Lem Pratt isn’t planning on trading in his badge for a record contract, but who knows what will come of performing three songs at Thursday’s Christian Country Music Association convention in Nashville.
Saturday night, the Mukilteo police officer and his Hard Road Band will play in Lake Stevens, but it’s too expensive to fly his musicians to Tennessee.
“I’ll be singing to a soundtrack minus the lead vocals. I’ve never done that before.”
But Pratt’s ready for the experience.
“I don’t have these big aspirations of being a famous singer or selling a million records. I’m just putting it out there for others to enjoy, reflect upon, and use,” he said.
“God’s given me a gift just like anybody has a gift. I’m doing what he’s given me to do, whether it’s law enforcement or music or being a dad.”
Or being a national park ranger or a cowboy. Pratt has played guitar or banjo around the campfires at Bryce Canyon. He also worked on his days off with cattle outfits in Utah.
“I had a little notebook and a pencil. Lyrics would come to me and I’d write them down. I kept journals.
“When I sing, and I tell some of the stories about getting my pride hurt, or losing a cow or a dog in a thunder and lightning storm, people seem to enjoy those real-life experiences. … It’s hard to write about something that I hadn’t connected with.”
The title track of his CD “Run My Race” is from experiences on a Persian Gulf oil platform while he was with the Coast Guard in Iraq. It was a reflection of his questions.
“You go through an emotional gamut in a situation like that and you’re thinking, ‘Why am I here? How did I get here?’
“The song is basically one of those, ‘OK, God took me here for a reason and I’m going to do His will and finish it out instead of falling into temptation and walking away from what He’s given me to do.’”
Pratt, whose parents are retired teachers from the Snohomish School District, played musical instruments in school and was a member of a jazz band.
“After I got out of high school, music started being more serious for me as a form. I took college music theory, and studied jazz (although) I mainly grew up with a cross between rockabilly and the Sons of the Pioneers.”
He also grew up singing hymns in church and listening to gospel music.
“There’s a difference between Southern gospel and Christian country music, which has kind of expanded the way country music has gone, to a different sound, with a little more depth in arrangements.
“With gospel music, I think of three- and four-part harmonies. The (local) Circuit Riders perform Southern gospel music. I fall more into Christian country,” Pratt said.
Members of Pratt’s Hard Road Band performing Saturday are Chuck Togstad (Arlington), Scott Fulcher (Lake Stevens), Chris Bartness (Arlington), and Josh Dryer (Snohomish).
Also appearing will be Nashville performer Jim Walker, who wrote two songs on Pratt’s CD; Stan Remmick (Mukilteo); Josh Bash and Toby Hanson.
Lem Pratt performs Saturday in Lake Stevens.
Lem Pratt
and his Hard Rock Band, with guests: 7 p.m. Saturday, Performing Arts Center, Lake Stevens High School, 2908 113th Ave. NE; $10; 360-652-0497.
Lem Pratt
and his Hard Rock Band, with guests: 7 p.m. Saturday, Performing Arts Center, Lake Stevens High School, 2908 113th Ave. NE; $10; 360-652-0497.
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