Songwriting

The Rejection Letter That Renewed My Sense Of Purpose

Georgia Middleman | Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Reinvention, Nashville, Kenny Loggins, Gary Burr, Georgia Middleman, Blue Sky Riders Band, Songwriting, Blue Sky Riders, Fifty News
Georgia Middleman

I moved to Nashville in 1992 and stood in line at the famous Bluebird Café to sing one verse and chorus of a song for a panel of judges. If it goes well, you are asked to come back to play three songs several months later. The results would come in a letter a few weeks later.

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One Is the Loneliest Number

Tony Asaro | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Writing Process, Bad Break Ups, Musical Theater, Collaboration, Musicals, Songwriting, Culture News
Tony Asaro

It's commonly said in musical theatre writing circle -- there aren't enough of us for the plural -- that every collaboration is like a marriage, except you don't have sex. And like many marriages, many collaborations fall apart. Mine did.

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My First Nashville Recording Session: The Stunning Lesson I'll Never Forget

Georgia Middleman | Posted 05.05.2012

Read More: Reinvention, Nashville, Gary Burr, Kenny Loggins, Georgia Middleman, Blue Sky Riders Band, Songwriting, Blue Sky Riders, Fifty News
Georgia Middleman

I remember my first recording session in Nashville. I had written an uptempo song that I thought was a smash. As I was directing the band, the piano player/band leader said, "You know, this is really a ballad." I was stunned. And I was too intimidated to speak up for myself.

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Raconteur and Barry Manilow Lyricist Marty Panzer Offers Weird Proof That a Wonderful Life Can Begin at 18

Myra Chanin | Posted 04.26.2012

Read More: Kenny Rogers, Songwriting, Julio Iglesias, Disney Princess, Pat Addiss, MIchael Crawford, Marty Panzer, Barry Manilow, Diane Schuur, Words and Music, Weird News News
Myra Chanin

Google Marty Panzer and you'll be convinced that he was born in the CBS Mailroom at the age of 18, and he may well may have been, in the sense that the CBS Mailroom was where he began to first feel alive.

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The Toughest Job in the Movie Biz: Writing the Original Song

Philip Moross | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: Streets of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Movie, Filmmaking, Songwriting, Best Original Score, Bruce Springsteen, Entertainment News
Philip Moross

The bad news for fans of original songs is that Hunger, albeit a great audience pleaser with a fine score by James Newton Howard, has no original song included in the body of the film (three original songs were ganged up to play in the end titles).

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Don Dixon: Songwriter, Producer, Musician in Living Stereo

Ruth Gerson | Posted 04.06.2012

Read More: Songwriting, Don Dixon, Producers, Music Producers, Living Stereo, Arts News
Ruth Gerson

Don Dixon has shaped many lives. Over and over, he has uncovered and helped to develop talent -- including REM, The Smithereens, The Counting Crows, Hootie and The Blowfish.

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Easy Listener: Today's Must-Know Songwriters and Their Must-Have CDs

David Finkle | Posted 03.28.2012

Read More: Scott Evan Davis, Sam Davis, Brian Lowdermilk, Michael Patrick Walker, Lance Horne, Georgia Stitt, Kait Kerrigan, Songwriter, Songwriting, Contemporary Music, Culture News
David Finkle

Songs at the moment boasting lyrics that can be considered sophisticated, witty, psychologically complex, romantically adult, maturely silly are few and far between.

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Gay Country Music Songwriter And Reality Star Discusses Support From Famous Friends

Posted 11.19.2011

Read More: Nashville, Shane Stevens, Blake Shelton, Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys Sundance, Shane Stevens Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Girls, Homophobia, Songwriting, Country Music, Gay Voices News

When Sundance Channel's "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys" chose Nashville, Tennessee, as the location for its second season, it only made sense that...

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Jim Morrison: Great American Poet?

