BMI member Nate Campany is 24 years old. He lives a normal life. He has a beard, credit cards, and a job. What sets Nate apart from most of his friends is his love of melody.

Nate’s first songwriting cut appeared on Lava recording artist The Click Five’s debut album “Greetings From Imrie House.”

Let’s join Nate as he reviews a recent weekend:

What a blur my life has become. Just five months ago, I was working at a record store in Boston, Mass. Spending eight hours a day, four to five days a week, filing cds. While it kept me up to date with new releases, and let me judge peoples poor music tastes, it was not good for me.

You see, I write songs. All the time. And when you are stocking cds all day, for two years, it kind of makes you wonder “How are all these people getting to make music, and I’m still here selling
it for them.”

But life is crazy, and things can change without your being ready for them. You see, now I find myself living in Brooklyn, living as a full time songwriter. It’s great — and scary at the same time. I feel so small compared to the people I write with, and so undeserving of the opportunity. But it still makes me smile when i think of the things I’m getting to experience. Take for example this past weekend:

Friday.
I went to write with Steve McEwan. Steve is on fire lately. His song “Summertime” (Kenney Chesney) has been number on the country chart for something crazy like 15 weeks straight. Not to mention his past work, which includes massive names like Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and others. So there I am, riding the A train, heading to the Gibson Rooms, wondering what I could possibly bring to this session.

I show up early, and try to relax. About 15 minutes later Steve shows
up. He is such a down to earth guy, and so nice, and I immediately
feel comfortable. So i show him this idea i had, and we finished it
rather quickly. I was impressed by the way he fell into melodies so
naturally, and how lyrics would fit his melodies perfectly. Writing
with him was an honor, and at the same time such an amazing learning experience for me. Our song hopefully will end up somewhere.

Nate’s weekend is just getting started …

Saturday.
I woke up early, (well, early for me) and packed my laptop, notebook, and the most recent Billboard Magazine, and headed to grand central station.

It was the start of a crazy day. I was catching a train to Westport, Conn. where Billy Mann lives. Billy Mann is an amazing songwriter, whose discography is too extensive to list, but you can check his bio out at billymann.com. Anyways, from the train I catch a cab and chat with the driver about the Beatles b-sides, and the Art Garfunkel recording of the Beach Boys “Disney Girls”. When he dropped me off, I was met at the gate by Niklas Olavson of Macho Psycho — the writing/producing team that i was going to be writing with. They are great as well, and have worked with Pink, Jessica Simpson.

Anyways, Billy’s house and studio are gorgeous and so there I was,again amazed at how I could find myself in these situations. Niklas,Robyn, and I all started writing a super pop song, that has dance and rock elements. Billy would drop in to encourage us. It’s crazy, he would add two sentences of input, and in his few words, he would totally give the song so much substance. I am really looking forward to working with all of those guys a lot. Macho Psycho are so good at what they do, and were really nice when i was struggling through some lyrics. I caught the cab back, then the train, then the subway. the whole time again I was amazed at where I had been, who I had met, and what I was involved with. I mean, I’m just a kid with a beard, writing indie songs, trying to write pop songs.

It really is crazy, and I am so thankful for everything I’ve gotten to experience. It’s just the beginning, who knows where I’ll end up next weekend.

(Actually, next weekend I’ll be in Nashville working with Adam Anders
- probably my favorite writer I’ve worked with, he’s really inspired me, and taught me so many things about music and life. Check his new band out at myspace.com/roomfortwo)

Anyways, all I can say is keep writing. Someone will take notice, and
rescue you from the record store, or wherever it is you need to be
rescued from.

nate campany

myspace.com/natecampany //solo stuff, not pop stuff
myspace.com/basinalders // my first production, great singer
songwriter from austin