Phil Vassar Q&A
He’s happy to be alive to launch 30 Years of Paradise Tour
Hear Phil’s distinct brand of Country March 15 at The Mint Event Center
FRANKLIN, Ky. (Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025) — When singer-songwriter Phil Vassar moved to Nashville in 1985, he was advised to ditch the piano and get a cowboy hat. Instead, Vassar kept true to himself and the Virginia native brings his distinctive brand of piano country into The Mint Event Center at The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs on March 15.
The performance, part of Vassar’s 25 Years of Paradise Tour, headlines the late-winter/early spring schedule at The Mint Event Center, which includes Barracuda: America’s Heart Tribute on Feb. 14 and Rumours ATL: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute on March 1; and Aaron Tippin on April 26. All concerts begin at 8 p.m. Central, with the doors opening at 7 p.m.
The Mint publicist Jennie Rees interviewed Vassar by phone from his Nashville home for this Q&A. Questions, set-ups and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
How do you describe your country genre? It doesn’t seem like it is easily pigeonholed.
“It’s hard to describe. I come from such a diverse background of country, rock and of course Billy Joel, Elton John, Lionel Richie — these guys were heroes of mine. I love writing songs. I came to Nashville and I wanted to develop my writing skills. I sort of did, eventually, and started having hits as a writer. I’ve always tried to get a record deal. There was that faction of the music industry that was like ‘You’re a piano player, that doesn’t work in Nashville. You need to be a guitar player, wear a hat. That’s what we do here.’ That was right when Garth was coming out. Garth was one of the first people I met when I came to Nashville (and) his producer. They used to let me use the studio over there. They said, ‘I don’t really understand your music, but now I really like it.’ Anyway, it started from there. It’s been a tumultuous journey, I can say.”
You were on a track scholarship as a decathlete at James Madison University, and somewhere you decided you had to learn to play the piano. What brought on that moment of understanding?
“I started playing piano in high school. We were delivering a piano from my great aunt’s house to our house. I still have that piano. It’s an old piano from the 1800s. It’s beautiful. I was in Virginia a couple of weeks ago and went to the warehouse just to see it. Needs a little work but it still sounds pretty good. Over the years I’ve collected a bunch of pianos. Anyway, I started learning to play, doodling along writing songs. So I wrote a song for my high school graduation. That was really my first venture into that kind of stuff.” (Vassar said his track career ended when he was pole-vaulting, landed on a hurdle and tore a hamstring. “That was it and I moved to Nashville.”)
“I had so many people I really respected. James Taylor. I loved singer-songwriters: Jackson Browne, Chris Shelton, Billy Joel. There are a lot. I’ve been doing kind of a ‘Hits and Heroes’ package the last couple of years, where I do maybe an Elton John or Billy Joel song, or Lionel Richie. Just to let people know where I came from. Also from groups like Alabama and Merle Haggard, who I became dear friends with. They were always like, ‘Man, you’ve just got to keep going with what you’re doing. It’s great. I love it!’ It was the respect and support of those guys that changed my life. I’d think, ‘Maybe I’m in the wrong place. Maybe I should go to L.A. or New York.’ They’d say, ‘Heck, you don’t want to go there.’ I love Nashville; I really do. It’s a great place to live. Of course it’s grown a lot since I got here in the ’80s. But it’s a beautiful place, and there’s so much great talent here. It’s the place to be now. Everybody comes here. People from New York and L.A. come here every day.”
Before he got a record contract, Vassar, a Beatle’s fan, in 1995 opened a night club he named the Hard Days Nightclub in Nashville.
“It was a great idea (but) very, very hard because you’re always having to deal with something. My dad was in the restaurant business. He was like, ‘Don’t you ever do that.’ I was ‘Don’t worry!’ Then of course I ended getting up in the middle of it. It was great. It was before in Nashville, where now everybody has these bars, little clubs. It’s become a thing. Back in the day, it was cool (owning one). I didn’t have to do what these club owners wanted, telling me this and that. It was: This is what I do. You can come see me or don’t see me. I learned a lot by playing in front of a live audience. Today, a lot of these Youtube acts, they’ve never really been a performer before. They haven’t had to perform live, a lot of them.
“I’d try out these songs. I remember on my 30th birthday, I wrote My Next Thirty Years that morning, and I played it that night at my bar. I’d introduce a song, play it and get the reaction immediately. People either go crazy over the song — like I’m Alright or Bye Bye or some of the songs I wrote that I’d do in my bar — and sometimes there would be silence, and someone would yell, ‘Play something by Skynyrd.’ OK, mark that one off the list.
