averyfineline

Are jingles and advertising ditties the new driving force of creativity in music? So says David Singer (hat tip, M):
This year’s other giant smash has to be “Free Credit Report Dot Com,” with multiple versions clogging the airwaves. The real toe-tapper is the seven-note phrase that punctuates their radio commercials, its placid female harmonies beckoning […]

Some thoughts on Friday afternoon’s Celebration of Phil Cross’s Ego Phil Cross’s Songs of  a Lifetime songwriters showcase, in no particular order.
The sound sucked. Mikes weren’t on for most of the singers and speakers for the first few minutes, including Cross’s. Songs had to be restarted including the first one, the Booth’s unremarkable “Welcome […]

For your Sunday evening dose of introspection, songwriter Marty Funderburk writes about the personal and professional perils of living solely on the right side of the singer/songwriter slash. Money quote:

You see, there are two classes of songwriters. There are artists, whose names and faces are known throughout the industry, who happen to write

[Snip]
[…]

Talking about (and reading Joel Lindsey on) Dan Fogelberg reminded of that famous line of his, “my life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man,” from “Leader of the Band,” about the influence of Fogelberg’s father on his life and music.
The psychological and emotional density of the line is fairly self-evident, but […]

Via Joel Lindsey, a story that makes you think twice about just how much of a songwriter your favorite singer/songwriter really is. Money quote:

“How can someone look in the mirror and know they didn’t do something and their name is on it? For money? For credit? It’s a lie.”

This being the music […]

The various discussions about songwriting that have cropped here and elsewhere recently bring to mind a point that often gets lost in the cut and thrust of analysis, argument, and debate about a particular lyric’s merit or a given song’s artistry. Namely: lyrics are only half of the equation (and some times less). Music – […]

Ron Ronsenbaum explores the lyrical complexities of country music about cancer. This is not just good writing, great analysis of lyrics, and even better culture criticism. It’s proof that good lyrics stand up to scrutiny (and that, contra some of you who become so exasperated with my “over analysis paralysis,” I’m not the only guy […]

Martina McBride’s new cd includes what is perhaps my favorite song right now: “Anyway.” It begins:

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin’
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway
You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway
[Chorus]
God […]

I see that songwriter Sue Smith has just reupped her URL claim on the domain name for Write About Jesus, the annual songwriters conference she coordinates in St. Louis. Thus do I surrender my fledgling hope that the clunky name might give way to something more … well, writerly (even the acronym – WAJ – […]

As you probalby know, one of my preoccupations is demystifying the creative work of songwriters and otherwise doing my meager part to make songwriting more understood and appreciated for its art, craft, and economies. In that spirit, let me recommend two recent posts by the A-writer (and sometimes B-writer) Sue C. Smith: one on the […]

The sales success that Signature Sound’s latest project is already enjoying has me wondering if there might be longer-term ramifications on the quality of top-shelf songwriting now that a group without a singer-songwriter on the payroll can pretty much name that tune when it comes to what they choose to record.

Here’s what I […]

Too much A lot has been said about Gerald Crabb ebaying a Singing News #1 plaque for “Don’t You Wanna Go.” I was mostly content to let people talk themselves through this one — until I read a comment that suggested gospel songwriters who don’t hang on to every last piece of hardware their best […]

I mentioned this is passing in the last post, but it’s worth saying explicitly: this blog ought to be a good read for anyone interested in often beautiful, evocative, powerful, and honest (and sometimes just entertaining and ordinary) reflections from a professional gospel and CCM songwriter on how life and living and loving and grieving […]

After I posted my L5 review, which included a few lines about how much I liked “The Blood Covers it All,” written by Belinda Smith and Marty Funderburke, Smith and I exchanged a few emails, including this one that Smith granted me permission to use, with her name, obviously.
As [one of the] songwriters in SG […]

Until a few years ago, when I moved far enough way from work that I started spending a substantial amount of time in the car each day, I hadn’t really had a chance to keep up with […]

Reader BN wonders if the decline in the quality of sg music in the last decade shouldn’t be attributed to the demise in good songwriting.
Our SG songwriters need to learn from Toby Keith…..yeah, I know, […]

So the SN Fan Award nominations for Song of the Year or Favorite Song or whatever you wanna call it are out (the rest of the nominations are there too but there’s not much of note there, […]

It’s an old truism of songwriting that the song with the most hooks wins. For instance, this new Trent Tomlinson tune playing on country stations these days is hookerific: “he’s an angel with no halo, An’ one […]

On the treadmill the other day, the Martins’ “Heaven’s Child” cycled through my iPod and I caught for the first time something I had missed before: the interesting role reversal described by the chorus: […]

You may recall I decided that the Write About Jesus needed a new name. But of course I didn’t HAVE a new name for it, so I asked for your help. A few ideas came in:
Heart’s […]