Posted 12.20.2011

Read More: Songwriter, Jim Morrison Poet, Lizard King, The Doors, Jim Morrison Poetry, When You're Strange Poem, Songwriting, Jim Morrison, Great American Poet, Poetry, Video, Books News

From The Poetry Foundation By Daniel Nester There are two kinds of people in this world: those who think the Doors are a hokey caricature of m...

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How To Write a Song, Songwriting Exercise #2 -- Sequel or Response

Ruth Gerson | Posted 12.12.2011

Read More: Glen Hansard, Nirvana, Marketa Irglova, Singer/Songwriter, Songwriting, How to Write, Singer-Songwriter, Classic Songs, Diagramming a Song, Song Diagram, How to Write a Melody, Something in the Way, Cyndi Lauper, Time After Time, How to Write Lyrics, Falling Slowly, Arts News
Ruth Gerson

In our first songwriting exercise we began with a letter, writing to someone we feel intensely about, regarding something we feel intensely about. The...

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Among School Children

Tamsin Smith | Posted 09.18.2011

Read More: School Children, Ascap, America SCORES, William Butler Yeats, The Great Unknown, Storytelling, Songwriting, William Blake, Poetry, Culture News
Tamsin Smith

All the songs on this name-your-price collection represent a story-telling collaboration between The Great Unknown and America SCORES schoolchildren from five cities across the country.

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The Soulful Pop Songstress: Interview With Jen Hirsh

Laura Cococcia | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pop Music, Laura Cococcia, Jen Hirsh, Interviews, Songwriting, Music, Myself in Two, Entertainment News
Laura Cococcia

As I listened to Jen Hirsh's newly released album, I heard the influences of Natalie Merchant and a sprinkle of Sarah McLachlan, with some Sufjan Stevens and a splash of Bob Dylan.

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PHOTOS: Carole Bayer Sager's Abstract Paintings On View At LA Art House

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Oscar, Songwriter, La Art House, Abstract Painting, Los Angeles Art, Carol Bayer Sager, Exhibitions, Los-Angeles-Art-Galleries, Songwriting, Painting, Art Exhibitions, Slidefullscreen, Arts News

WHO: Singer/Composer Carole Bayer Sager turns her talents to the canvas in a surprisingly rich debut of Abstract Oil Paintings WHAT: Generations - N...

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Free Speech Is About More Than Copyright Issues

Rick Carnes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Copyright Infringement, Free Press, Illegal Downloading, Free Speech, Songwriters Guild of America, Julian Assange, Songwriting, Wikileaks, Public Knowledge, Eff, Media News
Rick Carnes

WikiLeak's activities give us a fresh opportunity to ask some important questions that lately haven't gotten much airing. Don't speech freedoms come with at least a modicum of responsibility in their exercise?

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"Rain" On Their Parade: Why the NY Times review of "Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles On Broadway" is All Wet

James Rotondi | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Pop Music, The Beatles, Baby Boomers, The Sixties, Musical Theater, Broadway, Pop Culture, New York, Classic Rock, Abbey Road, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Songwriting, British, Liverpool, Tribute Bands, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Rock and Roll, The New York Times, Beatles, New York News
James Rotondi

In his hugely condescending review of the newly opened show, Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway, ("Another Long and Winding Detour," Oct. 26, ...

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Tasty Way to Do It: Oates to Headline Aspen Music Fest

Jon Chattman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: American Idol, John Oates, Hall and Oates, Aspen, Missisippi, Ipods, Festival, Songwriting, Bret Michaels, Denver News
Jon Chattman

After all these years, it's time to recognize John Oates as a songwriter in his own right. Aspen will next month.

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A New Age of Dis-Connectivity in Music

Rick Carnes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fan, Songwriter, Music and Technology, Songwriters Guild of America, Music Fan, Musicians, Copyright Protection, Songwriting, Creator Maximalist, Intellectual Property, Music, Music Piracy, Sga, Jazz, Rick Carnes, Music Theft, Music Creators, Arts News
Rick Carnes

Back when the big labels were rolling in money they could afford to invest in diversity in their catalogs. Now the business has been reduced to 'crank up the computer and crank out another track' exactly like the last hit.