“I started writing songs for Jo Dee Messina, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney and all those guys. They’d come in my bar. I just developed a following with all the locals in that area. It was really a cool time. Then I got all these cuts. I became Songwriter of the Year (in 1999), got my record deal, cut my record and left the bar one night and then stayed on tour with Tim McGraw. I sold the bar. It was wildly successful and fun, but then it was time to go to the next thing.”
Reflect back on Dec. 5 in 2000 when you were celebrating your first No. 1 single with “Just Another Day in Paradise,” with “My Next Thirty Years” — the song you wrote and McGraw took to No. 1 — right on its heels.
“When your own songs are knocking your songs out of the No. 1 spot, that’s a pretty good time. I was really grateful for that time. It was a long time coming, a long journey to get to that point. I was really lucky that Tim and Jo Dee, Alan Jackson and all of these folks were cutting my songs. I always loved being a writer and having hits for other folks, too, but my original idea was just to be an artist. It was very hard to get to that point because, as I said, everybody was against the piano.”
You were quoted as saying how long it took you to get “Just Another Day in Paradise” (written with Craig Wiseman) demoed and then “we had the hardest time hanging on to it.”
“Lone Star wanted to cut it, and I’m really good friends with those guys. We were label-mates. I said, ‘Look, I’ve got to keep something.’ I’d already had I don’t know how many hits from my artist package — The Bye Byes, I’m Alright, Thirty Years, all these songs (recorded by others). At that time, it was very hard to hold onto songs. Of course, at that time, being a songwriter was the greatest job in the world. You made a boatload of money. You’re making hits and making seven figures every time you give one away. Of course, the publishing business is very different now, with all the streaming. I don’t even know where the money goes anymore.”
I read one place you like to write is in your cellar. You had the podcast “Songs From the Cellar.”
“I have a wine cellar in my house, which is 102 years old. I’d go down there, and I had a keyboard down there. I said, ‘This would be a cool show.’ I talked to a couple of friends. I’ve got neighbors like Dennis Quaid and Tommy Shaw from Styx, Tim McGraw, Chesney, LeAnn Rimes was right across the street. It was a cool vibe. I’d get Jo Dee to come. The Brothers Osborne, Old Dominion, whoever. We’d go down to the cellar and play. We did that for three seasons, and it was just too small down there. So I ended up building this barn. It’s a really cool entertainment barn. I write up in the barn, or sometimes down at the house. I do like sitting in my piano room — I have a grand piano — and just doodle around. It’s cool for me to go different places — I have a piano in my bedroom. It works well for my ADD. I go from one place to the next. It’s a fun place to create.”
I was stunned to see in a Taste of Country video interview last year that in 2023 you nearly died — twice — suffering a heart attack and then a stroke three days later at your house.
“Well I did. I wasn’t feeling good. I knew something was off. I worked out every day. Didn’t drink. I said, ‘I’ll get through this.’ Then I just dropped dead. Literally. My heart stopped beating. I was in cardiac arrest and sudden death, is what they called it. Cari, my girlfriend, was with me. She did CPR on me until the Lifeline guy got here. It’s a good thing I live close to Vanderbilt (a Level 1 trauma center). I’ve just got bad genes. The doctor said, ‘You know you shouldn’t be here.’ He said, ‘I can’t really explain it, but you obviously were in good enough shape to survive this, however you did it. You had less than a 1 percent chance. Just go and enjoy your life, and do things you love.’ It was pretty humbling.
“It’s taking me a little while to come back, but I feel better than I’ve ever felt. I came back stronger than ever. I can sing better; oh my gosh I sing way better. I just had all this blockage. It’s going to be a fun year just to get back out and do my thing. Play with the band. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, getting back out. Going through this stuff the last couple of years just changes you. You’re definitely grateful to be doing something you love to do.”
What are some of the life experiences that have influenced your work?
“It’s like you’re given all these great ideas every day thrown at you. Paradise is one of those songs. Craig and I were sitting there talking. He said, ‘Good grief, man it was crazy.’ His car broke down. My washing machine flooded. There was like six inches of water in my kitchen. These old houses, right? We looked at each other and said, ‘Just another day in paradise, buddy.’ He said, ‘Let’s write that! Let’s go!’”
What can we expect at your performance at The Mint?
“I just want everybody to have a good time, to go, ‘That was great!’ I try to do a bunch of hits and converse with the crowd. That’s why we’re there. I just love to play live, more than anything. You write the songs (and) the payoff is when you get to go out there and play them live for everybody. It’s a pretty awesome thing.”
The Mint Event Center’s late-winter/early spring schedule (tickets on sale at hyperlinks)
Friday Feb. 14 — Barracuda: America’s Heart Tribute
Saturday March 1 — Rumours ATL: A Fleetwood Mac Tribute
Saturday March 15 — Phil Vassar
Saturday April 26 — Aaron Tippin
