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January 2005
Say Just What You Feel and Make it Rhyme - Walt Aldridge Additionally, Walt and Gary Baker (songwriter of the #1 hit "I Swear" and Lonestar's smash "I'm Already There") conducted a very interesting and informative Songwriter Workshop at the 2005 Wine Country Expo. This Workshop will also be available in the Members area soon.
DECEMBER 2004 While Tia is most famous perhaps for having co-written (with Mark D. Sanders) Lee Ann Womack's mega-selling (and multi-award winning) "I Hope You Dance," you'll find no "one-hit-wonder" here. She also co-wrote (with Mark Selby and KWS) Kenny Wayne Shepherd's "Blue On Black," which holds the record as the longest number one in rock chart history: a whopping 17 weeks. Tia is no stranger to the country charts either, having written Pam Tillis' number one "Land of the Living" and the Dixie Chicks' (again with Mark Selby) smash "There's Your Trouble." Recently, Alan Jackson made the charts with "That'd be Alright," yet another Siller's co-write. Says Tia: "As a songwriter (and as a person) you become what you do. So you better be darn careful that what you are doing, and what you are writing, is really what you want to become. This business can take your soul (and your heart) and you can wake up and it's not there... and you don't know how to get it back..." On a more practical note, the self- appointed "Queen of Low-Tech" has this tip: "I call myself on my cell phone [and record my ideas]... tapes are a quagmire! The great thing about the cell phone message is that it comes up every few days! You never have to hunt for it and after you listen to it you can decide whether to write it down and keep it or just delete it."
SEPTEMBER 2004 Says Molly, "The songs in a film should be the sub-text, and it shouldn't have anything at all to do with the dialogue, and it SHOULD have to do with WHAT THEY DIDN'T SAY."
AUGUST 2004 Telling of how "Peaceful Easy Feeling" came to be recorded by the Eagles (and helped launch one of the greatest bands of all time), Jack recounted how he played the song for the band spontaneously in their living room while he was busy doing all the "traditional" songwriter self-promotion activities - sending out songs, meeting with publishers, etc. - and the next time he saw Glen Frey, he was told, "oh, by the way, we're cutting your song." The rest is history! Says Jack, "It NEVER happens the REGULAR WAY [mailing out tapes, soliciting publishers and A&R departments]. It ALWAYS happens SOME OTHER WAY!" Words of Wisdom... "If you're dedicated, if it's something that lives and breathes in your heart, then you've simply got to go ahead and do it." - Rodney Crowell (Rodney was a Featured Performer at EXPO 2001 - he showed up with JD Souther as a special guest - how cool was that?) "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results." - Willie Nelson "See with your heart" - Ronnie Milsap "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great." - Kenny Rogers JANUARY 2004 "The thing that I've learned the most over the last Don't miss the Do Your Own Thing Panel Discussion in
"My favorite thing is fragments... if you string the fragments together right it makes movies go off in your head. You can SAY SO MUCH MORE WITH LESS!" *Fancy Free (The Oak Ridge Boys), Hillbilly
"I think [as a songwriter] you become a product of your environment— I haven't done anything different— you just gotta keep goin', keep learnin', keep trying. We're in a business of survival. For every time I've gone up to the top of the hill and made some money I can tell you a hundred times that I've been as broke as I could be, sleeping in the park thinking what the hell am I doin'? You gotta realize that THAT'S THE GIG. That's what we're doing. You're just trying to find a way to keep rolling, keep being creative, keep expanding what you know and who you're writing with. There's no other way around it other than just sticking to it. Fall on your face a hundred times because one time you're not gonna. This whole business is about falling on your face and getting back up." "The most important thing in any song is the first note. The very first note has to mean something— has to immediately make the listener go "huh?" Something has to grab you— the first note or drum beat, the first line— 'cause you got three minutes to be brilliant or to get your [song] across." *BMI's Songwriter of the Year for 2003, Jeffrey's songs have been recorded by some of Nashville's biggest stars: Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Trace Adkins, Montgomery Gentry, Collin Raye, Diamond Rio, LeAnn Rimes, Rascal Flatts, Randy Travis, Lonestar, Jamie O'Neal, and just about every other major act in country music!
