Hey folks,
Lots going on, sorry I have not been here. Had to go to Alabama yesterday to visit my 87 year old Mother. Her birthday was the day before so needed to go down home way. I do get to read what you guys are saying but can't always post. Trying to go back and comment.
Phil, on whether OD will post the latest song(s) I don't know. We actually have two in the works and today he sent me another one, so he is on a roll. OD is doing what I call "legacy writing". There is a reason we are all driven to writing in the first place. It is basically because we have some kind of skill or desire that makes us want to sit with those pieces of paper, those guitar or keyboard chords, or whatever and obsess over getting something just write. We are trying to share what is inside of us with as many people as we can and just want someone to hear us. and we would like to leave something behind to let people know we were here. This is a very valid reason to write.
When people get into doing this for a more tangible reason, i.e. to get artists, publishers, whatever, audiences, interested, we have to take a little more time and add craft. That is when it gets trickier. When someone wants to write to a certain level or "bar" it gets trickier still.
When people get into doing this for a more tangible reason, i.e. to get artists, publishers, whatever, audiences, interested, we have to take a little more time and add craft. That is when it gets trickier. When someone wants to write to a certain level or "bar" it gets trickier still.
What I have seen in OD over the past couple of years is including more of his personality and insights in his writing. It has more of his soul and instead of just writing words that rhyme, there are some thoughts behind them and some visual furniture that shows the situation he is describing. If you let him go, he will start saying some things that are quite profound and far more than most people would expect.
So that is what we are doing. He sends some things, I try to shape them a bit and add some melody that crafts them into what I consider more relevant songwriting. Like everything I personally do, I am trying to get the other person's inner persona to come alive. I'd like to think we are doing that.
As to if he'll post, I don't know. If you notice, I don't post a lot of songs. Mostly because they are usually involved with someone else's project. The "Big Ed 24 Notes' is one of those. WE wrote it a few years back, but he has been working on this "Bugles across America" thing for a while. So I have been pretty low key on what we were doing. Now that he has started this campaign, I will help him promote any way I can. When you have other writers, artists, publishers, charities, producers, labels, etc. you have to see what they want to do and where they need to take it. Since everything takes a long time in this day and age, with some songs taking YEARS to get out there, you just have to cruise along at other people's pace.
Johnathon, as far as different time signatures, you are probably going to have to carve out your own niche on that. If I were going to study anything, it might be a band like STEELY DAN, from the 70's and 80's who used all kinds of complicated time signatures a feature of their band. They blended rock, soul, blues, jazz to be very effective. I have gone back and listened to a lot of their stuff over the past year and forgotten how much I really liked it. the thing that is constant in those guys were HUGELY SINGABLE songs. Almost all their choruses are so singable and memeroable that they just fit into tremendous grooves throughout. So me, being a singer, would gravitate to anyone that has prominant choruses that stick in your mind. That, to me is what would make it accessable. Outside of that it is iffy with audiences, who usually want the most simple things they can hang onto. The more complicated you usually make it, the faster they tune out. Of course, if you are going to something like Jazz, different signature are pretty desired.
Know the difference between a jazz musician and a rock musician?
A Jazz musician plays 3000 chords in front of 3 people.
A rock musician plays 3 chords in front of 30,000 people.
Arty, another thing in my experience is that there are usually songwriter's groups in almost every place on Earth. There are millions of people who call themselves songwriters,whether they are or not, and I have rarely gone anywhere where there has not been a few scattered about. Even most of the people who have come here from down under, usually will talk about some night or some group of people doing it that they have heard of but have never contacted. Distance will definately make a difference so you have to do what you can. The "OC 9" group in Orange County Ca. is a perfect example. When you look at a map of California, and places like Orange County and Los Angeles, California, they are not that far apart. About 60 miles, and should just be about an hour. But traffic is UNBELIEVABLE!!! you can sit for thirty minutes just getting on an onramp. It is normal to spend 5-6 hours in traffic a day.
That is the reason they approached me in the first place. So many people come to Nashville expecting to get in some doors and then find out it is 100% a co-writing town. and most of them know nothing about co-writing because of the traffic problems. So the idea is to attract people in the same area as they live.
Don, glad you are having a great time. Good to hear from you.
MAB
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