Category Archives: Craft

These posts focus on the craft of songwriting.

Craft, Cut Study

A Spork, A Twinkie and Warner Bros. Records

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Man vs Row

Ever imagine having a music industry pro pull a lyric out of one of your songs (from memory) and quote it back to you? And to tell you they love it? Let me tell you, it feels GREAT. And it opens doors.

In my last post, I revealed how great imagery can give your songs that slight edge that can bring big opportunities [CLICK TO READ]. Today is the example of one of those opportunities…

Brandon Kinney and I wrote a song called “Every Head Bowed,” written from the point of view of a little boy in church. It was a funny song, and we packed it with imagery from both our imagination and memories of growing up in church.

The song went on to get recorded by legendary country artist, Randy Travis, on his “Around The Bend” album on Warner Bros. Records. It was a huge thrill to have a song recorded by an artist of Randy’s stature. Unbelievable. And what really tickled me was the fact that the song contained the word “spork.”

Spork? Yes, spork. Those plastic spoon-fork things at KFC.

spork pic

The end of the song takes place after church as the family is having lunch at KFC, and the dad tells the singer to “put that spork back down” while the family prays. It’s such an odd, specific word, but it’s exactly what you use there- and it fits the fun vibe of the song.

Here’s where it gets even more fun. I kinda knew some of the A&R folks at Warner Bros., but now I had a cut on one of their artists. That definitely took me up a notch in their eyes. Even more, they LOVED the spork line.

As I’d bump into a couple of the A&R folks, and we’d talk about the song, they’d always mention that line and how it was their favorite line in the song or how it was so funny.

A&R people hear thousands of songs- more than they can remember. But if you can give them an image they love, they’ll remember your song and YOU.

This simple thing gave me a calling card. I was the guy that wrote “the spork song.” It gave the A&R people a little something positive to remember me by. It’s a goofy line, but it no doubt helped me get more pitch meetings there. And the song even helped me and Brandon land a cowrite with Randy Travis himself!

Randy Travis cowrite

A great image can really set the identity of a song in the mind of a listener- just like it’s another hook or an alternate title. Don’t believe me? How many people called “Something Like That” by Tim McGraw “BBQ stain?” How many people know you’re talking about the Dierks Bentley song “What Was I Thinkin’” when you call it “little white tank top?” The right image, as simple as it might be, can make your whole song memorable. And memorable is valuable!

0 unusual image

Another quick story involving “Every Head Bowed.” I was out a couple months ago, and I ran into one of Randy Travis’ band members. I said, “Hey, you’ve probably played one of my songs.” “Which one?” he asked. When I told him it was “Every Head Bowed,” he nudged his wife and said, “Hey, this guy wrote ‘Every Head Bowed”- we love that song!”

She looked confused, like she didn’t remember it. Then he said, “Oh, you know- the Twinkie song!” Then she gave a big smile as he told me they always call it “The Twinkie Song.”

Yep, there’s a line about a Twinkie in that song, too. Again, giving your listener one strong image (or more) can set your song in their memory more than even the title does.

I want to help you put winning imagery into your lyrics. Here’s a quick video that might serve you…

MvR Video

What about you? Do you have any songs that you or your friends call by a different title- one based on an image? Or a particular image that comes to mind when you think of a certain song? Leave a comment!

Since strong imagery is such an important part of professional-level songwriting, I’ve put together a course on imagery. It’s called, “Use Imagery To Supercharge Your Songwriting (Like The Pros Do)” and it’s available now. By the end of the course, you’ll have the basic skills to:

  1. Effectively use both literal and figurative imagery.
  2. Make your story come to life using imagery.
  3. Prove your character’s personality using imagery.
  4. Make your listener connect to your character’s emotions using imagery.
  5. Hook your listener in the song’s first few lines using imagery.
  6. And to begin more songs (more easily) using imagery exercises as the start of your songwriting process.

Click here if you’re ready to “Use Imagery To Supercharge Your Songwriting (Like The Pros Do)” or click on the image below.

imagery_square_copy

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.

Man vs Row

Craft, Cut Study

6 Words That Changed My Life

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Man vs Row

In 2002, I was an unknown lyricist who had just moved to Nashville from Little Rock, Arkansas. Almost zero contacts in the music business. No cowrites with pro songwriters.

Fast forward 3 1/2 years. In 2005, I’m standing on stage at the NSAI Awards receiving one of only 12 “Songs I Wish I’d Written” awards given that year. The next night was the ASCAP Awards, where I’d be receiving an airplay award for a top 5 single. I now had a publishing deal at Major Bob Music and wrote regularly with other pro songwriters.

