averyfineline

Reader Jim identifies some song types that there might yet be room for in the song mix of your garden variety sg album:
Most SG artists feel they have to include two blood songs, one every knee shall bow song, a couple of heaven songs and a slap in the face song to other religions, then a patriotic […]

Over at southerngospelblog there’s a discussion afoot based on a J.D. Sumner quote about songwriting to the effect that “songwriters only have so many songs in them, and then they run out and could / should quit writing.” Daniel rebuts the parts of this claim he disagrees with and you can judge for yourself the […]

Via David Bruce Murray, it looks like Chris Allman, of original Greater Vision fame (and more lately of this transfixing clip), has launched an ala carte co-writing and publishing business called, Write With Me.
DBM runs down the particulars of the service and raises some good questions about who owns what publishing rights in this sort […]

Quote of the day, from Casual Observer:
If you’ve ever read a press release for a new album, you know that the challenge is to distinguish the project from all the others vying for shelf space at the local Christian bookstore. They do this by presenting a list of “bullet points” - a string of trivia […]

Over at southerngospelblog recently, Daniel Mount ran a couple posts about singer/songwriters in gospel music. And though we’ve been down this road before, Mount’s posts got me thinking about the singer/songwriter bias in gospel music, namely: what’s behind the preference for songs written and performed by the same person?
Mount argues it has to with the […]

This story in the New York Times about country singer John Rich cutting a populist protest tune about the greedy gall of our banking overlords helping wreck the economy and then taking performance bonuses reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to ask: is there much of a history in gospel music of writing songs […]

So a radio station has now pulled Gaither Vocal Band’s “Jesus and John Wayne” from the air after listeners complained about the song’s allegedly bad theology. What rubbish.
Regular readers will know that I don’t like the song one bit, but reading this kind of nonsense nearly roused me into a fit of defensive pique, just […]

From a recent NYT profile of Clint Eastwood:
Some directors are known as an actor’s best friend. Mr. Eastwood may be the writer’s. “He didn’t change a word,” Mr. Schenk said. “That never happens.”
Mr. Eastwood said he learned his lesson after making extensive revisions on the script for “Unforgiven,” then calling up the writer, David Peoples, […]

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, […]