Hey Phil,
Thanks for posting that. Will is a friend of mine and I remember sitting on the porch at the Gatlinburg Inn two years ago having that conversation about Songmakers and Songwriters. It's very true. Sometimes you are writing for cuts or just to get things happening career wise. That is the "Songmaking" part. The "Songwriter" part is more of the craft side. They both sort of interplay a lot. I feel those personal relationships and experiences are what facilitate both sides.
A funny and interesting thing about that interview. He talks about writing his song "Clean Up on Aisle Five" with Mo Pitney, who is an artist everyone has been fired up about for about three years. Very good "old style" country singer in the vein of Keith Whitley. Originally Will took that song to Ashe Underwood. Ashe is a very good songwriter I have known for decades. That makes two really killer songs he missed out on. Here's one of the others:
Ashe had gone through one of his endless relationships and the break up. He has always had problems keeping women, although far from his fault. One of them died, and he has had his own troubles. He is a good guy, just not really blessed when it comes to women. At one point he had a message on his voice mail, that ended with "and if this is 'Carol' (I think that was the name" I still love you." It was pretty interesting and I remember hearing that message a couple times.
Another mutual friend of ours, David Kent, called him one day and heard that message too. They were getting together to write and he said "That would be a pretty good idea for a song." Ashe said Nah. (Just like he did in the interview).
And they wrote something else. But the day AFTER, David got together with a new girl he was working with, Kirstie Manna, and they wrote that song, called "AUSTIN." ("If this is Austin, I still Love You.") It turned out great and they got it cut on a new artist coming through named Blake Shelton. That was his first number one. He's done okay.
Another mutual friend of ours, David Kent, called him one day and heard that message too. They were getting together to write and he said "That would be a pretty good idea for a song." Ashe said Nah. (Just like he did in the interview).
And they wrote something else. But the day AFTER, David got together with a new girl he was working with, Kirstie Manna, and they wrote that song, called "AUSTIN." ("If this is Austin, I still Love You.") It turned out great and they got it cut on a new artist coming through named Blake Shelton. That was his first number one. He's done okay.
And that's really the thing about "writing what you know." And where the "songmaker" and "Songwriter" converge. It is about shared experiences, and finding an avenue or pathway that most people overlooked. We all should have our "Songwriter antenne" up all the time and be looking for things to write about. When you can mix them with personal experiences, or (other people's personal experiences) that is when the Songmaker and Songcrafter stuff meets.
MAB
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