ASCAP Awards

So what got me from point A to point B? What got me from waiting tables at Cracker Barrel with a name tag that said, “Hello, my name is Brent” to having people introduce me as “This is Brent, he wrote ‘Monday Morning Church’ for Alan Jackson?” Well… God took me from A to B, really. God gets all the credit, because it certainly wasn’t because of my songwriting skills at the time.

Looking back now, it’s almost embarrassing how green I was.

And it wasn’t about my networking skills. I still knew almost no one in the music business. I was at an industry party talking to some guy. This was in 2004 after the song got cut but before it was a single. We were chatting about the song, and he said, “Man, I love that song.” I said, “Oh, you know it?” He said, “Yeah. I cut it on Alan.” It was Keith Stegall, Alan’s producer. A legend in the biz and I didn’t recognize him because I’d never actually seen him in person before. I was so embarrassed. So, no…

I was not a networking genius.

And my success wasn’t about my cowriter’s political pull in the biz. It was her first cut, too. She was still in college at MTSU! She did have a well-established publisher pitching the song, though. But our names had nothing to do with the cut.

What God used more than anything else to take me from unknown lyricist to hit songwriter… was 6 little words I ran across in a poem my mother wrote:

“Empty as a Monday morning church.”

An image. A really great image became the core of my first cut and changed my life.

If you’re like me and want to write songs that get on records and radio and compete for the big money, you’re stepping into a very, very competitive business. There are only a few spots available on the album of a major artist. And there are even less slots available on radio.

In a business this competitive, you need every advantage you can get. Small advantages can bring big results. Adding great images to your songs can give you that advantage. It can make you more attractive and valued as a cowriter. It can get you that second publisher meeting. It can make a record label go from “what else do you have” to “let me keep a copy of that.” Likewise, better imagery can take your song from “let me keep a copy of that” to “put that on hold- I want to play it for my artist.” Or maybe great imagery will even take your song from “I want to put that on hold” to “we want to record your song.”

0 small advantage

Great imagery can even make the difference between getting a $300 album cut or a $300,000 hit single.

0 $300

In a business this competitive, the opposite is also true. Your song that’s being held for an artist might not get cut because they decide to record a song that’s just a little better. Or even if they do cut your song, they might single a different song instead. And the difference between an album cut and a hit single is huge. It’s not just a huge money difference, getting a hit single will boost your status and prestige much more than an album cut ever will.

Don’t settle for images that work. Strive for the BEST images you can get into your songs. It’ll make a big difference in your songwriting. And that big difference might just give you that small edge that turns you pro.

0 best image

Think you can’t write great images? Think you either have to be born with the “imagery-gene” or you’re just out of luck? Put those thoughts away. You CAN learn to get a lot better with imagery-writing. My first songs didn’t have nearly the level of imagery I can write now. What made the difference?

Time, education and practice. Now, I can’t do much about “time,” but I can help you with education. Here’s a video clip that you might find helpful.

MvR Video

What about you? What are some of your favorite images from song lyrics? Please share in the comments!

 

Since strong imagery is such an important part of professional-level songwriting, I’ve put together a course on imagery. It’s called, “Use Imagery To Supercharge Your Songwriting (Like The Pros Do)” and it’s available now. By the end of the course, you’ll have the basic skills to:

  1. Effectively use both literal and figurative imagery.
  2. Make your story come to life using imagery.
  3. Prove your character’s personality using imagery.
  4. Make your listener connect to your character’s emotions using imagery.
  5. Hook your listener in the song’s first few lines using imagery.
  6. And to begin more songs (more easily) using imagery exercises as the start of your songwriting process.

Click here if you’re ready to “Use Imagery To Supercharge Your Songwriting (Like The Pros Do)” or click on the image below.

imagery_square_copy

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.

Man vs Row

Biz, C4X, Craft, Live Event

Songwriting Coaches Don’t Make You Do Push-Ups

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First of all, what is a coach?

A coach is an experienced and trusted advisor. A songwriting coach could be a more seasoned, experienced cowriter. It could also be a publisher or PRO representative (ASCAP, SESAC, BMI, SOCAN, etc.) who takes time to meet with you. It could also be a pro-songwriter coach from NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International) or GSC (Global Songwriters Connection), or Songwriting And Music Business. There are several good independent coaches out there, too.

A quality coach can help you get where you want to go more effectively and efficiently- if you’re willing to learn. Here are five specific ways songwriters can benefit from a coaching relationship.

1. Your coach knows things you don’t.

He may or may not have some #1s to his credit. He may or may not have a song on the charts this week. But the important thing is that he has been down the road ahead of you and can point the way. He’s seen more, learned more, and accomplished more than you have (yet). He can help accelerate your learning curve and avoid some of the pitfalls.

