Just Keep Writing

So I realized this morning that, in the past few years, I let this one slip away. I wrote this….wow…back in 2012. At the time, someone tried to put music to it but it was never finalized. Well, today I flipped my notebook open and started thinking about a new song when this tune popped into my head. It was written just as a little in-your-face, “I’m over it and past the point of caring” song that I actually wrote when I was a really good mood. At the time, I was super pumped about it but it was put on the backburner over and over, until I just forgot about it. As soon as it popped into my head this morning, I decided to take it on as my next project while I finish my, as Pat Mc. calls it, snarkalicious tune. Here’s the dilemma I face with every song. I’ve got a melody in my head. By golly when I’m writing it down, the wheels are turning with vocal runs and cool little guitar riffs. However, my complete lack of formal musical training makes things a little difficult sometimes. Just i...

Okay, so part of writing with the person you are with means that, if the relationship ends, there's a whole matter of song custody. So, I've come up with a solution to this...I will re-write every freaking song we wrote so I can save my hooks. I wrote the lyrics and asked my ex to put music to the first version of this song (honestly, I wasn't too thrilled about it but I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so I said I loved it, and even paid to record it down in Nashville. Huge waste of money. Should've done Southern Style. But I digress...). Originally, I wrote this song because, as we were sitting at a gas station, I noticed the guy in the next pump staring at me. I glanced at him, but didn't recognize him right away. About five minutes after we left the gas station, I realized that it was a guy I had dated for a few months. In all honesty, I was a little proud of myself, and thought "I've moved on to the point that he's not even a memory"......

So there’s a part of being a writer that some non-writers may not understand. It’s the moment that, at freaking 4:45 AM, an idea pops into your head, and you scramble to get out of your wonderfully perfect bed to grab your notebook, or laptop…whichever is closest! So for a while I’ve wanted to write a reminiscent and nostalgic tune about childhood innocence and all that jazz. Well, there is one particular thing that I remember about my childhood that I always wanted to throw into a song. I grew up in the hills of southern Indiana, next to a fairly large field. Up until my teenage years, they used it as a hay field. The round bales were lined up in rows on the crest of a hill, by the road and the entrance to the field. My friends and I used to wander out to the field and climb on the hay bales. We’d run on the rows, talking about cute boys and all of our crazy dreams. I’d been trying to figure out a way to stick that memory of sitting on those hay bales, looking out over what see...

Hey Y'all! I'm back! Okay, so finishing up Numb was the best thing ever! I woke up with my mind racing and I decided it was time to hammer out another tune! Okay, so here's the scoop. If you've ever listened to Southern Style , you'll recognize my hook. "It's half a dozen pick-up trucks, parked 'round a ten foot flame. And twice as many country girls barefoot in the clay" . How did that line become it's own song. Well let me tell you... So when I attended the Barbara Cloyd workshop earlier this year, I took my best song... Southern Style . Why was this my best song? Well it had the most commercial theme of my catalog. Boy I can write random story songs and depressing ballads all day long, but Southern Style was my baby. I wrote it just as bro-co was gaining steam, and I thought that it was "the one". It even got me on the NSAI "Ones to Watch" list at one point. Woo-hoo! Yay for a party song! However, as the workshop got c...