Dream Cut Series: Settlin’ Down with Worktape Video

As I mentioned in a prior post, I decided to kick off a new branch of my blog called the Dream Cut Series. In this series, I’ll be discussing the artists that I imagined singing the songs as I wrote them, and the vibe I was going for. As many of you know, my musical skills are limited, so I rarely actually get the songs where I want them to be, but I try.

To start the Dream Cut Series, it only seemed fitting to talk about a song that has a line in it that came from a dream I had about co-writing with one of my idols. In this dream, from what I can remember, I was sitting there with Gary Allan. We were chit-chatting and working on writing something, when he looked up, kinda shugged off a cold chill, and said “Whoo, I felt my guardian angel fly a little too close that time”. I woke up right after that line, picked up my phone and typed it in, then went back to bed.  I was bound and determined to use that line in a song someday.

Fast forward to the May Songwriting Challenge.

I had jotted down that line to use during the challenge, but never really “felt” it. Then Aaron challenged me to that non-rhyming nonsense. At that point, I was at a cross-roads with the line. It was on my mind but I couldn’t get the vibe I wanted, so I used it as my inspiration for the non-rhyming...thing. Amazingly, the non-rhyming exercise helped a lot. I’m so used to writing around my rhymes that the line content suffers for the sake of the rhyme. By not rhyming at all, I had a song full of concepts that just needed finesse and direction. So when I re-wrote it the next day, I considered my dream, when the rhyme came from my idol, and I wrote with a “let’s make this a Gary song” mindset.

The whole time I wrote this, I was going for that edgy, bluesy, country rock vibe. Instead of writing commercial and imagining it on the radio, I imagined it as a filler on his next album. Let’s just say track 8; starting to wind things down, but still has a little kick, with a play on words. I mean, a song called Settlin’ Down can’t really be about taking it easy. With the vibe I was going for, Settlin’ Down into a rockstar, on the edge, pedal to the metal lifestyle was exactly what I was looking for.  Of course, when I recorded it, I had to go electric to get a little harshness and edge. Edge was pretty much the theme of this whole song. Edgy edge edginess. The thing I really like about this one is that it is rough. It doesn’t fit together perfectly, it doesn’t hit the major themes on radio, but that’s the whole point of the piece. It’s simply “this is how I live my life and I won’t be changing anytime soon” song, which makes it so much fun.

Heart In A Bottle Worktape Video

Took some time this morning to record Heart in a Bottle. This was the first song I wrote in the May Songwriting Challenge and it has been on my mind since then! I’d love to maybe learn  ukulele someday because I feel like it might go really well with this tune! Drop me a comment and let me know what you think!

Dream Cuts; The Blessing and the Curse

It's taken me a while to come around to writing this one. I feel like this is a pretty universal feeling: Every writer has a list of "Dream Cuts"...maybe even "Wildest Dream Cuts". At least in my case, a lot of my writings are influenced by these "Dream Cuts". Sure, I can write with others in mind, but somewhere in the depths of my soul, I'm hearing certain artists wail the notes I'm imagining. I'm feeling the solos that I can't play, but that I can interpret from the song. Dream cuts are an amazing motivator.

Then comes a day when that dream cut simply ceases to exist. I'll never forget the day that it happened. For years, I'd been writing thinking "All I need to do is get published, then get some cowrites going, and if we work hard enough, it'll happen."

September 8, 2017. That's when the dream ended. I was checking social media to keep tabs on the island, which had just been destroyed by Irma when I first saw the news. I thought it was a hoax. There was no way it could be true.

For years, I'd told everyone that someday, somehow, I'd get a Montgomery Gentry cut. I was the idiot fan breaking all of the rules of the industry by handing off a demo CD to a stage hand after a show, knowing that it would end up in the trash, but holding onto the dream. I relentlessly held onto that dream for as long as I can remember. Just like that, I woke to the reality that the dream wouldn't come true.

Now, I know that the band is carrying on as best as they can, and that they are even releasing new music.  But somewhere in the depths of my being, I feel that the dream is now nothing more than a memory. Sure, I'll keep writing with Montgomery Gentry in mind, but it's just not quite the same. To be honest, it kept me from writing for months. I was scared to even acknowledge my other "Dream Cuts". Of course, I know the odds of them actually coming true are one in a million, but the chance that they could, maybe, possibly, actually happen fueled me for years. I didn't want to feel the heartbreak again.

But now, I finally feel like I might be ready to dream again. I mean, it's no secret that Gary Allan is my other big "Dream Cut", and lately I've been feeling island vibes (I mean, just look at the blog revamp!), so Kenny is another one. Instead of fearing the end of the dream, I finally feel like I can just ride the wave, enjoy the surf, and hang on until I either come out on top or the tide fizzles out. Dream cuts can bring loss, but they are also one of my biggest motivators. So from this point on, I'm going to launch a "Dream Cuts" series. I'm going to try to post more videos, and actually share who I have in mind while I'm writing. I hope y'all will join me on this journey as I develop my craft and once more reach for the stars.

Looking Back; Reflecting on the May Songwriting Challenge

If you’ve followed my blog at all during the past month, you know that I took part in the Song-a-Day May Songwriting Challenge. The challenge began with a callout from the founder of a songwriting group that I joined on Facebook named “The Sounding Board: A Roots and Rhinestones Songwriters Critique Group.” As I have been in a bit of a songwriting rut these last several months, I thought that this challenge would help me break out and get back into the groove of things a bit. 

I bought a new notebook and went to town. After titling the first page “Hooks, Lines & Stinkers”, I jotted down a list of different concepts to use for inspiration down the road. Some of these came out of the blue, on the drive to work, or from things that I’d heard from strangers throughout the say. Some of them came from conversations that I’d had with my honey, where we’d pause after saying something completely random, and both agree about how that’d be a good line for a song. Some of them were ideas that I’d started and completely forgotten about. 

The challenge kicked off with a bang. I finally felt like I was back in the game, and I was enjoying writing. I mean, I was truly enjoying writing, for the first time in months. For so long, I’d been my own worst critic, beating myself up over lame lines to the point where I eventually talked myself out of completing anything. Since this challenge was an exercise in quantity, not particularly quality, I was able to let my hair down a little and just write. Now, it wasn’t all rainbows and kittens, I still beat myself up over lines not being clever enough and hooks not being catchy, but I learned to accept them.

That all changed about half-way through the month. The self-doubt kicked in and I began to dread sitting down with that notebook during my lunch break or after work. I procrastinated, fell behind, caught up, fell behind, caught up, fell behind, and wrote eight in a two-and-a-half-hour session as the final push to complete the challenge. With that whole non-rhyming exercise thrown in there, it became a chore. I’m not saying it was all bad, but the quality of my lyrics suffered, and I felt ashamed to claim them as my work. 

After the challenge, I decided to take a breather for a week and reflect. The challenge, though it was frustrating at times (I mean, no rhyming. At all. AT ALL, Y’ALL!) really helped me to grow as a writer. It helped me to accept the fact that I don’t have to write something that I am trying to pitch every time that I pick up a pen, and that sometimes chilling out and writing for the sake of writing is the best way to pick yourself out of a rut. Will I be doing a challenge like this again? Sure. In the near future? Heck no. I’m a quality over quantity gal, and posting low quality lyrics killed me, but it was another stepping stone in the process and I know I will be stronger after this challenge. 

In the next few months, I’ll be looking back at some of the things that I’ve written, re-writing, and hopefully playing them out to get some feedback. My dream is still to play the Bluebird open mic before I turn 30…I have several months left so hopefully I can turn one of these challenge songs into something Bluebird quality and make that dream come true.