2. Your coach is not your mom.

A coach doesn’t have to see you at Thanksgiving or worry about the quality of the nursing home you’ll choose for her. Therefore, while a quality coach will not be mean, she has the freedom to be honest about your writing- as she sees it. She also doesn’t know your backstory. This means your writing has to stand on it’s own- singing about Jenny you dated in high school means ONLY what the song says. Your coach can’t fill in the gaps from your shared experience- your coach won’t know that Jenny was Prom Queen unless your song tells her.

3. It’s good practice.

If you want to get songs recorded on a professional level, you’re going to have to get comfortable throwing your babies into the real world. It can be scary and frustrating, but it’s something you need to get used to. A quality coach is a safe place to get that professional feedback. It’s a step into the music business where you’ll be challenged and have to toughen up. But it’s also safe because being “just okay” or even “bad” doesn’t close the door to them in the future. Your coach doesn’t expect you to be professional-level, and it’s not about, “Well, did you bring me a hit today?”

4. A coach is a potential entry point into the music business.

If you want to be a professional writer, you won’t get there alone. You need a network of relationships in the business, and a coach is a great start. A coach might recommend potential cowriters or publishers. He or she can be your champion- especially at places like NSAI or GSC. A coach might even write with you. Eventually. (But you should never be the one to mention it first.)  None of this is guaranteed, and when you sign up with a coach, do not expect it.  But if you EARN it, it MIGHT happen.

5. A songwriting coach won’t make you do push-ups.

I hate push-ups, and thankfully… no matter how bad my songs were… I’ve never had one of my songwriting coaches say, “drop and give me 20.”  So, there’s that.

Coaching has had a profound impact on my songwriting. There were coaches I only met with now and then (and sometimes only once). These included guys like Chad Green and Ralph Murphy at ASCAP. It also includes publisher Clay Myers, who gave such blunt, honest and challenging feedback that I wanted to throat-punch him 10 minutes into our first meeting… and wanted to write for him 30 minutes later.

It includes my songpluggers- Mike Doyle, Jesse Frasure and Scot Sherrod at Major Bob Music, Sam Ramage at RPM Music, and Paul Compton at Writers Infinity. These guys wouldn’t just pitch my songs. They encouraged me when I was down, they celebrated our victories, and they challenged me to write better.

Are there songwriting (or other) coaches who have made an impact in your life or on your writing? Give them some love in the comments!

Coaching can make a big positive difference in your songwriting. But let’s face it, even the best, most knowledgable songwriting coach in the world won’t do you any good if you’re not willing to do the work it takes to implement their suggestions and rise to their challenges. Seeking out a coach and then ignoring their advice only annoys the coach and wastes your time. Don’t do that, okay?

But, if you ARE ready to get some coaching, and you ARE ready to do the work, I have a cool opportunity for you. It’s called The C4 Experience, or C4X. It’s a series of workshops in January and February in 2016. What does “C4” stand for?

Creative
Commercial
Coaching
Community

The C4 Experience is about celebrating your creative spirit and sharpening your commercial songwriting, guided by expert coaching and encouraged by a supportive community.

Click on the image below or CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE!

c4x

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.

Craft, Cut Study

Songwriting Is Like Real Estate… For Real.

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Man vs Row 

It’s true for real estate, and it’s true for songs.

My last couple of posts talked about how your songwriting can “Fill The G.A.P.S.” or get you “P.U.L.’D. To Success.”  Today, I want to talk about the most important thing in real estate (and important in songwriting): location, location, location…

In probably any town, certain neighborhoods have certain personalities. One neighborhood is full of SUV-driving soccer moms. Another is mostly middle-class country folk. Another is college kids, another is hipsters, etc.

Musically-speaking, most artists put down roots in one neighborhood.

They spend most of their time there, only venturing out to the adjacent neighborhoods every now and then. This is another way of talking about branding. An artist’s brand says, “I live in THIS neighborhood. I’m like THESE people, and I sing about them and for them.”

For example, an artist’s music may be most “at home” with the good ‘ol party boys. Most of his music is for those good ‘ol boys- bonfires and tailgates. The “good ‘ol party boy” artist doesn’t usually venture into the soccer mom neighborhood, where the music is more about family, lifelong love, kids, etc.

Most songs are also “at home” in certain neighborhoods. Some songs are built for the rednecks, some for the high school girls, some for their moms, some for the blue collar dads, etc.

But remember, most ideas can be built to fit in any of several neighborhoods.

It just depends how you frame the idea (pun intended). The choices you make will determine your song’s neighborhood.

For example, Craig Morgan’s “Redneck Yacht Club” and Little Big Town’s “Pontoon” are basically about the same thing- getting out on the water. But the songs (houses) were built in different neighborhoods and attracted a different kind of artist. Even though the basic ideas of the songs are similar, Little Big Town wouldn’t feel at home moving into Craig’s neighborhood, and vice versa.

