor," said Patton. "In the end, I wanted to make myself more available to God, and thought God could use me more in music than he could as a racecar driver."
Patton turned down the chance to drive, he said, and never looked back.
"Rightly or wrongly, that was the choice I made," he said smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
GOING GOLD
With two gold and two platinum albums hanging on the walls of the Garden Valley home of Patton and his singing and song-writing wife Dee, some may say he choose "rightly."
The young couple joined the national evangelistic ministry, Agape Force, in the 1970s, moving to Northern California to use their musical talents and bring people closer to God. As a result, the widely distributed "Agapeland" came forth, an Agape Force hit that drew attention to the ministry and their message.
Agape Force moved from California to Garden Valley and the Pattons flourished, striking gold and the platinum albums for the nationwide hit, "Music Machine." They followed it with another motherlode strike, gold and platinum albums again, this time for "Bullfrogs and Butterflies."
Following that success, they created "Nathaniel and the Grublets," a children's musical story spawning innumerable church plays, musicals, radio broadcasts and spin-off "copycat" characters from coast to coast, and years on years. Their influence and reach as songwriters rang to every corner of the country.
The good news is the duo hasn't stopped writing music and lyrics - or performing with their grown daughters when they can get a break from studio work.
SELFISH GIANT
Last Saturday night Jim and Dee along with daughter Bree, were "letting go" at a fun gig at Rockwell's Coffee Shop in Lindale, going through hits of the '60s Jim grew up with. The trio expertly navigated their way through tunes by the Beatles, Manfred Mann, the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, Ricky Nelson, the Hollies, the Four Seasons and others.
"This was just a chance for us to get out for a break and play the hits people know," said Patton. "We've been working hard for the last three years on a 'rock opera' based on a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, 'The Selfish Giant.'"
The couple is on the verge of releasing the double-album-length project. Patton said he didn't mind a bit that the story came from a potentially controversial source.
"Whatever Wilde was, he really had something with 'The Selfish Giant,'" Patton said during an interview at his home on Wednesday.
"The story shows how destructive selfishness is, how it hurts relationships and how that can be changed - if you're willing to change," he said. "'Selfish Giant' has broad appeal and anyone at any age, Christian or not, can get something from this."
The music, an expertly produced and layered synthesis of sounds Patton picked up over the decades, has broad appeal as well. Ear-pleasing Beach Boy-style harmonies can be heard over reminisces of Manfred Mann riffs, accented by period rock-guitar styles and a cacophony of instruments, wrapped in the unique Patton creative style. The album has the sound of being conceived by an ear that has listened to all good things in the last 35 years.
"I wasn't looking to sound like any specific band style, but perhaps era specific," Patton said. "I put together sounds from so many different styles and eras that I liked, thinking others would like them as well. Dee co-wrote all of the songs."
The metaphor is about redemption, they said.
"Admittedly, this kind of musical presentation and message is rare today," said Dee, glancing at a platinum album hanging on her wall. "But our heart is still there; still trying to draw people to that change of life. We've tried to shake the call," she laughed, "but we can't."
Patton has set up a Web site, www.jimndee.com, where continually updated versions of the songs on "Selfish Giant" can be heard as they near completion. Also included on the site is a song trail that can be heard of the Patton's decades-long commitment to know Christ and make him known.
"This isn't the only project we're involved with right now," said Patton, "but it's taken the longest time to put together. We've poured everything we have creatively into it."
As a constant reminder of their first years in Smith County, Dee Patton still works at the Mercy Ships International Operations Center in Garden Valley. Mercy Ships eventually took possession of the property years after Agape Force had built old western-motif buildings to house offices and perhaps shoot "western" films on. Dee still walks the wooden planks of the boardwalks she and her husband contributed to years ago.
"When I walk down those boards. I think 'our songs helped build this place and it's still being used for God.' That's what it's all about."
