Songwriting

People often ask me, sometimes skeptically, why I almost exclusively co-write instead of writing alone. I have some reasons that I find pretty compelling, so I thought I’d share them. 1) Not many people I know are world-class at melody AND lyric. There are plenty of people who do both, but doing both and excelling…

By SongTown Co-Founder Marty Dodson When I started out in songwriting, I was surrounded by an insanely talented group of peers. And honestly, most of them were more skilled than I was. They could sing. They played guitar or piano like pros. They produced tracks in their home studios. They wrote incredible melodies and killer…

By Marty Dodson – SongTown Co-Founder There was a time in my songwriting journey where I hit a wall. I was showing up. I was writing. I was pitching. But nothing was happening. No one was cutting my songs. The feedback I was getting felt vague at best. And worst of all, I started losing…

by Clay Mills, SongTown Co-founder If you’ve ever felt like you’re working hard on your songwriting career but not getting the results you want, you’re not alone. Most of us go through seasons where we feel stuck or spread thin — writing every day, playing writers rounds, networking constantly… and still wondering why things aren’t…

By Marty Dodson – SongTown Co-Founder Let’s be real—songwriting is a rollercoaster. One day you’re sure you’ve written your best song yet, and the next day you’re convinced you’ve lost the magic. I’ve been there more times than I can count. The truth is, growth as a songwriter is rarely obvious in the moment. It…

By SongTown Co-founder Clay Mills I had a great meeting this past Sunday with our Diamond Club at SongTown. I shared something with them that I think all writers need to hear at different points on their journey. I’ve been in the trenches of songwriting for a few decades now. I’ve seen the highs of…

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…

By Marty Dodson – SongTown Co-Founder After I’d been writing for several years, there came a point when songwriting started to feel like… a job. And not the fun kind. I’d look at my calendar and actually dread some of the co-writes I had scheduled. Not because the people weren’t great, but because I just…

By Marty Dodson, SongTown Co-Founder Years ago, when I first started songwriting, I constantly found myself comparing my abilities to the writers around me. I mean, some of these writers could do it ALL—write killer melodies, craft emotional lyrics, and even produce fully finished tracks from their laptops. Meanwhile, I was just a lyricist. I…

By Marty Dodson, SongTown Co-Founder There have been seasons in my songwriting journey when I honestly couldn’t tell if I was improving or just spinning my wheels. It wasn’t that I wasn’t writing — I was. It wasn’t that I didn’t care — I cared deeply. But the growth wasn’t obvious. I didn’t always hear…