When you think about where to build your song, it’s wise to think about the property values in the different neighborhoods.

Are the houses in the “good ‘ol party boys” neighborhood in high demand? Are the houses in the blue-collar-working-man in low demand?  What type of song are artists cutting?

I was blessed to have Joe Nichols cut a song of mine on his most recent album. The song became the album’s title, “Crickets.” We built the song in Joe’s neighborhood, and I’m glad he liked it enough to move in!

joe-nichols-crickets

But what about “Crickets” put it in Joe’s neighborhood? Well, first off, it’s country. Pretty dang country. Joe’s done some more modern stuff here and there, but he has a deep love for country songs that are really country. Also, Joe has also recorded several songs that are funny or tongue-in-cheek, such as “Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off.” He’s not afraid to poke a little fun at himself, either, so “Crickets” seemed like a really good fit. I’m glad Joe thought so, too!

The concept of “Neighborhoods” is important if you want to write commercial songs. I go into more depth on the topic in “Cut/able,” and it’s one of the lessons we’ll be discussing in our C4 Experience.

c4x

In my last post, I promised to tell you what “C4” means, so here it is.

C4:

Creative
Commercial
Coaching
Community

The C4 Experience is about celebrating your creative spirit and sharpening your commercial songwriting, guided by expert coaching and encouraged by a supportive community.

Let’s look at each part of this:

Creative:
I want to celebrate you because I’m a fan of you! I love dreamers and doers. And while I take the craft of songwriting very seriously, I believe it should be fun. If you’ve ever been to one of my workshops or live events, you know I like to have fun while I’m teaching- so you can have fun while you’re learning. And I also believe you can be creative while being commercial, which brings me to the next “C.”

Commercial:
This workshop series is for songwriters that want to write commercially successful songs- either for yourself or for others to sing. By the end of this workshop, my goal is for your songwriting to be a lot more commercial.

Coaching:
Each two-hour session will begin with 30 minutes of teaching and a lesson review. Each lesson will be based on one of the four sections of “Cut/able.” You’ll do the reading and exercises before each workshop, and we’ll meet online to discuss the lesson and answer any questions. Each student will also receive 45 minutes of “spotlight coaching.” This is a time for us to focus on YOU- your situation, your challenges, and your songs. I’ll lead, but the other students can also give their advice.

Community:
The C4 Experience is limited to just 8 students, so there will be time to get to know everyone else in the group over our 8 hours together over 4 nights. You’ll encourage each other and probably find out that your challenges aren’t that different from anyone else’s. Successful commercial songwriting is a team sport, and this just may help you build that team.

HOW DOES C4 WORK?

The C4 Experience is an online event, so you can join in from anywhere there’s an internet connection. You do NOT have to be in Nashville. You can join us from anywhere in the world. We’ll meet via Fuze, an online videoconferencing platform. Basically, I’ll send you a link before each session, and you just click to join in. If you have questions, you can find out more about Fuze, here:
System requirements
Join Fuze meeting through an internet browser

We’ll meet 4 times (that’s where the “4” in “C4” comes from):

     Tuesday, January 12, 7:30pm to 9:30pm (Central time)
     Tuesday, January 25, 7:30pm to 9:30pm (Central time)
     Tuesday, February 9, 7:30pm to 9:30pm (Central time)
     Tuesday, February 23, 7:30pm to 9:30pm (Central time)

Each night will begin with a 30-minute lesson from “Cut/able.” We’ll work through the workbook in order:

*Session 1- W.I.L.L.power: Proving Personality & Emotions Through Your Lyrics (Connect on a deeper level with the artist and listener through effective use of imagery.)

*Session 2- PUL’D To Success: The Value of Positive, Uptempo, Love/Depth Songs (Give the artists what they need, give radio what it wants, and give the fans what they like by learning the importance of writing positive, uptempo, love/depth songs.)

*Session 3- Neighborhoods: Where Will You Build A Home For Your Songs? (Develop skills to identify an artist’s “brand” so you can write songs that fit that brand and speak to the artist’s core audience.)

*Session 4- Fill The G.A.P.S.: Growth, Achievement, Preaching/Positioning, Songwriting (Pinpoint areas of opportunity within an artist’s catalog- slots you can fill with your songs, songs that fit the artist’s brand without being just like what they’ve already done.)

After the lesson/Q&A, we’ll do two 45-minute spotlight coaching sessions. We’ll focus on one of the group members each session (two per night). Each of the eight community members will get his or her own spotlight over the course of the event.