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GET A REAL JOB!

Rick Carnes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Songwriters Guild of America, Mark Gorton, Limewire, Songwriting, Songwriter, Rick Carnes, Lime Wire, Sga, Media News
Rick Carnes

As songwriters we all face a common enemy; the blank page. Nothing is more terrifying. Each new day we sit down and try to invent our future through...

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John Spillane: From Cork to the Universal

Rory Fitzgerald | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Singer-Songwriter, Irish History, Cork, Christy Moore, Irish Tradional Music, Mark Black, Irish Music, Celtic Tiger, Music Review, Folk Music, Ireland, John Spillane, Songwriting, My Dark Rosaleen and the Island of Dreams, Irish America, Home News
Rory Fitzgerald

Rory Fitzgerald meets Cork singer songwriter John Spillane and hears about his new album, the art of songwriting and his hopes for a changing Ireland....

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Sparks Specializes in Sad Songs

Jackie K. Cooper | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Miley Cyrus, Nicholas Sparks, Nc, Divorce, Songwriting, Teen Angst, Fiction, Wilimington, Book Reviews, Books News
Jackie K. Cooper

There are moments in this story that are so affecting that you have to stop reading until you can see the pages through your tears. Is this contrived? Is this manipulative? Maybe it is, but it is also the true heart of the story.

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Goodness Precedes Greatness: A Call For New Heroes In Troubled Times

Jon Foreman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Heroism, Inspiration, Songwriting, Hope, Heroes, Sacrifice, Jon Foreman, Impact News
Jon Foreman

I would like to suggest that the best parts of our human nature can be seen in sacrifice or surrender. A mother sacrificing her time for her child, a teacher devoting her afternoons to help students off-the-clock. These are truly our most incredible moments as a species: moments of unmerited kindness.

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Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)

Michael Sigman | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Pop Music, Entertainment, Music, Work vs Pleasure, Last Words, Mindfulness, Spirituality, Spiritual Fulfillment, Cancer Victims, Songwriting, Buddhism, Healthy Living News
Michael Sigman

It's foolish (and counter-productive) to constantly pursue pleasure as an end in itself. Happiness, they say, is a by-product of satisfying work.

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What is Work? Listening to Inspiration, With Songwriter Darrell Scott

Sharon Glassman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Creativity, Listening, Inspiration, Darrell Scott, Long Time Gone, Tim O'Brien, Steve Earle, Hit Songs, Meditation, Dixie Chicks, Songwriting, Job Creation, Happiness Tips, Happiness, Gary Ogan, Cherokee, Colorado, Nashville, Entertainment News
Sharon Glassman

Two years ago, during a working trip to Lyons, musician Darrell Scott visited an energy healer. It changed the way he thinks about music.

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Chairlift's Aaron Pfenning: iPods and Veggie Tacos

Jon Chattman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Lollapalooza, Chairlift, Ipods, Brooklyn, Boulder, Dixie Gypsy, Singer-Songwriter, New Album, Songs, Bruises, Album Reviews, Lollapalooza 2009 Lineup, Snoop Dogg, Lollapalooza 2009, Songwriting, Entertainment News
Jon Chattman

We spent a great deal of time deciding if we wanted to do the iPod commercial and now we're facing forward and making new music, not looking back.

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The Unknown, Famous Leiber and Stoller

Robert J. Elisberg | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jailhouse Orck, Stand by Me, Songwriter, Spanish Harlem, Jerry Leiber, On Broadway, Mike Stoller, Songwriting, Rock and Roll, Yakety Yak, Legendary, R&b, Entertainment News
Robert J. Elisberg

Mike Stoller and his writing partner Jerry Leiber are a songwriting team for which the description "legendary" was coined. Even if their names are not familiar to you, you've heard their music.

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