Category Archives: Songwriting Decisions

Songwriting Decisions

Songwriting Decisions: Benton Blount & “God Talks To Me”

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Man vs Row

“God Talks To Me” is the new single from America’s Got Talent Season 10 finalist, Benton Blount- and it just hit digital stores TODAY! Next time, I’ll discuss how Benton came to cut the song, but today I want to share some of the songwriting decisions that went into the song. Hopefully, there are some lessons here that will help you on YOUR journey.

AGT_Benton_Blount

Should we write this title at all?

I believe it was a title that I brought to my cowriters, Michael Boggs and Jason Cox. We were actually writing at a church that day, so maybe that influenced me bringing up that title. But just because someone has an idea for a title doesn’t mean you should write it. However, we thought it was intriguing enough to explore.

What genre is the song?

Jason and Michael aren’t just country songwriters. They’ve probably each had more cuts in the Christian/gospel market than in country, actually. So given their gospel chops and the title (and did I mention we were in a church?), we could’ve easily gone the gospel route. But country is a much bigger market, and we thought it was a lot more interesting as a country title, anyway.

How do we make it fit the country market?

     We made sure it was NOT preachy.

While we didn’t have a particular artist in mind, we knew there was very, very little chance that a mainstream country artist would cut (much less single) a song about how God talks to him during Bible study, prayer, or church. It just doesn’t fit the flavor or branding of most country artists. Artists don’t want to be holier-than-thou. After all, it’s not in their interest to alienate their listeners. So we knew right off the bat we’d better tear off this guy’s angel wings. “If you’re lookin’ for perfect, well, I ain’t…” ended up being the first line. The first verse makes it clear that this guy isn’t a preacher. So that makes it even more surprising and intriguing when he says “God Talks To Me.” We also put the line “you might not believe” in the chorus to help the singer not seem judgmental.

We also made all the ways in which God spoke very… down to earth. In a car crash, in a song on the radio, etc. And even what God said wasn’t overly theological. We took great care to keep true to our Christian faith while also being true to this character we were following through the song.

     We gave the song energy.

We didn’t want it to be a ballad because ballads hardly ever get cut. So we gave it some movement. We also wanted the music to have some muscle. The character in the song isn’t wimpy so our melody, chords, etc. shouldn’t be wimpy, either. We kept the verses down and darker when the singer’s talking about his failings, and we lifted our chorus up when telling about how God has spoken to him. We wanted the melody to fit the meaning.

“God Talks To Me” is now available on iTunes. Check it out HERE!

Find out more about Benton Blount at www.bentonblount.com

BB God Talks To Me

While choosing how to write “God Talks To Me,” we were taking care to think like pro songwriters.  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.

Songwriting Decisions

Songwriting Decisions: Ruthie Collins & “Vintage”

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Ruthie Collins EP

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.

Here are some of the songwriting decisions that went into the song “Vintage,” which has been recorded and released by Curb Records artist, Ruthie Collins.

Ruthie is a buddy of mine, as well as an artist on Curb Records. We’ve written off and on for a few years. She’s awesome. We were in the middle of working on another song, and we kinda hit a wall and decided to shelve it for a while. However, we had some time left, so we decided to look at another idea.

What idea(s) do I present?

I had this title in my hook book called, “Vintage.” I didn’t have an idea around it, but I liked the word. I hadn’t heard it as a song title before, and I knew Ruthie loved vintage clothes, furniture, etc. I usually like to wait until I have an idea or direction to go with a title before I present it to an artist… but I thought Ruthie would be be perfect person to help me figure it out. She loved the title.

What’s our angle?

The title “Vintage” just felt positive. Also, Ruthie had plenty of sad songs, so a happy song would fill a need for her. And making it somehow about love was a no-brainer. We landed on love being vintage.

What’s our point-of-view?

Deciding on the point-of-view was tricky. Our first impulse was to say, “our love is vintage,” but that made the singer old (because vintage = antique). And that doesn’t work for a young artist like Ruthie… or pretty much any artist selling many country records these days. Should we say, “THEIR love is vintage?” Well, that would work, but we still wanted the impact of “me” speaking to “you.” (That’s a more powerful way to write- directly addressing the listener.) We decided that the love was new, and the singer WANTED to love him UNTIL their love was vintage.

Vintage

Ballad or tempo?