The cost of the entire C4 Experience is $250, which is a great deal. It works out to $31.25 an hour. I usually charge $150 for just one hour of coaching. But with C4, you get 4 30-minute lessons with Q&A and a personalized 45-minute spotlight coaching session. PLUS, you get to participate in the spotlight sessions of the 7 other songwriters. Believe me, there will be plenty you can learn from their sessions, too!

An average demo in Nashville currently costs anywhere from $500 to $1000. That’s just for ONE SONG. That’s a fine investment if your song is commercially strong. If it isn’t… you just wasted a lot of your money. Wouldn’t it be better to spend $250 to keep from wasting $1000 or more (again and again)? For less than the price of demoing one song, you can learn how to write song after song after song that’s worth demoing!

BONUS!

Since we’ll be learning from my workbook, “Cut/able,” it only makes sense to give you a copy when you join C4. It sells for $25, but I’ll throw it in for free. (If you already own “Cut/able,” there’s a discount code in the back of the workbook. Use it at checkout, and it’ll knock $25 off the price, so it’s like you get it for free!)  Click here to find out more about “Cut/able.”

Tickets for this event are on sale NOW. There are only 8 spots open, and I expect them to go fast- so don’t wait too long and miss your chance to take your songwriting to the next level!

I look forward to seeing you in January- CLICK HERE or on the image below to reserve your spot now!

c4x

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.

Man vs Row

Craft, Cut Study

Are Your Songs Being P.U.L.’D. To Success?

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Man vs Row

It’s a good feeling to earn something that can’t be taken away…

…something that you can always point to back in your life and be proud of. I’ve been blessed with a few of those things, and one of them is hanging on the wall in my office.

It’s a plaque I received after Gord Bamford had a #1 single in Canada for our song “When Your Lips Are So Close.” The plaque includes part of that week’s Billboard chart, and there’s our songs, sitting at #1 above Blake Shelton, Tim McGraw, and Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert.

Gord 1

Imagine YOUR songs sitting in that #1 spot.

How would it feel to tell yourself, “I did it. I wrote a #1 hit. No matter what happens in the future, I’ll always know my dream wasn’t crazy. It came true.”

Well, ok… maybe having a hit song IS kind of a crazy dream. But I’m living proof that crazy dreams can come true. I want to help you make YOUR crazy dream come true, too. And that’s why I want to share the concept of “PUL’D” with you. “PUL’D” describes the type of song that most artists are looking for.

PUL’D stands for:

P: Positive
U: Uptempo
L: Love
D: Depth

Just look at the singles charts, and you’ll see what I mean. Most songs are positive messages or happy. People like to feel good. Positive songs are a whole lot better to listen to when you’re out with your friends at a party or at a club. Most songs on the charts are mid-tempo or uptempo. It’s something people can dance to, or at least bob their heads or tap their feet to. And most either deal with love or some some deep (“depth”) life topic. Love is the most universal topic, right? If you want to connect with a huge group of people (millions of radio listeners), your best bet is to talk about love. “Depth” is when the song deals with some sort of life issue. It could be death, growing older, looking back on life lessons, contemplating God, etc.

In the case of “When Your Lips Are So Close,” (the #1 hanging on my wall) the song is Positive, Midtempo, Love. It doesn’t have a dance club tempo, but it moves and it has a big chorus which gives it energy.

To give your song the best chance of getting recorded, you want to give it at least one of these three qualities (I say “three” because “love” and “depth” are both topics). However, if you can give it all three, then you REALLY have something that people are looking for.

You can think of it this way:

“Commercial songs get PUL’D into the recording studio.”
“Commercial songs get “PUL’D up the charts.”

If you want to learn more about how to write commercial songs, my course, “Cut/able” is a great place to start. It includes lessons on PUL’D, G.A.P.S. (from my last post), and more. (It’s available HERE.)

But maybe you already own “Cut/able” and you’re ready to take the next step. Or maybe interactive learning is more your thing. Either way, I have a great opportunity coming up for you.

In January and February, I’m leading a series of multiple-night, live, web-based workshops that I’m calling the “C4 Experience.” Why “C4?” I’ll get to that in my next email, where I’ll also share how building a song in the right neighborhood can move YOU into “Cut City.”

c4x

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.

Man vs Row

Craft, Cut Study

Are your songs filling the G.A.P.S.?

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Man vs Row

I’ll never forget the first time I heard one of my songs on the radio.

“Monday Morning Church” had just been released by Alan Jackson, and it was starting to get some spins. It was to be featured on a local (Nashville) radio station’s song-vs-song challenge (a “Friday Night Knockout” kind of thing). They kept promoting it, so I knew it was coming on around 8pm that night.

A good friend had just arrived from Little Rock, and was in the bathroom when the opening fiddle started playing on the radio in the living room. I yelled, “It’s on!” and she came bolting out of the bathroom- tugging up her sweatpants and almost putting on an indecent display as she tried not to trip over herself in her excitement and hurry.

