I come to provide a little perspective and experience of my years in Nashville and aim it at a very distinct group of people. Those that are currently interested in making a trip, multiple trips or actually moving to Nashville, and things they will encounter on their musical journeys here.
Everything I write on these pages, come from a question or comment someone makes on other posts that I know something about and feel it has some relavence to these dialogues.
Probably the biggest question or comment I, or anyone else that is trying to do this hear is “How do I get booked on these writers nights/festivals/ THE BLUEBIRD?
One of the things that pretty much consistently I get is "I've been writing songs, now what do I do with them?" Many people "think" they are writing songs, only to find out they have only poetry (lyrics only) or have songs that totally don't fit a format, don't have any allies within the industry
A lot of time I have a difficult time explaining what one of my "tours" are all about. It is a "TOUR" through the participants, past, present and future, and while most come to Nashville, I do it in other places, primarily, the Frank Brown festival in Nov. in Perdido Key Fla.
Okay, so I've given you some of the reasons you can;t just waltz into TWANGTOWN and start getting cuts. And there are a TON OF THEM. I should put them into a book. Oh wait, I DID!
Most of the modern day hit writers, and artists, started out years before as a home town hero. Playing all the bars, and clubs in their area. Some might have local record deals, step up to regional artists, in bands, etc. Sooner or later, they make forays into LA, New York.
I get lots of my inspiration for articles and blogs from things my songwriting coaching clients bring up in our sessions. Last week I had a writer say they couldn’t afford to pursue their songwriting because they simply didn’t have the funds. He let me know he was giving up . Period.
I’ve come to believe in my 20-plus years in music that by setting reasonable expectations and doing the work, it becomes much harder to be fooled or discouraged by some of the pervasive myths that exist around songwriting success.
My buddy Robert Daniels, did a post yesterday on the saying that Nashville is a "ten year town." Well, that is a well worn phase and while some people do go a little faster, if you investigate the history of the town and the people in it, you find it holds true more times than not.
Writing is not a craft, it's the force of inner expression in the same way a painter pours out their vision through colors and brush,.there is no manual for expression.
It would be less dignified of me ever to skirt the issue of Waylon Jennings,.
Waylon did not pussy foot around like someone who didn't think he was a blessed boy,.
When you think about “technique” or technical playing, you probably think of what musicians call “chops”. It’s a general term but it’s almost always used to refer to difficult or physically challenging music.
I have seen a few posts on Facebook and other places that ask "Why do people in Nashville all play for free? Don't they know that you should get paid for what you do?"
The answer is a bit complicated, but for those of you who have wondered that, here it is:
Billy Lee and Stephen Clark,
I'll tell you something interesting that relates to this. You both reference my song "TABLES AND CHAIRS." That song has been pretty good to me, a lot of people identify me with it, and request it often.
There is something interesting I see and hear a lot on Social networking, especially places like Facebook. and YOU TUBE. It is the endless amount of people that put camera phone videos of themselves doing COVER songs.
Okay, this is one of my pet peeves, especially among NEW songwriters! Everybody who writes five songs and then are SURE SOMEONE IS GOING TO STEAL THEIR SONG CALLED “I LOVE YOU BABY!” Because it has NEVER BEEN WRITTEN BEFORE! And go off on the copyright world,(“oh my GOD!
NASHVILLE IN 1963-64 PLAYING GUITAR AND SINGING AT SKULL SCHULMAN’S RAINBOW ROOM WAS LIKE BEING PRIVY TO THE COUNTRY VERSION OF THE HEEHAW GAMBINO FAMILY;
Guitars, or any other instrument for that matter just don't bulldog their way into our lives; Musical instruments are the "PLAY HARD TO GET BABIES", of all time,..they defy being tamed,.they are obstinate, unwilling, unbending, and initially cold barren objects until they sense their practitioner
Some of us are crowned as kings, and some of us are loyalists to kings,. Kingship has never rained on me although I've been blessed to be blood brothers with royalty,.
Songwriting has nothing to do with winning awards for songwriting; songwriting is a sacred art, and yes , we want to be praised in private and in public for our works, but any songwriter worth their salt knows the acts of men are temporal while the acts of God are eternal..
Living with William J Cedzich, my father, was like living in a house with a human bulldozer, whose fingers could play those moving minor key Slavic dirges on a Steinway grand piano that could make you weep.
