Round II, Sal, Dave and Pat,
With the first song down, we looked around to other ideas the three guys had. This is where it gets hard. When you are working with three people, (and I also had two others who had booked me for the same day, but I messed up, so just let them sit in. Get to them in a minute) you have to give everyone a shot at throwing out ideas. In this day and age, you are likely to get three people into a song writing session. Doesn't mean that it takes that many people, it doesn't. But…
Sal, Dave and Pat, the New York clan
THE NEW YORKERS AND THE COWBOY
The first group was Sal, Dave and Pat. They are a trio from upstate New York who have known and played music with each other for over 20 years. Dave and Pat have been coming to Nashville for about 15 years, to perform, work with publishers, and soak in the Nashville experience. They came to me last year because they had reached a point where they weren't getting as much information as they needed. They would get told their songs…
WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT- DISSECTING SONGS
In the next few posts I am going to dissect a few of the latest songs I have written and explain about the people I wrote them with and how we arrived at what we did. You see, I am very big on trying to avoid the same old same old, cliched' tired worn out subject matter people seem to write all the time. The "Trucks, out on the farm, redneck, depressing, you name it, that just gets recycled over and over and it gets very tiring to listen to much less write.
There is a lot of subject matter out there. Life…
THAT FIRST WRITING APPOINTMENT
Since I just had several "Newbies" to the Nashville songwriting experience, I thought I would mention a few things that might help someone finding their way to the Nashville experience themselves that can help them be prepared. People often simply don't understand the process so maybe I can offer a few thoughts.
Most Nashville writing sessions last between 2-3 hours, mostly during the day, work hours. Nashville writers, particularly the experienced or more professional writers, usually have two and…
WRITING FOR THE 'OTHER GUY' PART II
Now, for some examples.
The first, is from my recent travels to New England to work with some wonderful people there.
The other writer, Maddy, a very cute, woman with a pretty good life. Husband, daughter, etc. She threw out the usual ideas about trucks, and country, things. Now Maddy doesn't have an extensive catalogue, and could actually used some of those type songs in it. But I really try to avoid all the cliche's everyone gets into. I try to head off cliche's at the beginning, to avoid it in the…Read more
The first, is from my recent travels to New England to work with some wonderful people there.
The other writer, Maddy, a very cute, woman with a pretty good life. Husband, daughter, etc. She threw out the usual ideas about trucks, and country, things. Now Maddy doesn't have an extensive catalogue, and could actually used some of those type songs in it. But I really try to avoid all the cliche's everyone gets into. I try to head off cliche's at the beginning, to avoid it in the…Read more
WRITING FOR THE OTHER GUY
It's the classic "Songwriter's delima 101." You get into a much anticipated writer's session, particularly with a more experienced writer, someone with hits, and artist, or someone with publishing or label contacts. You want to make a good impression, sit down and start pulling out your ideas that you thought were SO GREAT! Then, one by one, they are shot down like a skeet shooting tournament. The idea doesn't appeal to the other writer, they have written several just like it, or the biggest, "Man I have…Read more
LEAVNG OUT THE WHEN
Someone reading this (how can that be?) mentioned that I left out the "WHEN" in my "Who What When, How, Where, part. Sorry about this. I'm new to this blog thing.
The "WHEN" is one that is a really difficult thing to approach. I have a lot of people come up to me on workshops and when I talk about Nashville as a "Ten Year town", they willl go "I don't have TEN YEARS! What do I DO?" Well, the problem that you have to realize is that Nashville, the music business, or entertainment at all, doesn't work on…Read more
The "WHEN" is one that is a really difficult thing to approach. I have a lot of people come up to me on workshops and when I talk about Nashville as a "Ten Year town", they willl go "I don't have TEN YEARS! What do I DO?" Well, the problem that you have to realize is that Nashville, the music business, or entertainment at all, doesn't work on…Read more
THE BIG FOUR
THE BIG FOUR
There are four principal elements of the music industry that anyone doing it HAS to be aware of. These are the building essentials:
CREATION OF THE SONG
There are a BILLION SONGS A MONTH uploaded onto the Internet. There are over THIRTY MILLION writers, artists, poets, college and high school students, part timers, people interested in songwriting, singing, entertaining. Want to find out? Sit next to anyone in a restaurant, on an airplane, coffee house, anywhere. Tell them you are a…Read more
There are four principal elements of the music industry that anyone doing it HAS to be aware of. These are the building essentials:
CREATION OF THE SONG
There are a BILLION SONGS A MONTH uploaded onto the Internet. There are over THIRTY MILLION writers, artists, poets, college and high school students, part timers, people interested in songwriting, singing, entertaining. Want to find out? Sit next to anyone in a restaurant, on an airplane, coffee house, anywhere. Tell them you are a…Read more
NON-SUPER SUPERFICIAL WRITING
In the past 25 years in Nashville, I have listened to thousands of songs. Spending hours and hours in writers nights, open mics, parties, shows, doing reviews, tours, workshops, critiques, you name it, it quite wears you out. I rarely even listen to music on the radio and listen to talk radio. I do check out new artists and songs coming out but most of the time I have heard them months or sometimes years before in my own shows, festivals, and relationships I have. Presently I am exposed to 200-300 songs a…Read more