The song was cranked up, and we were totally amped up. We laughed, hugged, and paced around the living room as the song played. I had FINALLY heard my song on the radio! It was an unbelievable feeling. “Wow… he REALLY released it! It’s REALLY on the dad-gummed RADIO!”

Alan Jackson- Monday Morning Church

I want YOU to have that feeling, too.

Don’t say that it can’t happen to you. Sure, the odds are long. The chance of success are small, I won’t deny that. But I’m just an ‘ol boy from Arkansas. I didn’t have any special connections in the music business. I barely knew anybody when I moved to Nashville. All I brought with me was a dream, a knack for words, and a good work ethic. And I brought a song that filled a gap in Alan’s catalog.

Actually, the song filled one of the G.A.P.S. in Alan’s catalog.

What does G.A.P.S. mean?

G.A.P.S. is a memory device I use to remind me where to aim when I’m trying to get a song on an artist’s album. It points out where there might be opportunity- where there might be an empty space (a gap) that my song can fill. It stands for:

G: Growth
A: Achievement
P: Preaching / Positioning
S: Songwriting

In short, “Growth” reminds me to write based on where the artist is GOING. Artists change over time, they evolve, and it doesn’t do me much good to write a song that fits where they’ve been. They need songs that fit where they’re going.

“Achievement” reminds me to try and write something that will take the artist’s career up a level. Most artists are always trying to climb the ladder of success, and they want songs that aren’t just going to maintain their current careers. They want songs that are going to win awards, raise their visibility, and grow their careers.

“Preaching” is when an artist speaks to THEIR crowd, THEIR listeners. It’s the old saying of “preaching to the choir.” They want songs that their established fans will love. “Positioning” is when a song identifies who an artist is- what their brand is. It says, “I’m a so-and-so kind of person/artist. If you want this kind of music, come to my show or buy my album.”

“Songwriting” reminds me to be aware of what kind of song the artist writes himself, and what kind of song he records that somebody else writes. I have a much better chance of getting a cut if I write the kind of song that the artist doesn’t write, but is looking for.

In the case of “Monday Morning Church,” it filled one of the G.A.P.S. in Alan’s catalog. It was a topic and emotion he hadn’t covered before. It was some new material that still fit within the general scope of what he does. It was Alan’s kind of country sound, but the lyric content was new for him.

So the next time you’re writing a song specifically for an artist (or figuring out which of your existing songs to pitch for an artist), think about how you can fill the G.A.P.S.

In my next post, I’ll tell you about earning something nobody can take away. And I’ll let you know about a special opportunity I have coming up.

If you want to be sure and stay in the loop on all things songwriting, be sure and subscribe to manvsrow.com (at the top right or down below)!  I have some cool stuff coming up, and you won’t want to miss out!

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.

Man vs Row

Cowriting, Craft

Are You A Songwriting Carpenter or Designer?

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Man vs Row

A commercially successful song, in general, requires the songwriting skills of both a carpenter and a designer… musically speaking. Are you bringing both skill sets to your songs? If not, your songs are probably not as good as they could be.  

The Songwriting Carpenter

Strengths:

This songwriter has the craft down. The Carpenter can structure a song well. The rhyme schemes are tight. The chorus lifts. The message of the song is clearly communicated, and the song is solidly constructed.

Weaknesses:

The Carpenter’s songs can sometimes end up without enough heart or imagination. The Carpenter’s “house” is sturdy, but it looks just like every other house in the neighborhood. There’s no “wow” factor that impacts the listener emotionally.

The Songwriting Designer

Strengths:

The Designer has vision. The Designer knows what he wants to accomplish with the song- what the listener will feel- what the emotional impact will be. The Designer has great, compelling, song ideas.

Weaknesses:

Without enough craft, the Designer can’t pull off his vision. The wonderful story isn’t told clearly. There are problems with structure, rhyme, or other “nuts & bolts” areas. For the house metaphor, you could say the house is beautiful on the outside, but it won’t pass inspection.

As you can see, both the Carpenter and Designer have really great, important skills. They also have weaknesses. They need each other. And, truth is, you have at least a little of each of them inside you. You’re both.

So the question is: are you bringing ENOUGH of each of them to your songwriting process? Are your songs too much Carpenter and not enough Designer? I’d say most writers aren’t professional-level at both- especially when you’ve only been writing for a few years. And that’s okay.

That’s why God made cowriters.

Learn your strengths. If you build solid cookie-cutter houses, you need to find a Designer. If you have great ideas that don’t seem to reach their potential, you may need a Carpenter.

How I Feel Cowriters

How do you know if you’re a Carpenter or a Designer?

