Nashville, TN and sometimes Santa Cruz, CA. I just want to wave my hand toward the iceberg that is
my songwriting, and say, there’s a lot of it.
My website (www.songwritingideas.com) is named after my book, titled, 1000 Songwriting
Ideas. 9 of my 10 CDs are downloadable through youTube
(www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2S7C4D3KXkrHISCl_oE7w) and other sites. (The one not on the
internet is The Birds.)
I’ve had about 300 film and TV usages/licenses ranging from a rhumba in Rum Diary starring
Johnny Depp, to a scene where Kristin Chenowith is ice skating to a Christmas song, to a bunch of
whodunits such as Criminal Minds and Hercule Poirot. Lots of them are lounge-ey jazz and Big Band
songs co-written with Joel Evans, AKA Joe Lervold, but I’ve had folk, blues, bluegrass and
Americana cues, too, and over twelve hundred recordings by such diverse artists as Kevin So,
Crystal Shawanda, Shaun Murphy, Jack Pearson, and Peter Tork of the Monkees, The Little River
Band, Art Garfunkel, Ricky Skaggs, Diamond Rio, Rita Coolidge, Colin Raye, Queen of Hearts,
Valdy, the Becky Buller Band, Lowery Olafsen, Valerie Smith, Wayfaring Stranger, Glenn and Holly
Yarborough, Aiofe O’Donovan, etc., yedda, yedda. Most recently (just a few weeks ago) I’ve got a
song on Michelle Prentice’s CD, Mama’s Lullabye and a train song on Rebecca Frazier’s album on
Compass Records, entitled, Boarding Windows in Paradise. (Dana Cooper and I have another song
on that label, too, called, “I Am”.) I am nothing if not enthusiastic about songwriting, and want to
help others to feel the same. Folk music affects everything I write and sing, but, as Duke Ellington
said; “It’s all folk music, horses don’t make music”.
my songwriting, and say, there’s a lot of it.
My website (www.songwritingideas.com) is named after my book, titled, 1000 Songwriting
Ideas. 9 of my 10 CDs are downloadable through youTube
(www.youtube.com/channel/UCO2S7C4D3KXkrHISCl_oE7w) and other sites. (The one not on the
internet is The Birds.)
I’ve had about 300 film and TV usages/licenses ranging from a rhumba in Rum Diary starring
Johnny Depp, to a scene where Kristin Chenowith is ice skating to a Christmas song, to a bunch of
whodunits such as Criminal Minds and Hercule Poirot. Lots of them are lounge-ey jazz and Big Band
songs co-written with Joel Evans, AKA Joe Lervold, but I’ve had folk, blues, bluegrass and
Americana cues, too, and over twelve hundred recordings by such diverse artists as Kevin So,
Crystal Shawanda, Shaun Murphy, Jack Pearson, and Peter Tork of the Monkees, The Little River
Band, Art Garfunkel, Ricky Skaggs, Diamond Rio, Rita Coolidge, Colin Raye, Queen of Hearts,
Valdy, the Becky Buller Band, Lowery Olafsen, Valerie Smith, Wayfaring Stranger, Glenn and Holly
Yarborough, Aiofe O’Donovan, etc., yedda, yedda. Most recently (just a few weeks ago) I’ve got a
song on Michelle Prentice’s CD, Mama’s Lullabye and a train song on Rebecca Frazier’s album on
Compass Records, entitled, Boarding Windows in Paradise. (Dana Cooper and I have another song
on that label, too, called, “I Am”.) I am nothing if not enthusiastic about songwriting, and want to
help others to feel the same. Folk music affects everything I write and sing, but, as Duke Ellington
said; “It’s all folk music, horses don’t make music”.
This will be a short workshop about writing original songs, hopefully inciting some, with a few
suggestions, anecdotes, and opinions from my long and varied experience of this activity. No
experience (or vast experience) need be barriers, and your song-in-progress will be welcome.