To hear selections from The Selfish Giant, visit the Web at www.jimndee.com.
Patrick Butler covers religion. He can be reached at 903.596.6304. email: religion@tylerpaper.com
Music In Their Hearts
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
STUDIO: Jim Patton, 57, displays a custom-modified guitar, one of several he has at his home studio in Garden Valley on Wednesday. The Southern California native said he “hot-rodded” his first guitar in typical car-like fashion at age 15, painting it candy-apple red before he even knew how to play it.
By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
On the verge of driving his first Indianapolis racing car in 1969, 19-year-old Jim Patton had a choice to make. He'd recently been "converted" as a result of the "Jesus Movement" sweeping through Southern California and knew once handling the thrilling car it might be too much to pull away from and do what God wanted from his life.
"It was one of those "Indy" Parnelli Jones-type race cars," said Patton. "It was a big chance and right in front of me. All I had to do was say 'yes' and climb in."
But Patton also had being playing electric guitar with local bands in his hometown of San Diego since he was 15. That factor was destined to make a difference in his life.
"Our band had been playing school dances, parties, halls, anything, you name it," said Patton. "Then the whole band became Christians during the Jesus Movement. There was really nothing called contemporary Christian music back then for us to get into, so at our gigs we just told people, 'if you want to talk about Jesus, come see us at the break or after the show.' That's all we knew how to do. We played the same songs we'd played before. We were just Christians now."
'INDY' CAR
Then came the chance to drive the "Indy" car. The offer didn't appear from thin air. Patton was an up-and-coming driver tutored by his semipro racing dad who'd bought his son an expensive quarter-midget racing car years earlier. The elder Patton encouraged his son to drive fast and faster, letting Jim soak in the thrill of soaring inches off the ground weekend after weekend on Southland speedways.
"I loved driving," Patton said. "My friends kept telling me, 'why do you do that racing stuff? It's dangerous.' I'd say, 'hey, you can hit your head and drown surfing' and laugh at them."
While other kids were racing slot-cars, go-carts or doing tricks on "banana-seat" bicycles on sunny weekends, Patton raged like a California wildfire on Southland speedways, eager to follow in his father's tire treads. Racing ran deep into his blood.
"It wasn't much of a question back then what I was going to do when I grew up," he said. "I was going to race."
THE BEATLES
Perhaps it was the Beatles' concert Patton worked in San Diego in 1965 that helped the young guitarist to see his own possibilities in music.
"It was crazy on concert day," Patton said. "My eyes were wide open when the Beatles drove up to the gate my friends and I were manning. There was this huge mob of kids running, screaming just behind them. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We opened the gate and then slammed it shut just in time. Those kids hit it like a big wave, 'smack,'" he said, striking his palms from emphasis, "right up into it. The fence bent inward and we pushed back hard."
When the Beatles came out of their motor home, Patton was helping with the gear. He took a good look at these international "idols," the point men of the British Invasion who were nearly worshipped around much of the world.
"When they got out, they just struck me as such normal guys, just like me and you," he said. "That's how a lot of the musicians in this (musical) British Invasion seemed back then. They were just regular guys, and they could play. I was a regular guy and that meant I could play too."
Being encouraged, and then finding that "lead" or melody playing came easily, Patton found a temporary place in music and racing, even after becoming a Christian. But when the offer to step up to serious driving came, Patton said he prayed from his newfound perspective of being a "disciple" of Jesus.
"Jesus was the deciding factor," said Patton. "In the end, I wanted to make myself more available to God, and thought God could use me more in music than he could as a racecar driver."
Patton turned down the chance to drive, he said, and never looked back.
"Rightly or wrongly, that was the choice I made," he said smiling and shrugging his shoulders.
(Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.)
GOLD STRIKE: Singer/song-writer Dee Patton wrote lyrics with husband Jim for the couple’s gold and platinum albums while living in East Texas. The Pattons are about to release their latest CD, a musical “rock opera” they wrote and produced.