Play your songs for a songwriting coach, your PRO rep (ASCAP, BMI or SESAC), a music publisher, or other songwriters. If you often hear comments like, “Great idea, but it just doesn’t kill me,” you might be a Designer. If you hear, “Yeah, it all makes sense… nothing wrong with it… but it doesn’t knock me out,” you might be a Carpenter. Or you might be somewhere in the middle- where your Designer and Carpenter skills are pretty balanced, but just not professional-level yet.

Get to know yourself- your strengths and weaknesses. Then find coaches who can help you get better and cowriters who can bring out your best, while bringing the strengths you’re missing.

What about you?  Are you more of a carpenter or designer?  Leave a comment- I’d love to hear from you.

Pro songwriters know and are honest about their strengths and weaknesses.  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…

  1. How to get on a music publisher’s radar
  2. How the pros know who is looking for songs
  3. Six simple ways to make your songs more commercial
  4. And more!

To get your FREE, INSTANT download of “THINK LIKE A PRO SONGWRITER,” just click on the image below, or CLICK HERE!

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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.

Man vs Row

Biz, Craft

Replay Wednesday: Bullseye

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Replay Wednesday

(Here’s a Man vs. Row post from back in the archives.)

You walk into a room called “Country Music” and Mr. Music Row hands you darts.  He says, “These darts are your songs.  Hit a bullseye with a dart, and that song gets cut.”  You look at the wall on the far side of the room, and you notice that there are bullseyes of all different sizes.  Some are fairly large, and some are small.  Some are so small, you’re not sure they’re really even there.  It’s up to you to pick your darts and start throwing.

The room is also full of other songwriters.  Some are just lobbing darts in the air.  They don’t aim at anything, they just throw.  They figure if they throw enough darts, something is bound to land eventually.  Some songwriters throw dart after dart after the smallest bullseyes on the wall.  Some throw darts at blank spots on the wall, where they would like a bullseye to be.  Some are so busy aiming, that the dart never leaves their hand.

If your goal is to get a song recorded by major artist, your best bet is usually by throwing at “the big bullseye.”

Well, how do we do that?

We make choices as songwriters.  And the better we are at our craft, the more options are available to us.  For example, you can choose to write an idea as a slow ballad, or you can choose to write it as an uptempo (fast song).  The uptempo song is the bigger bullseye.  You can choose an idea that makes your singer look good (bullseye) or look bad (small bullseye).  You can write the song from the point of view of an 85 year old woman (small bullseye) or as a 21 year old girl (bigger bullseye).

How do you know what the big bullseye is?  Well, size of the bullseye is simply a measure of how much demand there is for a certain type of song.  This changes over time, so you need to be aware of the market.  Trends shift.  What was a big bullseye in the 1990’s might not be a big bullseye anymore.

However, one type of song always seems to be a big bullseye.  This is the “first-person uptempo positive love song.”  That’s not exactly shocking news, if you pay much attention to the radio.  This type of song is probably your best bet to get a cut.  I’m not saying, however, to never write a small bullseye.  Those can be hit from time to time- it’s just harder to do.  What I’m saying is to be aware of the realities.

Be intentional.  Be aware of the choices you make.

God Bless,

Brent

Brent is a hit songwriter with cuts by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Lady Antebellum, Joe Nichols, Gord Bamford, Ray Stevens, and more.  He’s written a top 5 hit in the US and a #1 in Canada… so far.

Man vs Row

Craft

7 Mistakes That Kill Your Song’s Emotional Power

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Man vs Row

Are you having a hard time getting your songs to resonate with your listeners emotionally? You can tell they’re hearing you, maybe even giving you their full attention, but you can tell their hearts aren’t in it. Are your songs leaving your listener unmoved and unchanged? Are they crying at your sad songs or getting all dreamy-eyed at your love songs or pumping their fists in the air during your rebel songs? If not, you’re probably making at least one of the following seven mistakes.

But there’s good news- if you can identify these mistakes, you can fix ‘em!

1.  Your song has too many characters.

If your song has too many characters, your listener won’t have enough time to get to know them or care about them. You, your girl, your ex, your best friend, her BFF, her ex, her mom… I’m lost.  And now I don’t care.

2. Your song has too much story.

Songs can tell amazing stories, but you have to keep them simple enough that the facts don’t crowd out the emotion. Too much story will turn you into a bland reporter, busily relaying facts just so the listener gets from point A to point B. “This happened then that happened. Two years later in a different town, this other thing happened.” Give enough space in your story for the emotion to come through.

3. Your song is too cliche.

If your song is just a regurgitation of the same old stories told with the same old rhymes and cliched phrases, stuck in the same old melody… why would the listener get excited or moved? It’s like telling the same joke with the same punchline with the same delivery to a crowd that’s already heard it a hundred times. Don’t expect a big laugh. It’s just not going to happen.