SEPTEMBER 2003This month's Songwriting tip comes from hit songwriter* Steven McClintock who is featured in a BackStage Interview. We asked Steven, "What advice can you give our readers and radio listeners to help them keep on keepin' on?" McClintock: "Just that - keep on keepin' on! It is a tough business with many rewards. But you really have to love it because it sometimes takes awhile to pay off, if ever. If that is all you are looking for - cash rewards - I would try something else. If you get OTHER highs from it, you love the music, you love the process, you love the people, then hang in there and keep learning. Never stop listening and learning. I truly feel you have to surround yourself with great talent, great advice, and great tools in order to keep up and pass the very large pack traveling with you on this journey. LOTS of good songwriters out there, not lots that have all that it takes to succeed. Pay attention and again, get the tools you need to make it happen and work at it. It usually doesn't happen on your timeline so prepare for the long haul. Lastly my quote for the day: 'Learn from the best - not the luckiest!'" *Steven scored a smash with Tiffany's hit All This Time from her debut record which has sold over 4.3 million copies.
AUGUST 2003We asked Amy Dalley, who headlined the DS.com-sponsored 2003 New England Songwriter's Festival, to give us this month's songwriting tip. While Amy is enjoying great success as a Curb Recording artist with two songs from her upcoming debut album already on the country charts, this talented lady is first and foremost a SONGWRITER.* "Be honest and fearless. Have courage to be different, to say things the way YOU would say them. Don't think too hard about "if" people will like what you have to say - just believe in it and say it. To me, songwriting isn't a business, it is more a way of life; it is like breathing. It helps to be able to look back at a song I wrote a year ago and be able to recapture exactly what I felt on that day - because I was true to myself." *Amy has a cut on Reba's new record, "My Sister." Dreamworks recording artist Roxie Dean recently cut "Women Know Women." "Destroy the Evidence" and Breakin It Down" will grace Jodee Messina's next album. New Lyric Street artist Nikki Horner has cut "What Love Is," "Happy Place" and "I Think I'm Comin Around." Martina Mcbride is cutting "Wounded" for her next record.
JUNE 2003With the 8th annual Durango Songwriter's EXPO on the horizon (Oct 9-11), we thought this quote from legendary songwriter and seminal folk music icon Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) was highly appropriate as "nurturing" and "encouraging each other" are mainstays of the EXPO. "My advice to aspiring writers is to be part of a community of songwriters; nurture each other, validate each other, and encourage each other to write from the heart."* *From the TERRIFIC new book by Graham Nash entitled "Off the Record: Songwriters on Songwriting." Click here to buy the book.
MAY 2003"As a songwriter, try to really study the songs that mean a lot to YOU and see what makes them tick and see how your songs stack up... what you're doing well and not so well, and then get feedback... and NEVER FORGET WHAT MADE YOU START WRITING SONGS... what made you want to write songs... people can get so overly concerned with craft and the business of things that they can forget that kernel of life... DON'T EVER FORGET THAT..." Mark Selby, Hit Songwriter,* Vanguard Records Recording Artist. Visit MarkSelby.com for more information. *There's Your Trouble (Dixie Chicks), Blue on Black (Kenny Wayne Shepherd)
Ralph is a veteran songwriter/publisher/producer, and an instructor for NSAI's Song Camps. His songwriting credits include Ronnie Milsap's "He Got You," Crystal Gayle's "Half The Way" and Kathy Mattea's "Seeds." DS.com's Songwriting Tip of the Month comes from this venerable songwriter and lecturer. (Catch Ralph's entire forty-five minute Workshop on "Writing for Radio" at DS.com Backstage - Member's Only). Ralph's SONGWRITING TIP: "If you're going to enter into this BUSINESS of music, then behave like a professional. The first thing you do is FIND OUT WHAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR... nobody cares about YOU... they care about THEMSELVES AS YOU SEE THEM. Your job is to GIVE THEM THEMSELVES as you see them."
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