Songwriting

About two years after I started trying to write professionally, a friend of mine staged an intervention of sorts. He approached me very kindly and asked me how my writing was going.  I told him my frustrations and I told him the truth – I didn’t have much of anything going on.  He asked me…

A lot of folks email Marty and me asking if we can tell them whether a song idea is worth pursuing. Though I’d love to give an answer, I generally believe it’s better to teach a man to fish, than hand him a fish. This is what my mentors did for me and I’m lucky they didn’t…

One day, my friend Danny Wells and I wrote a song. We were really excited about it, so Danny wanted to play it for his publisher. We went in the man’s office and Danny played it live. I could tell as he was playing that the guy didn’t seem like he liked it. When Danny finished, his…

  Being grateful and giving thanks is a discipline that I try to practice daily. From a songwriting perspective, here are some things I believe all of us creative types need to be thankful for: The Believers My mom was a huge believer in me and my music.  When everyone else was telling me “no”,…

“In SongTown you are the hero and we are your songwriting sidekick.” ~Marty Dodson So many songwriting sites advertise the amazing things they can do for you. They will “turn you pro”, introduce you to someone who will magically “get” you and get all of your songs cut, or take you up to breathe the…

Songwriting is grueling, brain-numbing work with little reward.  Then, there are the difficult aspects.  It’s easy to get discouraged and I’ve had many friends and co-writers lay down the pen.  So, in dedication to those who have given up writing, I want to offer 5 reasons that we should all keep writing, even when it’s…

I’ve spent a lot of time this morning reflecting on the past, looking at my career as a songwriter, and thinking about where I’d like to go moving forward. Call this the reflections of a pro songwriter. Marty and my top goal since starting SongTown has been to help as many songwriters as we could.…

Do you feel like your melodies sound dated when you’re writing a new song? Are you in a songwriting rut? It happens to us all. We start rolling and write a bunch of songs we really love, and then one day we wake up and everything starts sounding the same. Every new idea we create seems familiar. And…

Creatively successful people have healthy mental habits. They not only have mastered their art, but they have learned to master their habits, attitudes, and emotions. They understand this mastery allows them more creative space in their mind and spirit. Check out these 9 things creatively successfully people don’t do so you too also become a…