The last week and a half have been great. I left early on Thursday morning and drove to St. Charles, MO for the Write About Jesus conference. Like going back to a small country church. (only with great music) Ran in to many old friends and some new ones from last year. Had some great classes, a cowrite attempt, and a great one on one with Dave Clark.
This summer has been pretty dry for my writing. When my nephew was murdered in the the spring, my writing took a pretty dark turn. When I got out to Vegas for the memorial service, they had just captured a suspect that is almost certain to be the murderer. The grief and the anger that surrounds the next 3 days put me in a strange place. I had a lot of things show up on the page, but nothing seemed to make sense.
Out of this, however, I wrote a song called “That’s Why They Call It Amazing”. I decided to submit it for the Conference competition. I was fortunate to place as the runner-up for the weekend.
On Sunday I drove in to Nashville and checked into the Hit Song Casa near the airport (Great deal, by the way, Songwriters) only to realize my cowrite that evening was in Clarksville (which I went through 40 miles earlier.. ughh) Drove out, though, and met David Walker, and over take out Chinese, we wrote for the evening. Good to see David again.
Monday morning I met up with Gene Reynolds. We’d talked online, but had never met. Turns out he’s a church planter and a Moody Graduate. We met for coffee and drove to his place and started a song. Had lunch and I drove in for a meeting at ASCAP. That evening, I had gotten tickets for he Amy Grant / Take 6 taping for the Armed Services Christmas show at the Grand Ol’ Opry. Great show featuring the Army Reserve Orchestra, the Air Force Strings. It will air on the Armed Forces Network, starting on Christmas Eve.
After the taping I drove over to the Mercy Lounge on Cannery Row just in time to see Tyler James kick off a multi-date tour through the south. He’s previewing his new CD online here if you’d like to give it a listen. Great stuff. It was good to talk with Tyler about the CD and catch up.
Tuesday morning I drove out and met Chuck Butler at his studio in Franklin. I had an idea for a song and Chuck and I spent the morning nailing down the melody and form. Chuck suggested I accompany him to a vocal recording session that afternoon, but I had had a lunch meeting scheduled with a writer who was a mutual friend of some of my co-writers. Within a few minutes, though, I received a call to let me know that the writer had called in sick with the flu. So we Chuck and I grabbed lunch and headed over to the Brentwood Benson studios to meet Michael Fordinal and cut a vocal for a song that he and Chuck had written. Good tune guys... and yes, Chuck has a mohawk.
Tuesday night, on the way to meet Dennis Dearing at his studio in Franklin, I ran through a inordinately short yellow light and got pulled over by on of Franklin’s finest. The most repentant spirt and largest puppy-dog eyes proved fruitless and I will be helping to reduce the Franklin City budget deficit in the near future.
Anyhow, I made it to Dennis Dearing’s place to see what all the hubbub was about. What a great guy, and a nice studio. Really good stuff, from a guy who’s spirit is one of the most giving I have experienced. I hope we get a chance to work together soon. You can check out his studio here.
Wednesday morning, I met again with Gene Reynolds and we resumed our work on a great song.. discovering a great aha moment that neither of us saw coming. Skip Adams from Global Graffiti, who introduced us, listened the worktape and it looks like this one will get signed.
Wednesday night I drove up North of Nashville to Craig Winquist’s home. Adam Olson, who used to work with Giant Slayers Publishing had introduced us a few year ago, but we’d never gotten together. Kari, his wife took time from caring for her newborn son and 3 year old son, Caden and cooked us up a great homemade Chicken noodle Soup (yum) and a Walnut-Topped Apple Crisp. Kudos to the Winquist family for giving me my first home-cooked meal in Nashville. I’m going to write with Craig again!) After dinner, we went out to Craig’s writing room and we started a deep one. I love Craig’s spirit and his heart for God and great country music. I need to get back soon and finish that one. By the way, he showed me his cherry 1964 Galaxie that he trailered down from South Dakota. Sweet.
Thursday morning never got booked so I got up and planned to write on my own. The writer who had cancelled on Tuesday, however, called and asked if I wanted to get lunch. I drove into meet him where he’s currently working on Music Row and picked him up. We went to have lunch and in our conversation I said something that sparked an idea between us. We went back to his publisher’s writing room and wrote a great song. When we were done, he called upstairs and said, “ I think we wrote one that doesn’t suck”. His publisher came down and we played it for him. He had us make a change and then called and had his plugger come down and listen. He asked us to do a guitar demo and he’s going to start playing it around town! At some later I’ll tell you who the writer is and where he’s writing. That is a whole story in itself.
Thursday night I drove out to Whit and Al Hill’s place and had my second home-cooked meal of the trip. Whit and I started a song based on an idea I stole from something Gene said to a friend when he was on the phone. (Thanks Gene.. ha ha!)
When we were done (around 10) and I drove in to the airport and picked up Cyndi. It was so good to see her again.
On Friday morning we slept in and drove into downtown Nashville for lunch. Jack’s Barbeque is a tradition for us (AWESOME and cheap!) We checked into our hotel (thanks TOUR CONNECTION) and then drove out to the salon where Cyndi had a hair appointment. She looked great. Now I have an excuse for us to come once a month!
The 2nd Round of songwriters in the round at the Commodore. Left is Patty and Rick Stewart, Joel Shoemake, and Craig Winquist (It’s Halloween, in case you’re wondering.)
Friday night I drove out to see Craig Winquist play a round at the Commodore on West End. Craig’s a great performer. Craig also let me in on the history of the publisher who owns the office where I’d written on Thursday. He looked at me and said, “You’ve Had a Good Week!” I concurred. It’d been a great week. One of providence. I could feel God at work.
Saturday morning, Cyndi and I spent the morning at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Wow! I wasn’t expecting to be so moved. I’d put if off for a couple of trips, but it was pretty overwhelming. Gary Harrison (Strawberry Wine, and I Hate Everything, and hundreds more) did a small concert and Q&A) Afterwards, we drove out to Lebanon to meet Skip Adams an his wife Teri a their horse ranch. They had literally moved in on Wednesday afternoon. I played some stuff for Skip and we talked business for awhile.
Finally we drove down to Cornersville to see some old friends. They have a hundred acres on a ‘holler’ on a running stream. I got lost in the country as my cel phone reception sketched in and out of service. Finally, I was able to find the place (without Cyndi killing me for being so stubborn about directions) and spent the rest of the night around a campfire with our friends from Huntsville. We drove back to Nashville and slept in before leaving around 10 for Detroit.
So here I am. I’m looking forward to getting back in the grind, and seeing what God will do with the fruits of the trip. They are His. I saw Him work so many times during the visit. He is good. He is so good! I am excited to see what He has in store.
No comments:
Post a Comment