GOING GOLD
With two gold and two platinum albums hanging on the walls of the Garden Valley home of Patton and his singing and song-writing wife Dee, some may say he choose "rightly."
The young couple joined the national evangelistic ministry, Agape Force, in the 1970s, moving to Northern California to use their musical talents and bring people closer to God. As a result, the widely distributed "Agapeland" came forth, an Agape Force hit that drew attention to the ministry and their message.
Agape Force moved from California to Garden Valley and the Pattons flourished, striking gold and the platinum albums for the nationwide hit, "Music Machine." They followed it with another motherlode strike, gold and platinum albums again, this time for "Bullfrogs and Butterflies."
Following that success, they created "Nathaniel and the Grublets," a children's musical story spawning innumerable church plays, musicals, radio broadcasts and spin-off "copycat" characters from coast to coast, and years on years. Their influence and reach as songwriters rang to every corner of the country.
The good news is the duo hasn't stopped writing music and lyrics - or performing with their grown daughters when they can get a break from studio work.
SELFISH GIANT
Last Saturday night Jim and Dee along with daughter Bree, were "letting go" at a fun gig at Rockwell's Coffee Shop in Lindale, going through hits of the '60s Jim grew up with. The trio expertly navigated their way through tunes by the Beatles, Manfred Mann, the Everly Brothers, the Beach Boys, Ricky Nelson, the Hollies, the Four Seasons and others.
"This was just a chance for us to get out for a break and play the hits people know," said Patton. "We've been working hard for the last three years on a 'rock opera' based on a fairy tale by Oscar Wilde, 'The Selfish Giant.'"
The couple is on the verge of releasing the double-album-length project. Patton said he didn't mind a bit that the story came from a potentially controversial source.
"Whatever Wilde was, he really had something with 'The Selfish Giant,'" Patton said during an interview at his home on Wednesday.
"The story shows how destructive selfishness is, how it hurts relationships and how that can be changed - if you're willing to change," he said. "'Selfish Giant' has broad appeal and anyone at any age, Christian or not, can get something from this."
The music, an expertly produced and layered synthesis of sounds Patton picked up over the decades, has broad appeal as well. Ear-pleasing Beach Boy-style harmonies can be heard over reminisces of Manfred Mann riffs, accented by period rock-guitar styles and a cacophony of instruments, wrapped in the unique Patton creative style. The album has the sound of being conceived by an ear that has listened to all good things in the last 35 years.
"I wasn't looking to sound like any specific band style, but perhaps era specific," Patton said. "I put together sounds from so many different styles and eras that I liked, thinking others would like them as well. Dee co-wrote all of the songs."
The metaphor is about redemption, they said.
"Admittedly, this kind of musical presentation and message is rare today," said Dee, glancing at a platinum album hanging on her wall. "But our heart is still there; still trying to draw people to that change of life. We've tried to shake the call," she laughed, "but we can't."
Patton has set up a Web site, www.jimndee.com, where continually updated versions of the songs on "Selfish Giant" can be heard as they near completion. Also included on the site is a song trail that can be heard of the Patton's decades-long commitment to know Christ and make him known.
"This isn't the only project we're involved with right now," said Patton, "but it's taken the longest time to put together. We've poured everything we have creatively into it."
As a constant reminder of their first years in Smith County, Dee Patton still works at the Mercy Ships International Operations Center in Garden Valley. Mercy Ships eventually took possession of the property years after Agape Force had built old western-motif buildings to house offices and perhaps shoot "western" films on. Dee still walks the wooden planks of the boardwalks she and her husband contributed to years ago.
"When I walk down those boards. I think 'our songs helped build this place and it's still being used for God.' That's what it's all about."
To hear selections from The Selfish Giant, visit the Web at www.jimndee.com.
Patrick Butler covers religion. He can be reached at 903.596.6304. email: religion@tylerpaper.com