4. Your song is too “inside.”

It’s great for a song to be very personal to you. But if you write it in a way that only you understand it, your audience will not be moved. You might know what you’re talking about, but if there’s not enough there for a listener to engage with and latch onto, they’ll just be frustrated, lost, or bored. Let the listener in on your inside joke!

5. Your song tells but doesn’t show.

Don’t just tell the listener you’re sad and expect them to be sad. Even if you show them tears in your eyes, don’t expect them to cry any of their own. Paint a picture of what made you so sad, and it’ll give the listener context and maybe something to relate to. And then they may be reaching for their own Kleenexes.

6. Your song’s melody doesn’t support its emotion.

If your song is supposed to be angry or resentful, but your melody, production, etc. is smooth and poppy… I’m not buying it (literally or figuratively). If your singer is singing about regret and heartache, but the melody feels like happy good times, I’m not buying it. It’s like mumbling a half-hearted, “I love you” or yelling “I’m sorry! Will you forgive me!?!?!?!” in an angry tone of voice. Or when a woman says, “nothing’s wrong, I’m FINE, okay?” in a tone of voice that tells you the opposite. You’re sending mixed emotional signals that cancel each other out or confuse the listener.

7. Your song idea is not emotional enough.

Is your song too “head” and not enough “heart?” Is your topic too trivial or just an interesting (but un-emotional) thought? You can write a song about how the square root of 49 is 7. That’s fine. But don’t expect anyone to laugh or cry when they hear it. Unless they REALLY hate math. So… me in 7th grade. Yep, 7th grade me would cry about a square root song, but that’s not a real big market.

If your songs don’t connect emotionally with the listener, the listener won’t connect financially with you. The heart is connected to the wallet.

Connect Financially

Knowing simple things like this is how you write stronger songs- and market-smart songs (songs that have a competitive advantage in the market).  If you want to  learn more about how to write market-smart songs, check out my ebook, “Cut/able: Lessons In Market Smart Songwriting.”  Click on the image below or click here to write market-smart songs.

God Bless,
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.

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Connect Financially

Craft

Let Your Title Write Your Song!

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Man vs Row

 

If you listen closely and patiently, your title will often tell you what your song should be about. This is important because you want your song to be as strong as it can be. And to be strong, everything in the song needs to pull in the same direction.

Everything in your song needs to point to the core idea of the song, which is usually expressed in the title.

If you don’t listen to your title closely enough, you might try to make it something it’s not meant to be. I can tell you from personal experience that when I try to make a title into the wrong type of song, it’s a bear to write.

Just as a house divided against itself cannot stand, a song divided against itself cannot stand out (not in a good way, anyway).

One time, I had a title that made me chuckle when I first thought of it. I decided to write it as a Lee Ann Womack kind of traditional sad ballad. When I mentioned the title and idea to my cowriter, she chuckled, too. But writing it was like pulling teeth.

It was just slow and painful. We had a verse “finished” when we decided that something just wasn’t working. Then we realized, “Duh! The title made us smile- why are we trying to turn a title that makes us smile into a song that makes us cry?”

We decided to try writing it as a fun, attitude thing instead, and everything just fell into place. Once we stopped working against the title and started working with it, the writing process got a lot more fun. And the song got a lot better, too!

Years ago, I found a phrase in a poem that my mom wrote. The phrase was, “empty as a Monday morning church.” I thought “Monday Morning Church” would be a great title, but what was it about?

I started listening. “Empty” evokes sadness or loneliness. “Church” brings in the spiritual- something serious, something heavy. Those elements led me to write a sad country ballad about a grieving man who was having a crisis of faith following his wife’s death.

That whole song came from listening to my title. It went on to become my first hit- a top 5 single for Alan Jackson.

Alan Jackson- Monday Morning Church

Consider “Must Be Doing Something Right,” written by Jason Matthews and Marty Dodson and recorded by Billy Currington. “Right” is good and positive, which lends itself to being a happy/positive song.

“Something” suggests that the singer doesn’t know exactly what it is he’s doing right to get the positive results he’s getting.

The thought of “I must be doing something right, even though I don’t know exactly what it is,” is all over that song. It leads to the thought that a woman is a mystery- different things please her at different times, etc.

“Don’t know what I did to earn a love like this” is often a throwaway / filler line or thought in a generic love song, but not here. In this song, that line has energy because it supports the title and theme of the song. Good writing.

Knowing simple things like this is how you write stronger songs- and market-smart songs (songs that have a competitive advantage in the market).  If you want to  learn more about how to write market-smart songs, check out my ebook, “Cut/able: Lessons In Market Smart Songwriting.”  Click on the image below or click here to write market-smart songs.

God Bless,
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.

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