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.
Evangelists hail from the order of the Tongue,.they have trained their Tongue's to do amazing feats from getting you to believe you're a terribly wrong sick individual as they reach into your pockets and abscond with your coinage..
As songwriters, it's the inside of the song we are to get to,..the core of the song is what when planted, reproduces itself in the spirit of the listener.
The narrow rocky path has always been the path of the artist..
To throw oneself blindly into the streaming rugged winds of the muse is beyond stupidity or courageousness,. It is a choice-less vendetta against those pilgrims tempted by the flame of Art,.
You know the special one you picture in your mind who you know so well, so intimately on so many levels, that when they do something or say something so provocatively innocent your immediately drenched in rivers of tenderness flooding through and over you wave after wave?
Land in a place where your celebrated, not tolerated.
A caustic deprecating word can tip a young writer off their axis of enthusiasm,..Positive advice is a God send..
If I'm "thinking" about writing a song it will never get written, or if it does, it will be a piece of crap, thought up, paltry and disingenuous even on the most sub-lower level boogie level.
Something happened last night that happens a ton now and I have been meaning to say something about it. It’s gonna seem like a rant(which it sort of is) but it is more a stern reminder to all you writers and artists that are trying to understand all this.
I always find it pretty funny that people the farthest away from any business, ALWAYS seem to know EXACTLY what that business needs to do. They talk so confident and yet in doing so demonstrate that they know NOTHING about what they are talking about.
Songwriting is a beautiful thing,.those who embark on this path for their lifetime steps into an eternal magical world,.it never ends,.songwriting has no beginning or ending,.being timeless you can't equate it to anything,.
We are Dreamed, everything you see, feel, experience, every song, season, each moment, falling in love, children, etc, is the glorious dream of the creator.
A clever twist on the hook is a mainstay of country music and a common form of that is using a phrase or cliché as a metaphor such as the Garth Brooks hit “Two of a Kind Working on a Full House.” Another way is to change the expression slightly such as Brad Paisley’s “Laughing All The Way to the
Before you approach a venue, find out what kind of music they book. This may sound painfully obvious, but The Bluebird is a folk/acoustic songwriters’ club that features only original music, yet I regularly get press kits from jazz bands, country cover bands, show bands – you name it.
Since there are more and more people coming into all this writing, performing, getting out of their living rooms,
much of it is becoming like that old conundrum:,
“HOW DO YOU GET A JOB WITHOUT EXPERIENCE? HOW DO YOU GET EXPERIENCE WITHOUT A JOB?
The landscape of the music industry, though constantly changing, remains steady on several key ingredients that consistently produce the songs we hear every day. Reversing the steps from songwriting to radio-ready, one element we tend to see commonly is the collaboration of several songwriters.
When I teach songwriting classes, I tell students that if they’re rhyming “fire” with “desire” that they should leave. That joke always gets a giggle. As someone who’s taught songwriting and also judged song contests, I’ve heard this rhyme too many times.
A lot of songwriter’s, artists, interested parties (parents, friends, etc.) are making almost daily pilgrimages to Nashville, much because we are an “IT” CITY, growing and a very vibrant scene.
Since Songwriting is so much of an introverted experience, often it is hard to get out of our own way. But as we are developing that is JUST what we have to do.
Songwriting has nothing to do with winning awards for songwriting; songwriting is a sacred art, and yes , we want to be praised in private and in public for our works, but any songwriter worth their salt knows the acts of men are temporal while the acts of God are eternal..
It happens almost every day that I get an email, private message, Facebook, etc. from people who are “PRIMARILY SONGWRITERS’ (Not performers) who are trying to find out “What is NEXT for my music?” Well, sometimes, unfortunately, there IS NO NEXT.
Kurt Fortmeyer is a songwriters songwriter. He lives songwriting in everything he does. Conversations with him will bring thoughts of song hooks. Kurt is not only a great songwriter and a spreader of his craft but he is also a Chicken Wrangler who has wonderful foul.
Songwriters come in many types. This songwriter will grab your heart and sing it into a calm soothing memory. Lyrics from Lance Cowan are like musical magic that enters the ears and then the heart. Listen to some great songs uniquely crafted by a songwriting craftsman.
