If you want your songs to get recorded by major artists, you need to understand those artists.
Understanding what an artist has recorded before can help you predict what he or she might record in the future. So, today, I decided to dive into Eric Church’s new album, “Mr. Misunderstood.” Here’s what I found, track-by-track. (Note: “PUL’D” is a reference from my workbook “Cut/able: Lessons in Market-Smart Songwriting.” It means “Positive-Uptempo-Love/Depth.” “Neighborhood” is also a reference from “Cut/able.” Check out the workbook HERE.) POV is “Point Of View.)
Artist: Eric Church
Album: Mr. Misunderstood
Producer: Jay Joyce
Label: EMI Records Nashville
“Mr. Misunderstood”
Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard
POV (Point of view): You/me
Timeframe: Present tense singing to “Mr. Misunderstood,” past tense about himself.
PUL’D: Positive, Ballad to Midtempo, Depth
Neighborhood: Rocker / indie. Fits his rocker image. Preaching to his choir: outsiders, musicians.
Subject: Music, life.
Notes: Sing-a-long “na-nas.” No repeating chorus, just the title. Lots of imagery. Speaks to the outsiders and musicians- clearly makes himself one of them.
“Mistress Named Music”
Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard
POV: I/me
Timeframe: Past
PUL’D: Positive, Mid-ballad, Depth/Life
Neighborhood: Bad boy. Alcohol & drug references. Rocker.
Subject: Music, Musician
Notes: Strong imagery, blues-sound, big guitar solo/classic rock long outro, big choir on intro
“Chattanooga Lucy”
Writers: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde, Ryan Tyndell
POV: You/me
Timeframe: Present
PUL’D: Positive, Uptempo blues rock, Love
Neighborhood: Rocker, rough side of the tracks, edgy
Subject: Music, girl
Notes: Blues, lots of imagery, soul falsetto, female gang BGVs
“Mixed Drinks About Feelings”
Writers: Eric Church
POV: Me/I
Timeframe: Present
PUL’D: Sad, Ballad, Lost love
Neighborhood: Drinkers
Subject: Lost love, drinking
Notes: Alcohol references, female lead (smoky voice) on 2nd verse, blues/soul
“Knives Of New Orleans”
Writers: Eric Church, Travis Meadows, Jeremy Spillman
POV: Me/I
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Negative, mid-uptempo, depth/life
Neighborhood: Tough guy, dark side of life
Subject: Murder about money
Notes: Good imagery, big driving feel, storytelling- takes on a character, big classic rock Bob Seger Springsteen epic
“‘Round Here Buzz”
Writers: Eric Church, Luke Dick, Jeff Hyde
POV: You/me
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Negative, midtempo, love
Neighborhood: Average Joe
Subject: You’re gone, so I’m hanging around our hometown drinking.
Notes: Good imagery, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus
“Kill A Word”
Writers: Eric Church, Luck Dick, Jeff Hyde
POV: Me/I
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Positive, midtempo, depth
Neighborhood: Tough guy with a heart of gold
Subject: Singer’s fed up with the negative junk in the world.
Notes: Tough, but positive. Violent language, but wants to make the world a better place. Dark.
“Holdin’ My Own”
Writers: Eric Church
POV: Me/I
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Positive, Midtempo, Depth/Love
Neighborhood: Rebel, but laid back.
Subject: Fatherhood, family, music, settling down.
Notes: Biographical (“troubadours”), mid-acoustic kinda beach/bouncy.
“Record Year”
Writers: Eric Church, Jeff Hyde
POV: Me/You
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Bittersweet, midtempo, lost love
Neighborhood: Average Joe
Subject: Music, lost love
Notes: Name drops artists from several genres: country, rock, R&B, soul. Ends up thanking the girl for leaving because it helped him rediscover all this great music. Starts off sad, ends up feeling positive.
“Three Year Old”
Writers: Eric Church, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell
POV: Me/I
Timeframe: Now
PUL’D: Positive, Mid-ballad, Depth
Neighborhood: Average Joe, good guy, but not perfect
Subject: Fatherhood
Notes: Great images, lessons to a dad from his kid. Lighthearted, but deep. Jesus reference.
TAKEAWAYS:
The big theme is music- how it has and continues to affect Eric’s life. It’s the constant drumbeat in the background of these songs and the thread that holds the record together. Classic blues and rock sounds. He’s dark, an outsider… but he has a good heart. He lives wild, but is maturing. Church wrote on every song and has a small circle of cowriters on this record, mainly Casey Beathard, Jeff Hyde, and Luke Dick. Hyde has the most cuts. Eric tends to write all of his own stuff, so there’s little chance of an outside cut. Path to a cut: work your way into cowrites with his cowriters, prove yourself and earn your way into the room with Eric.
What do you think? What insights would you like to add? Did you enjoy this post? Would you like to see more Artist Insight Reports from Man vs. Row in the future? Let me know in the comments!
Pro songwriters know they need to study artists and the market to have their best chance at writing songs that get cut. And if YOU want to become a pro, you need to think like a pro, too. In my FREE e-book, “THINK LIKE A PRO SONGWRITER,” I not only reveal several of the mindsets which separate the pro songwriter from the amateur, but also…
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God Bless and Enjoy the Journey,
Brent
Brent Baxter is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ruthie Collins, Ray Stevens, and more. He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.