With an idea like “Vintage,” it could’ve been a sweet ballad. But, thinking like songwriters who wanted cuts, we gave it as much tempo as we felt the idea could carry. We both love ballads, but Ruthie had plenty of those already. We needed to write what she DIDN’T have. And she DIDN’T have enough tempo songs. This made it positive-love-young-tempo. We wrote a verse and chorus that day. Ruthie, being the vintage expert, carried the bulk of the work. Thank goodness for cowriters!

Several months passed while Ruthie went in to record her debut album (which ended up on the shelf, but that’s another story). Eventually, she rediscovered the worktape and fell in love with it all over again.

Do we bring in another cowriter?

Ruthie really wanted to get the song right, and she thought Jessica Roadcap would help us get it there. I’d never written with Jessica, but I knew she was one of Ruthie’s “inner circle” of cowriters. I trust Ruthie’s instincts, and I also figured it would be valuable for other reasons, as well (see my post: “The Artist Camp: Multiple Points Of Contact”). She called up Jessica.

Together, the three of us tweaked the first verse, chorus melody, and wrote the second verse. Thankfully, Ruthie loved the finished result. She wanted the song to have the best chance of getting on her record, so she and Jessica demoed it.

It must’ve worked, because it’s on her new album! Thanks Ruthie and Jessica!

You can check out Ruthie at:   ruthiecollinsmusic.com

You can get the EP on iTunes <HERE.>

God Bless,

Brent

THE PRO KNOWS

To BE a pro, you need to THINK like a pro. In this complimentary report, learn the mindsets that help the pro songwriter get cuts, earn respect in the industry, and maintain long-term success in the music business. Just click on the picture below to download this complimentary report today!

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Biz, Craft, Songwriting Decisions

Songwriting Decisions: Joe Nichols “Crickets”

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As songwriters, we make decisions.  And it’s those creative decisions which make our songs more or less likely to get cut.  Here’s a look at some of the choices we made when writing Joe Nichols’ “Crickets.”

Bill Whyte and Lisa Shaffer invited me in on the idea of writing a funny song about awkward silences called “Crickets.”  This led me to my first decision…

Do I want to write this idea?

I figured there were several versions of that idea being written and pitched around Music Row, and that was a negative for me.  However, I hadn’t ACTUALLY heard it written before, so I decided the idea was still up for grabs if we wrote “the” version of it.  I decided to jump in .  If nothing else, I figured it’d be a lot of fun.

What kind of song is it?

Well, it’s called “Crickets,” and it’s about awkward silences. Given that subject matter, we felt it had to be pretty country and pretty funny.  Neither of those things was (or is) the favored flavor at radio, but we figured it was best to serve the song and hope it found a place.  We didn’t want to try and make it something it wasn’t.

Is this a novelty song?

We could’ve written a novelty song, an over-the-top whacky Ray Stevens comedy song (Bill and I both have cuts by Ray).  But we knew the idea, if written right, had a bigger potential market in mainstream country.  So we decided to keep it more grounded and relatable.

Do we tell one story or several?

We could have written each verse as a stand-alone funny story which led to a general chorus.  But that’s also the obvious way to write it.  And we didn’t want to do the obvious.  We decided to tackle the challenge of giving the song the “power of the present” – of diving into one story that has two or three “crickets” moments in a very compressed time frame.  Why?  For one thing, “3-act play” story songs aren’t getting cut very much.  The time frame of most songs right now is… right now.  Also, it would allow us to really immerse the listener into one story verses the more-expected “here are three separate unrelated stories we have to set up and tell in each of two verses and a bridge about a guy that sticks his foot in his mouth.”  Plus, we figured that although it’d be harder and we’d have to be more creative, it’d be awesome if we could pull it off.

How do we maximize the song’s commercial potential?

We made the song about one night- one story- to engage the listener more and not have to spend so much time on setting up each joke.  We also put it in the contest of a love story- the biggest commercial subject.  We also made sure the awkward moments weren’t caused by the singer saying something that would be a radio-killer: something too offensive for mainstream appeal.  We wanted the singer to be likable and someone the artist wouldn’t mind being for 3 minutes (on an album forever).  We also put the singer on BOTH sides of the crickets moment, which we thought was unexpected and fresh.

So, that’s an overview of some of the writing decisions for “Crickets.”  Even though we knew we were bucking trends by writing something more country and more funny, we made decisions within that framework to give the song maximum commercial appeal.  I hope our songwriting decisions will help YOU make better songwriting decisions.

You can check out “Crickets” on Amazon by clicking this link:

http://amzn.to/1bmCNd6

God Bless,

Brent

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