boneclouds.jpgI don’t usually post back-to-back collections of news links, but this weekend had a lot of songwriting news. Figured I would share. Enjoy!

Mason Jennings. BlogCritics review Mason Jennings latest album Boneclouds:

In his sixth release, Boneclouds, Jennings’ words have a way of wrapping themselves around your nerves and stifling them in each of the ten slow, lovely songs. The music’s essence is smooth, pure, and rustic, reminiscent of the Midwest with its modestly tender flow. (Link)

Country singer-songwriter Toby Keith talks about how his patriotism is misunderstood by both the left AND the right, and songwriting with CBS Sunday Morning:

First and foremost, Keith considered himself a songwriter. “God’s gift to me was to be a writer,” he said. “And that’s what I do best of all. And I’m as gifted at that — as anybody.” (Link)
Related: We can all take a songwriting lesson from Toby Keith.

What a Guy. A great article/interview with the legendary Guy Clark over at The Tennessean:

[His battle with lymphoma] has garnered some hits: Clark penned Ricky Skaggs’ ”Heartbroke,” co-wrote Rodney Crowell’s ”She’s Crazy for Leaving” and has seen his songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, George Strait (”Texas Cookin’ ” is on Strait’s brand new album), Brad Paisley (who duets with Alan Jackson on Clark’s ”Out in the Parking Lot”), Lyle Lovett, Jimmy Buffett, Vince Gill, Harris and plenty of others. Michelle Shocked once called him ”God Clark,” and no one argued with her. (Link)

Neu News on Badly Drawn Boy. Neu Magazine reviews the first single, “Nothing’s Gonna Change Your Mind” off of Badly Drawn Boy’s new album “Born in the U.K.”:

It’s the type of song that men will sing to each other when they’re very, very drunk and there can be no higher praise than that. A smack in the balls, then, for the insincere unpalatable tripe served by [James] Blunt and his vile ilk. (Link)

In related Badly Drawn Boy news, their star songwriter Damon Gough claims he is the best songwriter in the UK.

A song a week revisited? After reading about Jonathan Coulton’s amazing project, Jeff Oxenford was similarly motivated to put out a song per week. His first couple of songs are up.

Standout or sellout? NY Singer-songwriter Andy Rosen (aka Goat) talks to the Nashville City Paper about having his songs on TV and movies:

“It’s funny because some people turn their noises up at having songs in commercials, on television or in the movies and make accusations about selling out. But in every instance the company or the producers have simply come to me, said we like the song and would like to use and don’t even ask me to make any changes in the lyrics or the arrangements. Another thing that’s interesting is how many people remember the songs, but don’t know who did them. That’s kind of a testament to the power of film and television, although I’m very grateful for the success that I’ve had with songs in those areas.” (Link)

Got any songwriting news? If so we want to hear about it.