Songwriting-In the Round

In our first two weeks in Nashville, we’ve heard a lot of really great cover bands, who will occasionally play their own work. On a walk yesterday, we happened into a small non-descript tavern, Bobby’s Idle Hour for a real treat.

We stepped past an entry full of empty guitar cases into a songwriter’s joy. Six songwriters sat on stools across the stage, each taking turns playing and singing original compositions.

The real deal.

These weren’t headliners. These were the men behind the songs.

I got a chance to speak with Don Owens, an Ohio songwriter/singer who comes to Nashville several times a year, and doesn’t miss Bobby’s Idle Hour. We talked a lot about what it really takes to get a song in front of the right person in Nashville, and what happens after.

It sounds a lot like pitching a book to an agent. The more people I speak with, the more I see how strong the link between aspiring songwriter and aspiring traditional novelist is.

He kindly reviewed one of the songs my main character “wrote” for my book and it did all right!

I left the session pumped to finish my book…and maybe even have a demo cut of one of the songs. All I need is to…confirm the licensing, hire a session player with skills to create the music, pay for studio time, and sound engineer…

Today, I’ll work on the book.