A good country song is all about the story, New Zealand legend Patsy Riggir tells Shane Gilchrist.
Take Beautiful Lady: The Very Best Of Patsy Riggir; featuring 24 songs selected by Riggir, the album might have only been released yesterday yet, for the singer at least, the process of collating the material prompted a few trips deeper into the past.
''Every song has a memory, an incident, person or place that comes to mind. They are very much like photos.
''The musicians I've worked with, the producers, the studios ... there are always little things that go on during a recording session that will never happen again. People move on, so it's never the same team. Thus those memories are unique,'' Riggir explains via phone from Putaruru earlier this week.
Born ''a few miles down the road'' (in Arapuni, in the Waikato), Riggir has lived in Putaruru for the past 17 years. A keen gardener, she has transformed a 2-acre (0.81ha) farmlet in that time. And though she concedes she has run out of space, she has managed to plant a few items beyond the fence line.
''I'm not so busy with music these days, though I am contemplating a bit of a play-around in the industry again.''
Not that she has much to prove.
Beautiful Lady sums it up, really. Spanning seven gold and five platinum albums, it includes 1983 hit Lay Down Beside Me, which peaked at No3 in the New Zealand music charts, as well as the title track, which was voted the most popular song in New Zealand at the 1981 New Zealand Music Awards.
''You would not believe the packets of Panadol I've been through. I've recorded well over 100 songs, so to get it down to 24 was a major mission. I worked hard and got the list down to 50, but I struggled from there.
''It's the best I could do, given the number of songs I was allowed to put on. No matter what I put on this CD, there will be people out there who wonder why I left out their own favourites.
''It gives me a chance to share some of the songs people might have forgotten. I selected certain songs because I knew they had been popular live and it was pretty much based on that; what songs I thought people would like to hear again.''
Riggir's list of achievements is long.
Having begun singing with her parents, Jack and Betty, at the age of 5, she entered talent quests and appeared on local radio shows, but shelved performing during her school years. In 1974, she joined a local country music club and fine-tuned her talents. A year later, Riggir won the inaugural Gold Guitar Awards in Gore.
''Mum and Dad were both country-and-western singers. They did a lot of charity concerts, old-times dances and radio broadcasts,'' Riggir reflects.
The release in 1980 of debut album True Country Music, which earned her a slew of country awards as well as the Countrywide Entertainer of the Year prize, prompted a string of successes, both in New Zealand and internationally through the 1980s, Riggir winning a multitude of awards in New Zealand and Australia, including five Australasian Gold Guitar Awards in Tamworth.
This in turn led to international opportunities, including performing at country music festivals in Fort Worth, Texas, Hong Kong and twice at the International Fan Fair Festival in Nashville, Tennessee. She also performed twice at country music's most prestigious venue, Nashville's Grand Old Opry.
''I remember going to Nashville and meeting people who gave me encouragement. That gave me an enormous boost,'' Riggir says.
''I'm not at the end of my career, but I won't achieve those heights again. There are some things you can't repeat, for a number of reasons. I look back on what I've achieved with great pride, while not being sorry they won't happen again.''
In 1994, Riggir's contribution to music was recognised when she was awarded the QSM. However, she took a lengthy hiatus from the industry the following year as constant touring and recording began to take its toll. After having released 10 studio albums in just over a decade, Riggir sidelined herself.
''I decided to take a break. I'm my own worst enemy. I strive for perfection. Part of me understands that I'll never achieve that, because perfection is very much an opinion. In striving for perfection, there were times when I was totally wrung-out and needed to step back.''
Nine years later, Riggir returned with a new studio album, Never Ending Songs of Love, and resumed a busy live schedule, including the 2005 Highway of Legends national tour that featured fellow Kiwi country entertainers Gray Bartlett, Brendan Dugan and Jodi Vaughan.
That tour party included more than a few musicians familiar to Riggir, none more so than pedal steel player Red McKelvie. An old friend who appeared on her debut, his understated, tasteful playing sums up Riggir's approach to music.
''I've made a point of having Red on my albums. It's a case of familiarity but also friendship and mutual respect.
''There are a few things that sum up my attitude to music: emotion, communication, respect and loyalty. All those things apply to a song as well as to those you work with and perform for.
''I've always remained loyal to my music. I haven't chopped and changed. I haven't thought country music is old-hat and tried something else. Yet being a country singer doesn't stop me singing anything I want to,'' Riggir explains.
''I have always believed that a good country song is about the story. It's not the number of chords you put into a song that matters; it's what you leave out.
''I think modern country music might be getting a bit cluttered and overproduced. With modern country, particularly the female singers, there seems to be a trend to fit as many notes to one word as possible.
''My greatest female idol has always been Patsy Cline. I think she has one of the greatest voices ever; she lived every song she sang. As for male singers, I admire Don Williams. He's not so well known in New Zealand but is popular in the United States and Europe and is a very gentle singer. He sings with soul and sincerity. I also love Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, Jim Reeves and Merle Haggard.
''Emotion is all-important.''
Get it
Beautiful Lady: The Very Best of Patsy Riggir is out out now.
