Archive for October, 2006

Frank Black, Nashville, and Other Songwriting News

By Don • Oct 27th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting News

Nashville Hype is back in Nashville! Paul King at Nashville Hype has successfully completed his move back to Nashville and is already making the rounds on the scene. If you want the best Nashville insider information definitely keep NashvilleHype.com in mind. (Link)
Get played. Songwriting and home recording podcast. HomemadeHitShow.com will play your music on their […]



Songwriting Articles

By Don • Oct 25th, 2006 • Category: Site News, Songwriting Advice, Songwriting Tips

Readers have requested that I highlight the songwriting articles on the site better. I am working on a redesign of the top of the page to highlight featured articles and the articles archive.
In the meantime, here are some of the more popular articles over the last two months:

Songwriters Ask: Should I rewrite?
Create A Great […]



Band Cracker gives Virgin Records the finger.

By Don • Oct 23rd, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Advice, Songwriting Articles

These are the stories I like to see. I am not on a crusade against record labels - but I love to see a band step up and fight when they feel they are someone’s stooge.
The band Cracker and Virgin Records did not part on the best of terms. Apparently, without informing the band, the […]



My songwriting challenge. An update.

By Don • Oct 23rd, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

Last Friday I announced a small songwriting challenge I gave to myself. I won’t re-explain the challenge, but you can read about it here.
In short, I decided to complete 4 songs in 4 hours. Here is what happened:

Hour 1: Beautiful Lies
I finished up the verses but was completely stuck still on the bridge. I have […]



Tom Waits, Randy Newman, and other songwriting news

By Don • Oct 20th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Contests, Songwriting News

Winner! 2006 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) Deadline Extended:
If you already have entered and wish to submit additional songs, you can still enter. All entries must be posted on or before November 17, 2006. ISC will continue to take online entries, as well as entries through the mail; the online submission platform will be open until […]



Giving myself a songwriting challenge

By Don • Oct 20th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

My recurring problem is I have great fragments of song ideas but never follow them through to completion.
That will change (for today at least!).
After reading about Jonathan Coulton’s Thing-A-Week Project, as well as the songwriting tip contributed by Ruth Greenwood I have become increasingly inspired, and decided to submit myself to a challenge.
My songwriting […]



Sting says todays rock music is a bore

By Don • Oct 19th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting News

According to this Reuters article Sting says,
“Rock music has come to a standstill — it’s not going forward any more, it only bores me.”
At first I was a little perturbed by reading that. However, in some ways he is correct. How?
Granted, there has always been bad music out there, and it is true that […]



Interview with songwriter Colin Meloy of The Decemberists

By Don • Oct 18th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration

The Decemberists are one of those “Indie” bands that has been overhyped by all the music blogs in the past year or so. The difference? The Decemberists ACTUALLY deliver on the hype. I am totally in love with this band at the moment. Awesome songwriting, both technically and from the perspective of a casual listener […]



Songwriting Tips Archive: Status Report

By Don • Oct 17th, 2006 • Category: Songwriting Resources

Just wanted to give an update on the Songwriting Tips Project. I have had a lot of great suggestions to date on how to improve the archives and make them more useful. There are some cool little useful things we have planned for the future. But here is where we stand so far:
50+ Tips to […]



Songwriters - Get Out of Town Part III

By Don • Oct 16th, 2006 • Category: Inspiration, Songwriting Articles

(From contributing blogger Ryan Galloway)
So it’s time to report in on some of the results of my own little open mike tour, while I bounce around the country as a traveling consultant.
In my last blog on the subject, I had told you about Don Mak’s idea for booking an “open mike” tour using OpenMikes.org. I […]